Collaborations

In addition to close collaboration with the University of Helsinki’s faculties, the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies maintains active partnerships with other institutes for advanced study. Our mission is supported by private foundations and funding agencies – both long-standing and more recent partners – whose contributions are vital.
International networks

International networking is central to the mission of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. The HCAS cooperates with comparable institutes around the world and seeks to develop contacts with new institutes of this kind.

The was established in 2004 to stimulate dialogue on IAS best practices and to explore opportunities for cooperation. Today, Netias brings together 25 institutes for advanced study across Europe.

All Netias members share the mission of creating temporary international and multidisciplinary learning communities that promote scientific and intellectual exchanges and nurture new ideas, concepts, and projects.

The network was established in 2010 to enable structured forms of exchange among its 47 partner institutes. Unlike traditional institutes for advanced study, UBIAS institutes are associated with or embedded within a university, and actively contribute to the international academic culture and to the major scientific achievements of their home university.

Through a range of fellowship programs at different academic levels, UBIAS institutes bring together outstanding researchers from different disciplines, nationalities, and academic backgrounds, creating a productive environment for innovative research.

NordIAS is a network of eight institutes for advanced study in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The network was established in 2023, following the successful completion of a series of workshops entitled Beyond Advanced Studies, organized by the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) and the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS) and held between November 2021 and May 2022. The workshops were funded by a grant from the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS).

The members of the NordIAS network are:

The was founded in 2023 by the in close cooperation with partner institutions from Ukraine, Europe, and the United States. Its purpose is to support scholars in Ukraine as well as Ukrainian scholars who were forced to leave the country during the Russian invasion. The ultimate goal is to establish a fully functioning Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study in Kyiv as soon as Russia’s war of aggression comes to an end.
External funding

The HCAS has had the opportunity to launch a range of invitational and open-call fellowships supported by external funders. Through these initiatives, we have welcomed nearly 200 fellows to date.

In 2008,made a significant donation to the University of Helsinki, which enabled the establishment of the at the Helsinki Collegium. The focus area of this professorship is studies in cultural and social research themes with a topical significance for contemporary society and social justice.

The has supported the Collegium since 2004, when the was launched. Over the years, Kone Foundation has also funded several other programs: the , the , and, most recently, the .

In 2024, the launched the , a three-year initiative aimed at strengthening Nordic connections in the humanities and social sciences. The  aims at facilitating and strengthening academic collaboration between Swedish and Finnish research communities.
UH faculties

The HCAS collaborates actively with the faculties of the University of Helsinki, having especially strong connections with the faculties of City Centre Campus. In addition to our invitational fellowships funded by the Kone Foundation that rely on faculty members' proposals for candidates, the collaboration is fostered via the Host Program that connects incoming international fellows with a faculty member from their field of research. Annually, the HCAS also engages fellows to participate actively in the researcher education offered by the University by organizing a three-day Winter School for doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences.

The project (2025–2028), funded by the University of Helsinki and coordinated by the HCAS, is a collaborative framework between the HCAS, the at Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), and the at the Faculty of Science.

The project aims at establishing an interdisciplinary platform for the study of intelligence, a complex and timely topic where the research interests of neuroscience, computer science, and many fields in the social sciences and humanities converge. In the long run, the project seeks to create a collaborative scheme between the participating units to facilitate the continuing flow of ideas between SSH, neuroscience, and computer science.

The is an annual intensive course intended for doctoral researchers in the humanities and social sciences at the University of Helsinki. Each HCAS Winter School has a theme related to a specific aspect of academic research and career building. The participants of the Winter School have a chance to learn essential skills and practices related to academic research and to discuss their own work with more experienced researchers in an interdisciplinary and international setting.