Strategic Research Council selects new consortia to be funded

The Strategic Research Council (SRC) established within the Academy of Finland has selected new consortia for funding. The granted funding amounts to a total of 44 million euros within three SRC programmes. The SRC selected twelve consortia to the programmes. The consortia focus on long-term research aimed at identifying solutions to major societal challenges.

The consortia will be included in the following SRC programmes:

• Demographic Changes – Causes, Consequences and Solutions (DEMOGRAPHY, 2021–2027)
• Environmental and Social Links to Biodiversity Loss (BIOD, 2021–2027)
• Pandemics as a Challenge for Society (PANDEMICS, 2021–2024).

All three programmes are new. The PANDEMICS programme will run until the end of 2024, the DEMOGRAPHY and BIOD programmes until September 2027.

The funded consortia were selected in a two-stage call from among those invited to the second stage. The second-stage applications were processed in two different panels for each programme. One of the panels concentrated on the applications’ scientific quality, while the other focused on their social impact. The SRC’s overall consideration was based on the panel review reports and the programme’s objectives. Decision criteria included the quality, social significance and impact of the research. The consortia applications invited to the second stage were of high scientific quality and estimated to have strong potential for significant societal impact.

Kimmo Nuotio, Chair of the SRC, places high hopes in the funded programmes and their projects: “Demographic change, biodiversity loss and pandemics are all major societal challenges to which these new programmes aim to find solutions through long-term research and extensive interaction. The funded projects look promising, and I think they’ll be able to get off to a good start.”