Sport Science and Physical Activity - ACTIVE

The Academy Programme for sport science and physical activity ACTIVE advances the quality, renewal, and impact of research in sport science. The programme generates new knowledge to promote physical activity by directing funding to high-quality, innovative, and multidisciplinary sport science research.

Sport science offers research-based knowledge that increase the understanding and contribute to solutions to societal and public health challenges related to physical activity and sports. A central aim of the programme is to promote impact, accountability, and sustainability in sport science research targeting different population groups and different forms of sport, both at amateur and competitive level. A further aim is to strengthen competence and cooperation within sport science.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and the Research Council of Finland will cooperate closely in the Academy Programme in order to implement the sport policy objectives set by the Finnish Parliament in the best possible way in the awarding of government grants.

Going forward, the Research Council of Finland will open an annual call for applications within the Academy Programme for Sport Science and Physical Activity. The next call is preliminarily scheduled to open in November 2024 and close in January 2025.

The themes of the programme are defined in accordance with the Ministry’s Strategy Document for Research in Sport Science (document in Finnish with summary in English). The themes for the next call are defined in the strategy document that was published in June 2024:

1. Physically active lifestyle and physical fitness as well as the effects and impact mechanisms of exercise and physical activity.
2. Equitable access to sports, physical activity and exercise, inclusion, sense of community, accountability and environmental sustainability.
3. Achieving results and ethics in competitive and performance sports.