The University of Helsinki Africa Programme offers Seed Funding to support research collaboration between the University of Helsinki and higher education institutions in Africa. The Seed Funding aims to create opportunities to initiate new or enhance existing collaborations with African partners.
The Africa Programme Seed Funding has a particular focus on our strategic partner, the University of Nairobi, our Universitas 21 partner the University of Johannesburg, and the Taita Research Station of the University of Helsinki.
The following application has been placed on the reserve list:
Coexistence and Infectious Diseases - biological and social determinants of disease emergence: In collaboration with the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Tarja Sironen.
Within the framework of the Nordic Programme 2025-2035, the University of Helsinki offers seed funding for projects supporting research collaboration between the University of Helsinki and the Nordic countries.
The target group of the seed funding is both early career researchers interested in developing their networks and growing their expertise in collaboration with Nordic colleagues, as well as more established researchers who want to renew or strengthen already existing connections.
Expected outcomes are expansion and strengthening of ties with other Nordic universities, sustainable and long-term collaboration, and joint applications for Nordic and international funding schemes.
Gustafsson, Camilla: A trait-based framework for Zostera marina clones
Holopainen, Sampsa: Nordic Network for Prehistoric Sociolinguistics (PreSoLi)
Kaarlejärvi, Elina: Impacts of herbivore diversity on ecosystem functioning – a distributed circumarctic experiment
Kemppinen, Julia: Microrefugia experts’ workshop to synthesise a globally hot topic in ecology, nature conservation and biodiversity research
Kilpinen, Helena: Uncovering convergent chromatin dysregulation in neurodevelopmental disorders with systematic phenotyping of in vitro neurons
Saari, Toni: Comprehensive evaluation of mild behavioral impairment definitions in cognitive aging
Szebeni, Zea: DeepLore: Theorizing AI-Generated Political Mythology
Nordic Governance for a Just and Sustainable Energy Transition: PI: University Instructor, Jamie Jenkins, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. Nordic partner(s): University of Adger, Norway.
Developing aptamers against resistant phenotype of Staphylococcus aureus: PI: Academy Research Fellow, Zahra Gounani, Faculty of Pharmacy. Nordic partner(s): Aarhus University, Copenhagen.
The Nordic Sense of Humor (NoHu): PI: Postdoctoral Researcher, Joonas Koivukoski, Faculty of Social Sciences. Nordic partner(s): University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Lund University, Sweden; Mid Sweden University, Sweden.
Within the framework of the North America Programme, the University of Helsinki offers seed funding for collaboration between UH researchers and their partners in Canada and the U.S. Expected outcomes are increased and strengthened collaboration with North American counterparts, further advances in our fields of expertise, long-term academic collaboration, various joint activities such as workshops and seminars, educational collaboration, applications for international funding and joint publications in renowned journals.
The North America Visiting Fellowship programme offers funding for short-term visits to support new and existing research collaborations between researchers based in North America and researchers at the University of Helsinki. Expected outcomes are a growth in sustainable and long-lasting research collaboration, as well as joint publications and applications for international research funding.
Klefström, Juha: Targeting MYC-driven cancer metabolism: building a transatlantic platform for translational discovery and dissemination.
Muravyeva, Marianna: Law & Authoritarian Dynamics: Democratic Evidence for Resilience — Trans-Atlantic Research and Policy Lab (LADDER Lab)
Spillmann, Thomas: Canine Gastric Organoid Project
Thorogood, Rose: Next-generation tracking of species’ current and future resilience
Toivonen, Tuuli: Bridging across the Atlantic to advance novel spatial and AI methods for visitor monitoring in natural areas
Evaluating therapeutic interventions for pathogen infections in mitochondrial pathologies: University of Helsinki recipient: Research Director, Brendan Battersby, Institute of Biotechnology. North American partner: Associate Professor, A. Phillip West, The Jackson Laboratory.
Indigenous environmental stewardship and spaces of biocultural heritage (ENVIRONS): University of Helsinki recipient: Senior University Lecturer, Rani-Henrik Andersson, Faculty of Humanities. North American partner: Professor, Boyd Cothran, York University.
Functional precision cancer tests for universal health care: University of Helsinki recipient: Research Director, Caroline Heckman, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland. North American partner: Associate Professor, Tothu (Tania) Vu, Oregon Health Science University.
Novel X-ray vision for next-generation rechargeable batteries (X-EYE): University of Helsinki recipient: Professor, Simo Huotari, Faculty of Science. North American partner: Senior Scientist, Dimosthenis Sokaras, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University.
