Comment on draft versions of new strategic research themes – sign up for public consultation

The Strategic Research Council (SRC) has published the draft themes that will be the basis for the strategic research programmes launching in 2027. This year, the SRC has prepared two themes: ‘Common safety and security in a diverging world’ and ‘Strategic resources for the future’. The cross-cutting priority for the programmes is ‘Data as power’.

The draft themes will be presented at a public consultation on Thursday 28 May 2026 at 13.00–14.15. The event will be webcast live. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the content of the drafts and provide comments and feedback before the SRC finalises and submits the draft themes to the Government. The event will be held in Finnish, but the draft themes will also be available in English and Swedish. The material presented at the event will also be available in English.

No recording of the event will be made. Registration is open until 28 May at 12.00 via the event page (in Finnish).

The themes respond to key societal challenges

The draft themes highlight the key prerequisites for the function and security of society from various perspectives. The first theme focuses on security and psychological crisis resilience. The aim is to understand the social, institutional and cultural mechanisms that influence the experience of safety and to identify means to strengthen society’s ability to act in the midst of change and uncertainty.

The second theme focuses on the securing and responsible use of material and digital resources that are strategically important for the future. Strategic resources refer to materials and data whose availability is essential for the development of Finnish society and that involve significant risks related to security of supply, the environment, governance or geopolitics.

Theme preparation in interaction with stakeholders

An essential part of the theme preparation is to identify topical societal challenges that are significant in scale and of such quality that their resolution requires a multidisciplinary and interactive approach to research. The long duration of the six-year programmes also requires foresight from the themes.

The SRC’s theme preparation is supported by an interactive and multi-stage process, which enables a wide range of perspectives to be included from different disciplines as well as from other sectors of society. Interaction and feedback from stakeholders are a valuable part of the preparation of themes. Stakeholders with knowledge of both current scientific issues and Finnish society support the SRC at various stages of the preparation and help in identifying essential research needs. In its preparatory work, the SRC also makes use of the latest foresight reports.

More information and registration (in Finnish)