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Collaboration creates new ways to increase the wellbeing of reindeer herders

Text: Laura Iisalo

Constant changes in the environment affect the wellbeing of reindeer herders. Global warming in the Arctic is twice as fast as elsewhere in the world, and, in addition, the global pandemic, new laws and regulations, and the effects that trades such as tourism and mining have on traditional livelihood can diminish the life quality of the herders and their families in many ways.

Keskusrahasto myönsi saamelaisten poronhoitajien hyvinvointia ja voimavaroja käsittelevälle tutkimukselle 100 000 euron apurahan. Kuvassa tutkimusta johtava Arja Rautio sekä tutkijatohtori Ulla Timlin. (Kuva Ulla Timlin)

Professor Arja Rautio, pictured here with doctoral researcher Ulla Timlin. (Photo by Ulla Timlin)

– The Arctic plays an important role in understanding large changes in a global context. The impact of the melting of the permafrost is affecting locals’ lives in many ways. Societal changes and new ways of operating don’t necessarily support the native way of life and the passing of culture from one generation to another, says professor at the University of Oulu, Arja Rautio, who is also the vice president of the University of the Arctic.

Rautio is leading a new international and multidisciplinary research project aiming to understand the lives of Sámi reindeer herders and their families in order to create new ways to support their mental wellbeing. Rautio has already studied Arctic health for over 15 years, and collaborated with doctoral researcher Ulla Timlin who is also part of the new research group, since 2008.

There is already plenty of research data but this time Rautio and her team want to focus on mental wellbeing specifically. Suicides cause great grief for small communities, and deaths, especially among the youth, are common. The subject is still a taboo, and help doesn’t always reach those who need it most.

– Mental health problems are very complicated in general. When you don’t necessarily understand what is bothering you, how can you talk about it to others? The families of reindeer herders often speak Northern Sámi as their mother language, and so it can be difficult for them to talk to a Finnish speaking person who doesn’t necessarily understand the nature of reindeer herding. It is important to lower the threshold for seeking help, and to find appropriate support methods so that people can talk about the questions relating to mental wellbeing in their own language and on their own terms, Rautio says.

Long term collaboration forms the basis for trust

The three-year study will gather together an international and multidisciplinary group of researchers. Rautio and Timlin will be joined by the distinguished professor and Canadian Research Chair Roberta Woodgate from the University of Manitoba in Canada, and the founder and executive director of the SámiSoster association, Ristenrauna Magga, who is also an honorary doctor at the University of Tampere for her achievements in investigating and improving the health and wellbeing of the Sámi people.

It has become clear in previous examinations that the Sámi people consider their community as an important form of peer support. Collaboration with local operators and the Utsjoki municipality is therefore key, and the purpose is to allow the local people to define the things that matter to them most.

In order to understand the future we must know the past, and look at the present.

– It is very different to live in a small village, where nature sets the pace, from in a big city. This, added to the pressures that come from the outside, creates many challenges. The young Sámi people wonder what is the future of reindeer herding, how they can get by, and what they can trust in the rapidly changing world. Collaboration creates trust, which allows these matters to be investigated in depth, says Rautio.

On top of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the group is planning to utilise art-based methods. They hope to exhibit the outcomes in a suitable format as agreed with the local participants. According to Timlin, art can make it easier to discuss matters relating to mental health, and provide the participants with a strong sense of engagement. Art is also an important part of Sámi culture.

The first results are expected to be published in 2022 but Rautio says that the goal is to come up with ways to increase wellbeing that could be used even after the project is over.

– In order to understand the future we must know the past, and look at the present. This is a wonderful continuum where we can put together all our knowledge, skills, and understanding. The project is at its starting point, and anything is possible.

The Central Fund awarded 100 000 euros for a research project investigating the wellbeing of the Sámi reindeer herders led by professor Arja Rautio.

