The University of Helsinki receives significant funding – India education | Latest education news | Global Educational News
The University of Helsinki has been successful in the latest round of competitive funding for strategic profiling of universities (Profi) organized by the Academy of Finland. The goal of the Profi-instrument is to support and speed up the strategic profiling of Finnish universities while improving the quality of research. The university has been awarded 30.1 million euros in this Profi 7 round, and the international panel of experts rated UH’s application as the best among 13 proposals submitted by Finnish universities.
As in previous rounds, the internal profiling process was based on long-term preparatory work between faculties and independent departments. During the fall of 2021, the faculties and independent departments submitted six initiatives as a letter of intent, which led to the selection of two areas. The Profi 7 areas chosen by the university were purposefully aligned to promote the university’s strategic theme Sustainable and viable future on our planet, promoting the university’s strategic goal of being a world-class interdisciplinary center for the sciences of sustainable development.
Two profiling areas related to sustainable development – RESET and InterEarth
In its Profi 7 application, the University of Helsinki included two highly interdisciplinary areas covering nine faculties and two independent institutes. The first, Resilient and Just Systems (RESET), aims to build an interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research environment that integrates life and social sciences, provides sustainable and just solutions, and increases system resilience. The second, Interactions of Earth Components (InterEarth), seeks to develop an integrative environmental research center focused on the interactions and feedbacks between all of Earth’s components – the biosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and atmosphere.
RESET is led by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and includes seven other faculties from three campuses (biology and environmental sciences, agriculture and forestry, pharmacy, medicine, educational sciences, theology and social sciences) as well as HiLIFE. Vice dean and assistant professor Tarja Sironen, who coordinated the preparation of the RESET professional area, is happy that the writing phase of the applications already created the basis for a new kind of cooperation between the units:
“With the help of research in the RESET area, we have a genuine opportunity to solve the biggest global challenges of our time. It’s great to be able to implement these research ideas and build bridges between disciplines,” says Sironen.
InterEarth, on the other hand, is managed by the Faculty of Natural Sciences, which includes two other faculties (agricultural and forestry science, biological and environmental sciences) and the natural science museum Luomus. Anna Lintunen, the research coordinator and docent who coordinated the writing of InterEarth, is looking forward to new opportunities for top science fields.
“I am really excited about this opportunity to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between several of the university’s top-level research groups that study different parts of the globe,” says Lintunen. “Using the comprehensive data of HY’s 8 research stations and combining it with artificial intelligence analysis, we can address many burning research questions that are crucial for a sustainable future.”
Research Vice Rector Jouni Hirvonen is also satisfied with the Profi 7 areas:
“The areas are clearly in line with the university strategy and contain excellent plans for promoting sustainable development research in complementary ways,” says Hirvonen, who led the preparation of the proposal in spring 2022. “I want to thank everyone who was involved, the researchers and the university. for the services for the similar wonderful joint work.”
Profi 7 financing is granted for six years starting on January 1, 2023. The most important profiling measures to be financed are professor-level positions, personnel and other senior researchers, researchers early in their careers, and regional supplementary measures.
Previous Profi calls
In the Profi 1 application, the University of Helsinki received 9 million euros for three profiling areas: HiLIFE, Physics and ICT, and Statistics.
In Profi 2, the University of Helsinki was awarded 10.5 million euros for five profiling areas: Helsinki Digital Humanities Center (HELDIG), Learning in the Digital World, Interdisciplinary Russian Studies, Behavioral Life Science and Global Law.
In Profi 3, the University of Helsinki received 15 million euros for three profiling areas: Institute for Atmospheric and Earth Research (INAR), Helsinki Center for Information Sciences (HiDATA) and Helsinki Institute for Sustainable Development (HELSUS).
In Profi 4, the University of Helsinki was awarded 14 million euros for three profiling areas: Matter and Materials, Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ) and Helsinki One Health (HOH).
In Profi 5, the University of Helsinki was awarded 14.7 million euros for three profiling areas: Flowering Nature, Finnish Pharmaceutical Research Forum (FinPharma) and Mind and Matter.
In Profi 6, the University of Helsinki was awarded 28.6 million euros for three profiling areas: Understanding the Human Brain (UHBRAIN), Helsinki Institute of Social and Human Sciences (HSSH): Intersections of people, institutions and technology and Interdisciplinary health research. and well-being (UHealth).