Feel the breeze: Wnt signaling in Merker cell development and maintenance: University of Helsinki recipient: Research Director, Marja Mikkola, Institute of Biotechnology. North American partner: Professor, Sarah Millar, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Predicting response to second line therapy for recurrent ovarian cancer using digital pathology and artificial intelligence: University of Helsinki recipient: Professor, Sampsa Hautaniemi, Faculty of Medicine. North American partner: Professor, Ernst Lengyel, University of Chicago.
Di Minin, Enrico and Derek van Berkel, University of Michigan
Hillers, Gregor and Derek L. Schutt, Colorado State University
Hjelm, Titus and Paul Bramadat, University of Victoria
Katajisto, Pekka and Jared Rutter, University of Utah
Quesada, Florencia and Kirsten Fischer, University of Minnesota
Toivonen, Tuuli and Huyen Le, The Ohio State University
Professor Sandro Sessarego, University of Texas Austin. Fellowship duration: 9 months (academic year 2025-2026). University of Helsinki host: Professor Eeva Sippola, Faculty of Humanities.
Dr. Spencer Wood, University of Washington. Fellowship duration: 5 months (spring 2026). University of Helsinki host: Professor Tuuli Toivonen, Faculty of Science.
Professor Phokion G. Kolaitis, University of California Santa Cruz and IBM Research - Almaden Lab. Fellowship duration: 2 months (spring 2026). University of Helsinki host: Professor Juha Kontinen, Faculty of Science.
Professor Yaniv Brandvain, University of Minnesota. Fellowship duration: 6 months (spring 2026). University of Helsinki host: Professor Tanja Pyhäjärvi, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry.
Professor Ella Ben Hagai, California State University, Fullerton. Fellowship duration: 4 months (autumn 2025). University of Helsinki host: Professor Kris Clarke, Faculty of Social Science.
Professor Jennifer Adibi, University of Pittsburgh. Fellowship duration: 4 months (autumn 2025). University of Helsinki host: Professor Hannu Koistinen, Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Adam Mahood, USDA Agricultural Research Service. Fellowship duration: 4 months (autumn 2025). University of Helsinki host: Assistant Professor Julia Kemppinen, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Finnish Museum of Natural History.
In collaboration with Aalto University, the University of Helsinki offers seed funding to support new and existing collaborations with partners in Canada and the U.S.
Huiskonen, Juha: AI-guided de novo protein design for probing gap junction assembly and function
Jacucci, Giulio: Skill-Aware Agentic Systems in Extended Reality
Toivonen, Tuuli: A partnership on sustainable outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism
In-situ X-ray characterization for advancing sustainable future batteries (X-ray4Bat): University of Helsinki recipient: Professor, Simo Huotari, Faculty of Science. Aalto University recipient: Assistant Professor, Yaolin Xu, Department of Applied Physics. North American partner: Senior Scientist, Dimosthenis Sokaras, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University.
The University of Helsinki and Yonsei University, South Korea, offer seed funding to support initiatives that establish new or intensify existing research collaborations between the two universities. The calls for funding welcome joint proposals on the themes of health, society, and computing, aiming to bring research groups together to prepare for further funding applications and strengthen research collaboration.
Hiilamo, Heikki & Choi, Young Jun: Navigating Uncertainty: Pathways for Reforming Social Protection in Finland and South Korea in the Wake of Digital and Demographic Transitions (NAVI-SOCIAL)
Jokela, Markus & Suh, Eunkook: Adaptive Selection Processes in Geographical Psychology (APGP)
Nurminen, Jukka & Kim, Shiho: Multi-backend Automatic Efficient Scheduling and Transpilation for Robust Operations in Quantum AI (MAESTRO)
Jensen-Eriksen, Niklas & Denton, Chad B.: Salvage and Survival: Business history of re-use of raw materials during uncertain times (SALVAGE)
Jernvall, Jukka & Jung, Han-Sung: Making Teeth Big (Megadont)
Juhola, Sirkku & Lee, Taedong: Just and Equitable Climate Action (JECA)
Välimäki, Maritta & Jang, Yeonsoo: Development of a Digital Sentinel System for Pre-Metabolic Syndrome Prevention (DHSS-PMSP)
Within the trilateral strategic partnership, the University of Helsinki, KU Leuven, and Aalto University offer seed funding for researchers across all disciplines to forge new collaborative endeavours or strengthen existing collaboration. Early-career researchers are encouraged to take part in the initiative.