Coming of an age of an artist

Text and photos: Laura Iisalo

Kuvataiteilija Leonor Ruiz Dubrovinin seuraava näyttely nähdään Galleria Huudossa huhtikuussa 2021. Kuva: Laura Iisalo

Leonor Ruiz Dubrovin’s artwork.

The year 2020 was very productive for Leonor Ruiz Dubrovin, who spent a big chunk of it in her studio in Madrid during the lockdown. She worked every day, all day, preparing for her exhibitions in Madrid, Santander, and Santiago, and for her forthcoming show at Helsinki’s Huuto gallery. Altogether she produced over a hundred paintings.

– It was the only way to stay sane for the three months that I spent by myself. I love to work when I am the one who decides when, and how I do it. For me it is a very rich way to live, and I would rather work 24 hours a day as a freelancer than eight hours in an office, and then have spare time. My spare time is work, she says.

A graduate of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Ruiz Dubrovin says that her art has evolved in the past few years, thanks to exploring with new techniques. The artist, previously known for her use of mixed media and love of sculptures, has started to use oil paints instead of acrylics.

– It is a challenging, magnificent, and versatile technique with so many possibilities. Oil dries gently and slowly, and it’s very nice to play with. It feeds the ideas that I have in my mind right now, she says.

“I let the painting tell me when it’s finished.”

Ruiz Dubrovin’s show at the Huuto gallery at the end of April 2021 will feature a series of new paintings on different scales. Some of them look a lot like slightly shaken photographs by being somewhat blurry or out of focus, while some are more profound. The exhibition is titled Core.

– The name refers to a nucleus, an essence, or a heart, the most important part of something, says the artist.

Experience is the best teacher

Mastering new techniques has given Ruiz Dubrovin confidence but it is not the only thing that has changed; her works have also become more simplified. She thinks it is crucial for an artist to learn to be able to be self-critical in both positive and negative ways – and to know when a piece of work is done and it is time to step away from the canvas.

Kuvataiteilija Leonor Ruiz Dubrovinin seuraava näyttely nähdään Galleria Huudossa huhtikuussa 2021. Kuva: Laura Iisalo

Leonor Ruiz Dubrovin

It hasn’t always been that way. When Ruiz Dubrovin was just starting out, she often continued working on her paintings to the point of demolishing them.

– Overworking can destroy the soul of the painting. I’m trying to maintain purity, and I let the painting tell me when it’s finished. It’s like riding a bike, you learn when you do it many times, she explains.

While everything is going smoothly right now for Ruiz Dubrovin, it is true that artists tend to face a lot of uncertainness and solitude, perhaps now more than ever. Ruiz Dubrovin says that she has learned to embrace both. She is not looking for life to be all predictable, and no longer worries over trivialities. While her younger self often felt anxious or frustrated for not being able to do everything straight away, now at the age of 42 she feels at peace and confident, knowing that there is the right time for everything.

– I’m very happy at this age, oh my god, it is the best! I know myself better and I’m more accepting, it’s quite relaxing. I don’t need to show off like I used to when I was younger. I have learned to do what has to be done first, little by little, and let the process flow. It has been a long journey and it took years and years but now I feel content.

M.A. Leonor Ruiz Dubrovin was awarded a grant from the Uusimaa Regional Fund in 2009, and the Central Fund in 2020.

Individual differences may explain disparities in gaming experience

Usage of digital games is common within the whole population. Gaming has been widely studied but so far research has been mainly focusing on the pros and cons in general. Master of Psychology and a doctoral student at the University of Turku, Suvi Holm, says that it would be more interesting to study the subject as a cultural, everyday phenomenon.

– Gaming is very commonplace but parents are worried when their kids do it because there is not really a consensus on what it means and how it should be reacted to, except to be horrified. We should be able to talk about it but the research drags behind. We are still pondering whether gaming should be allowed or not when everyone is already doing it, a former school psychologist Holm says.

