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. The research knowledge can contribute to promoting conditions for a physically active lifestyle and for equality as well as for increasing participation in physical activity and sports and improving results and responsibility in performance sports. The Academy Programme promotes international and national research and stakeholder cooperation to encourage the dialogue between researchers and decision makers and communication to improve the societal impact of sport science research and in a wider context.  

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 Acitivity. The first call was part of the Research Council's winter call 2024. The next call is preliminarily scheduled to end early in 2025.

The themes of the programme are defined in accordance with the Ministry’s strategy for knowledge-based management of physical activity. The 2025 call will be based on the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture's new strategy that will be published in June 2024.