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FARIA Synergy Grant 2025 

Funding for collaboration with the USA 

FARIA’s coordinating institutions, Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, are now welcoming joint proposals for ambitious and impactful initiatives strengthening collaboration between researchers based in Finland and the U.S.

• The call is open to research collaboration covering all academic disciplines.
• Applications must be written jointly by the PIs from both universities and in collaboration with the U.S. partner.
• Only one application is submitted per joint project.

Special emphasis is put on projects supporting the following FARIA’s objectives for 2025-2028:

• Strengthen mobility for PhDs and postdocs from UH and Aalto with renowned labs/research groups in the U.S and vice versa.  
• Facilitate Finnish-U.S. engagement with various domestic and U.S. stakeholders, focusing on strategic research interests of UH and Aalto. 

Deadline: 12th of May 2025, 23:59 (EET)

Funding:  One successful project will be awarded the total grant of 50.000€, with the Aalto PI and the University of Helsinki PI receiving 25.000€ each to be spent at their own university. For the funding allocated to the University of Helsinki, the funding must be spent before 11 November 2025.  

Examples of relevant activities are:  

• Research collaboration: e.g. joint research projects, joint publications, workshops, seminars, match-making events.
• Educational cooperation: e.g. joint courses, joint supervision.
• Innovation cooperation: e.g. with business, industry or startups, incl. events for knowledge exchange and benchmarking.

We value applications with novel approaches, high ambitions and cross-disciplinary collaboration.  

Eligibility: 

• The proposed project must be led by two PIs, one from each Finnish university.  
• There must be at least one collaboration partner from the U.S. involved in the project, which can be a university, research institute or other RDI-focused organization or business.  
• The PIs are employees of Aalto University/the University of Helsinki, having a work contract with either university at least until the end of 2026.

Eligible costs:  

The funding is relatively flexible and can be applied to various research, education, and innovation contexts. However, expenses need to be well argued and support the purpose of the call. All costs covered must follow the respective university’s policies and guidelines.

How to apply:  

The online application form will open at the start of the application period and close on 12 May 2025 at 23.59 (EET).

Each project with PIs from both universities submits one joint application.  For technical reasons, the PI from the University of Helsinki is responsible for submitting the application.  

Call text and application forms for the University of Helsinki PI is available as the second call on this page: 

In addition to the online application form, the following attachments are required, as one single PDF document to be named with the last names of the two PIs:

1. Project proposal (max. 3 pages)  

2. Budget template (max. 1 page) - available on the UH call website 

3. Curriculum Vitae of the University of Helsinki PI, including a list of most important publications (max. 3 pages)

4. Curriculum Vitae of the Aalto University PI, including a list of most important publications (max. 3 pages)

5. Curriculum Vitae of the U.S. PI, including a list of most important publications (max. 3 pages)

Reporting:  

Grantees will submit a report (max. 2 pages) on the project, outcomes and impact within three months after the completion of the project period. The report should be jointly written by the two PIs.  

Evaluation and review process:  

The applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:  

• Alignment with FARIA objectives.
• Novelty and topicality of the project.
• The feasibility of the proposal.  
• Quality and ambition of the planned collaboration and outcomes.
• How this project utilizes the strengths and/or competencies of both Aalto University and the University of Helsinki.  

All applications will be peer reviewed. Decisions to all applicants will be announced by mid-June.

For further information and questions, please reach out to the FARIA lead at your university:  

For Aalto University:  

Jérôme Rickmann, Senior Advisor, Global Engagement

Email: jerome.rickmann@aalto.fi

Mobile: +358 50 430 5770

For the University of Helsinki:  

Mari Olafson Lundemo, Senior Advisor, International Affairs

Email mari.olafsonlundemo@helsinki.fi

Mobile: +358 50 536 2593