“Gaming is very commonplace but parents are worried when their kids do it because there is not really consensus on what it means and how it should be reacted to.”

She says that another reoccurring problem is that gamers are often seen as one group when the spectrum is wide. This is why Holm’s doctoral thesis intends to investigate the relevance of the differences in individual preferences and cognitive skills between gamers, and the affect of those on emotions and information processing during gaming.

– Gamer classification has previously been quite limited. It also needs to be taken into consideration that there is a huge variety of games too. It is the same when we talk of literature; it is a completely different thing to talk about a children’s picture book or Dostoevsky, she says and gives an example of one of her studies.

In laboratory conditions sensors placed on the hands and face revealed that people who were known to like games that contain violence reacted less when playing those type of games than people who do not like the so-called shooter games.

– The emotional response of people who like these games was lower than that of those who do not like them. The latter had a faster heart rate and they were sweating more. The study hints towards the idea that there are individual differences between people, and therefore it is not correct to say that one particular game would have the same effect on everyone, says Holm.

The popularity of digital games continues to grow in the future

Individual differences have also been detected by studying the eye movements of gamers. Some people are naturally better at visual outlining than others, which is a key ability in many video games. Those who are more skilled at multiple object tracking were able to follow a game with fewer eye movements than members of a control group who were working harder to keep up with the game.

– Individual differences might explain why gaming is easy and pleasant for some people while others consider it uninteresting or even stressful. This will have to be taken into consideration when the effects of gaming are studied in the future, Holm tells.

Holm believes that the humankind continues its course towards a more digital direction.

She doesn’t think that the popularity of digital games is a passing phenomenon, quite the opposite. Holm believes that humankind will continue its course towards a more digital direction while the amount of face-to-face communication will decrease.

– If I had to be a visionary then I would say that the usage of entertainment will diversify over time. In the future we might wear VR glasses when watching a movie and choose ourselves what happens in the film. I would like to investigate people’s lives in the future too, she says.

Doctoral student at the University of Turku, Suvi Holm, received a one-year grant from the Varsinais-Suomi Regional Fund in 2019 to work on her doctoral thesis.

New Research Programme within humanities and social sciences

The research programme finances a set number of research projects. The aim is that the research benefits society by producing findings that are easy for citizens and decision-makers to access.

The research programme is financed by The Finnish Cultural Foundation, The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and Stiftelsen Brita Maria Renlunds minne.

The application for the programme is completed in two steps. In the first step, stage 1, a shorter application is submitted. Every application in stage 1 is evaluated by a panel of experts who choose which projects will go forward. The chosen projects are invited to submit a complete application in stage 2.
The application period for the first application is from 1st of January to 15th of February 2021. 

Read more and apply here: futurenordics.org

Roleplaying gaming is the field of the future

Roleplaying gaming is a broad concept that covers a great variety of types from computer-based strategy games to live action, and tabletop roleplaying games. The field is developing but there is a lot of ignorance about it.

– Storytelling is typically key to roleplaying games. At its profoundest gaming means settling into a role and looking at the game from that perspective. It allows the player to live someone else’s life, be in a different world, and advance the game and the story by making personal choices, says 30-year-old game developer Jaakko Rinne who got interested in roleplaying games when he was a child.

“Storytelling is typically key to roleplaying games.”

Rinne is currently studying to become a community educator at the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, and working on a new type of roleplaying game model based on Japanese history by merging elements from traditional tabletop roleplaying games, online games, and strategic board games. He is creating the text-based online game for groups of 5-7 players, led by a game leader, and played in turns that can last up to two weeks. The name of the game, Gekokujō, is Japanese and translates as surpassing one’s superiors.

– The game is based on Feudal Japan when there were changes of power as the small rose to oppose the big. Japanese history is one of my favourite subjects which I get excited about again and again, says Rinne.

