Strategic Research Council grants continued funding to consortia in SRC programmes BIOD and DEMOGRAPHY

In its meeting on 10 June 2024, the Strategic Research Council (SRC) established within the Research Council of Finland granted continued funding to eight consortia and two programme directors in the following SRC programmes:
• Demographic Changes – Causes, Consequences and Solutions (DEMOGRAPHY, 2021–2027)
• Environmental and Social Links to Biodiversity Loss (BIOD, 2021–2027).

Docent (Adjunct Professor) Susan Kuivalainen from the Finnish Centre for Pensions will continue as Programme Director of the DEMOGRAPHY programme, and Research Professor Juha Hiedanpää from Natural Resources Institute Finland will continue as Programme Director of the BIOD programme.

As a rule, the consortia funded under SRC programmes run for six years, but the funding is granted in two three-year periods. The funding for the second period is granted based on an application for continued funding and the information provided in an interim report.

The consortia that were granted continued funding were launched in October 2021 and now received funding until September 2027. For the second funding period, each consortium could apply for up to 75 per cent of the first period’s funding for work according to the original plan. The SRC also offered consortia and programme directors a chance to apply for additional funding for new activities aimed at increasing the societal impact of the programme. The funding granted in the two programmes totalled 26 million euros, on average 3.2 million euros per consortium.

Anu Kaukovirta, Chair of the Strategic Research Council, said the SRC was pleased with the progress of the projects and the standard of the applications for continued funding: “The work of the consortia is well under way. Some of the projects have already produced a significant number of research publications and policy briefs, while others have set out to gather research data and make a difference through interaction at the grassroots level. In the coming funding period, we look forward to the completion of the results of both the scientific and stakeholder work.”

Kaukovirta added that the SRC also welcomed the new activities to be implemented with additional funding: “They’re exactly what we were looking for. The new activities will draw on the knowledge, expertise and collaborative networks developed in the research programmes to meet the needs identified by the Finnish Government and ministries, ideally through collaboration between several consortia or across the programme. I’m delighted that we were able to fund, in whole or in part, these excellent plans for additional activities.”