The aim of the Jane and Aatos Erkko Visiting Professorship in Studies on Contemporary Society is to focus on cultural and social research themes with a topical significance for contemporary society and social justice. The professorship was established in 2008 as the result of a 2.92 million Euros donation from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. The donation, under the discretion of the University of Helsinki Funds, will maintain the professorship and a residence for the holder of the post.
Helen Beebee, Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds
Since 2004, the Kone Foundation has funded a visiting scholar program that targets Baltic, Belorussian, Ukrainian and Russian scholars. This fellowship program has brought more than seventy researchers to the Collegium and resulted in lasting research cooperation and friendships between Kone Foundation Fellows and Finnish researchers. The cooperation has extended far beyond the walls of the Collegium to include departments from the University of Helsinki, other Finnish universities and EU funding programs.
The Kone Foundation Fellowships are invitational and hence scholars cannot apply for a fellowship directly. Each year the Helsinki Collegium solicits suggestions for fellowship recipients from the University of Helsinki and other Finnish universities and institutions, as well as from Helsinki Collegium alumni. There are no quotas for the different countries or disciplines, but suggestions targeting young scholars are especially encouraged.
In 2022, as a response to the war in Ukraine, the Kone Foundation granted additional funds to support scholars escaping their home countries. These funds were distributed through the Kone Foundation Visiting Scholar program, and an additional call for proposals for recipients was distributed in March 2022.
The next call for Kone Foundation Fellowship will be opened in October 2025. The applicants who want to be considered for this invitational fellowship should contact researchers at the University of Helsinki City Centre Campus Faculties or HCAS alumni.
The Kone Foundation Visiting Fellowship Program for Researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Southeast Asia aims to facilitate intellectual exchange between researchers across the globe, diversify epistemic perspectives, and thereby promote high-quality academic research. The fellowship is intended for mid-career researchers in the social sciences and humanities with a permanent affiliation with a university in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, or Southeast Asia. Funded by the Kone Foundation, the program brings one fellow per year to the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies for a year-long fellowship term.
The fellowship program is invitational, which means that the Collegium solicits proposals for applicants from the faculties of the University of Helsinki as well as from HCAS fellows and alumni. For the selected fellows, a year at the Collegium provides an opportunity to focus on their research free from teaching and administration in the international, lively, and multidisciplinary community of accomplished scholars.
The Fellowships are salaried positions. In addition to salary, the fellows are entitled to a personal research allowance of 4 000 €, necessary equipment for their work (such as phones and computers), and an office at HCAS premises in the center of Helsinki, in the vicinity of University of Helsinki central campus facilities, libraries, and activities.
The first call for proposals for the Program will be launched in the Fall of 2025. The selection criteria are academic merits relative to career stage, the suitability of the research for the context of HCAS, and the potential for academic collaboration in HCAS, the University of Helsinki, and Finland.