Great traditions form a solid base for growth

According to Rinne gathering the material for the game has taken a lot of time. His charts are filling up with data about county ownerships and productivities of provinces in the feudal society. It is crucial for him that the storytelling game gives its players credible and truth based information, which he will publish together with the game.

– I understand why design selection is often done when it comes to content but I want to provide reliable data based on historical events. Designing the actual game and its mechanics is easy for me – the challenge is in how I manage to chart everything and make the mathematics work. The rules of the game need to be in order, otherwise it is just going to be a story, he explains.

Rinne will be working on the game full on in the forthcoming summer when he will also put together the first test group. He hopes to launch the game at the end of summer 2021.

His mission is not to conquer the world because he is working on a niche project targeted at a small group of people interested in Japanese history and strategic gaming.  Rinne has already reached one of his goals though, when he received 8 000 euros of funding for his project from the South Savo Regional Fund.

– My main goal is that roleplaying gaming is seen as a respected and funded art form. We have great starting point for doing things in Finland; we have great traditions and good, highly educated developers who produce materials and launch their own games. I hope that the field will continue to develop and that I can get a job out of it, he says.

Jaakko Rinne, game developer and a student of community education, received a grant form South Savo regional Fund in 2020.

Children learn by singing

Text: Laura Iisalo

Language is more than a communication method. It lays the foundation for learning, self-expression and understanding, and enables the formation of an identity; what we understand about ourselves, and others.

– Language forms the basis for all learning and the way we perceive the world, concludes teacher of early childhood education Katri Borm, who is one of the two founders of Kielinuppu, a producer of pedagogical music for children.

The method was founded as part of a study project four years ago by Borm and Sarah Goncalves, who are both students at the University of Turku’s Department of Teacher Education in Rauma. The inspiration came from the doctoral thesis of Jenni Alisaari at the University of Turku, who concluded that singing is an efficient way to teach a language.

Language lays the foundation for learning, self-expression and understanding, and enables the formation of an identity; what we understand about ourselves, and others.

Personal experiences of what it means to be bi-lingual, gave an even wider perspective to the project. Borm speaks Finnish and German in her family, while Goncalves speaks Portuguese as an addition to Finnish.

– We wanted to create an easy to use tool that is available for everyone. YouTube seemed like a good channel for us because one of our missions is to increase equality. There are many children with migrant backgrounds, and those that have lingual challenges. We wanted to provide every child with an opportunity to get excited and to enjoy learning Finnish through a playful method, Borm says.

From a study project to a life’s work

To this date Kielinuppu has created 47 songs that are easy to learn and absorb. The lyrics stem from everyday events and children’s play. Some of the popular songs teach children about emotions, the names of the weekdays, and numbers.

The songs are targeted at early childhood education professionals, parents of young children and speech therapists, but they are also used in language teaching for immigrants and school children. There has been no marketing – or even a budget for it – but information has passed by word-of-mouth and Kielinuppu videos have now been streamed over 3.5 million times.

– It has been a surprise that so many people have started using Kielinuppu. We are happy that so many children have been able to utilise the songs. For us this has been a once in a lifetime experience, Borm says.

She has produced a joint dissertation with Goncalves about Kielinuppu during their bachelor studies and they have almost completed their master’s thesis. Expanding the method is something that has crossed Borm’s mind but she says that Kielinuppu is, and continues to be, a non-profit product that is available for everyone.

– It’s great that I have been able to take part in starting something new, and I hope that there will be others who come up with something similar. There is an endless supply of possible topics for songs and many ways to create them. I believe in the power of singing and music, yet I don’t know where this all leads to. In that sense this has turned into a life’s work, Borm says.

Katri Borm and Sarah Goncalves have received grants from the Satakunta Regional Fund in 2017 and 2020 for producing musical language learning materials for children in early childhood education.

13 million euros will be awarded in the January Round of Applications

Regional Fund Special Purpose Grants

Priority is given to applicants who are currently living or have born in the region, work carried out in or for the region, and cultural and development projects of special regional importance.

Spearhead projects requiring larger-than-usual funding will receive a minimum of 40,000 euros in the form of one or two grants. Such projects require fresh or exceptional points of view, content, quality, or design.

20,000 euros have been earmarked for Art for Institutions projects in the January round of applications. The aim of this form of support is to promote the equal realisation of cultural rights and to improve the quality of life of people in need of special support or care, through art. The work or project may take place in welfare and nursing institutions or other environments, the residents or users of which may otherwise have limited access to art. Possible institutions include sheltered homes, day centres, and homes of the elderly, hospitals, prisons, reception centres, care units for substance abusers, and child welfare institutions.

The Local Culture Projects grants are specified for projects that aim to preserve and rejuvenate the local culture and cultural environment, such as documenting and increasing awareness of local heritage, as well as histories, exhibitions, and events of local communities and societies.

A person engaged in full-time gainful employment is eligible for a working grant (so called passion grant) for the purpose of carrying out a scientific or an artistic project not related to their full-time work. It is possible to apply for this grant as an individual or as a part of a working group. The size of the project is not specified, but the maximum amount of a working grant per person is limited to 3 000 euros.

For more information go to skr.fi/en/januaryround Please read the application guidelines carefully before sending the application. More information about the regional funds and contact information can be found on skr.fi/en/regional-funds

The application period closes at 4.00 pm on Feb 10. Ask also your referee to submit a reference in the Online Reference Service on the application deadline date.

Four Artists Awarded Grants to Foreign Residencies

Parsa Kamehkhosh

Parsa Kamendosh, photo Zahran Ehsan

The artists chosen for these residencies include visual artists Anastasia Artemeva for the Tokyo AIT residence, Parsa Kamehkhosh for the Tokyo Arts and Space residence, Gregoire Rousseau for the IFP residence in Beijing, and writer Tommi Parkko for the residence of the FILBA literature festival in Buenos Aires.

– At the moment I am working on several books and, next fall, probably on particular poems and a non-fiction book on writing poetry. The main thing about residencies is that you can focus on your own work. During this COVID-19 year, I have taken up writing in the middle of the woods. Being alone gives you an opportunity to focus, describes Parkko.

Besides the residencies in Tokyo, Beijing, and Buenos Aires, The Artspace residency in Sydney was open for application. However, during the latter part of the application selection process, in November 2020, The Artspace secured a significant, almost 3.5-million-euro funding to renew its facilities. Because of this, the Artspace will be closed for renovations until the summer of 2022, which meant that it was not possible to select a new artist for the residency.

– Due to the Coronavirus, the Cultural Foundation was forced to postpone all of its 2020 residencies to 2021, which is why selecting new artists was possible only for part of the residencies. Traveling to many of the residency locations is still practically impossible, and we can only hope that it will be possible to carry out both the postponed and these new residencies during 2021, explains Senior Advisor Johanna Ruohonen who oversees the residency programme.

– I hope that the situation with the pandemic will improve by next summer. This year has shown that we must be flexible and give priority to health and safety. At the same time, I believe that cross-border and cross-cultural communication is more vital now than ever, when the movement of people and information is restricted, reflects Artemeva, soon to embark on her Tokyo residency.

A working grant in a Cultural Foundation residency is 7,000 euros for a period of three months. An additional travel grant, the sum of which for remote residencies is 1,000 euros, will be awarded, provided that the journey is made by air. The Cultural Foundation encourages artists traveling to their residencies to choose as climate-friendly means of travel as possible, which is why artists bound for residency destinations reachable by rail and ferry traffic are awarded supplemented travel grants, provided they travel to their residencies by means other than air travel. In these cases, the travel grant to Asian destinations is 5,000 euros.

The residency programme of the Cultural Foundation currently features nine residencies in eight countries. The programme is being developed in co-operation with the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP). The artists applying for the residencies are chosen through a two-stage evaluation process, in which the receiving residency makes the final selection on the basis of the preselection made by the Cultural Foundation. The August application round for the residency programme received a total of 58 applications.

International experience can kick start an academic career

Text: Laura Iisalo
Photos: Laura Iisalo and Weldon Green

Fil. tohtori Crystal Green tarkastelee postdoc-tutkimuksessaan yhdenvertaisuuden toteutumista opettajankoulutuksessa. Kuva: Weldon Green

PhD Crystal Green is conducting her postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Photo: Weldon Green

A recent graduate from the educational department at the University of Jyväskylä, Crystal Green, headed to the United States with her family soon after her graduation. She is conducting her postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, funded by the Foundations’ Post Doc Pool. Acquiring international experience was a significant, but not an obvious choice.

– I was relieved when I had my PhD done, but I soon realised that it was actually just the beginning; it was as if I had just been born as an academic. Without sufficient support it can be difficult moving forward into a postdoctoral career when a mobility period and international experience are expected in the CV, she says of her experience.

In her postdoctoral research Green looks into how equality and non-discrimination are facilitated in teacher education. She has collected data at two teacher training sites, one in Finland and one in the United States. She will then analyse her findings in order to understand how equality is understood, and what is the role of teacher education in prompting social justice and equality in society.

Green finds it especially important that while marginalisation in a community is often abstracted or reported in quantifiable terms, it actually stems from real-life human experiences.

“Painful experiences can be used as a power to better understand other people and the situation they are in.”

– It was amazing and very emotional to witness pre-service teachers talk about their personal experiences of discrimination. These painful experiences can be used as a power to better understand other people and the situation they are in. Educator Paulo Freire used to say that education is about becoming more fully human, and we bring ourselves and our experiences into education. I also believe that ultimately the goal should be to humanise education, she says.

When her two years in California come to an end, Green hopes to return to Finland to continue her academic career. Her current goal is to become docent eligible by gathering the required evidence to meet the qualifying criteria.

– It is really well understood in Finland what the importance of teacher education is, and what it means to society. I also find academia there very open and forward thinking. It can get very competitive in the United States and I feel like I’m currently running a sprint. In Finland the research pace leaves more time for thinking, which I think is very important, says Green.

A multidisciplinary research community provides new perspectives

Tutkijatohtori Kreeta Niemelle myönnettiin säätiöiden post doc -poolin apuraha Suomen Kulttuurirahastosta, joka mahdollistaa lukuvuoden tutkimustyön UCLA-yliopistossa Kaliforniassa. Kuva: Laura Iisalo

Postdoctoral researcher Kreeta Niemi was awarded a grant from the Post doc pool for an academic year at UCLA. Photo:Laura Iisalo

Postdoctoral researcher Kreeta Niemi, who graduated from the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyväskylä in 2016, is also heading to the United States in October 2021. She chose UCLA because of its multidisciplinary research community – and also because so many pioneers and current top researchers in interaction studies come from California.

– Los Angeles is the mecca for conversation analysis, which is my main research method. Interaction is a very wide phenomenon, which requires a multidisciplinary approach and I’m very excited to collaborate with international scholars and colleagues from varying fields. But I’m not only going there to learn, I hope to give something to the community too, she says.

Niemi is planning to take with her the data that she has collected over three years in research funded by the Academy of Finland, in which she has looked into children’s interaction in modern learning environments. Her goal is to find out what kind of opportunities and constraints those entail.

There are currently 33 schools in Finland that are classified as modern learning environments, and in the future flexible and versatile spaces will be the norm. The trend goes hand in hand with the phenomenon-based learning approach, which aims to study problems stemming from the real world with a holistic approach.

– Studying in an open learning environment is more project-based, self-guided, and technology has a greater role. Those are all good things but require adequate support and guidance. At its best this kind of environment enables new ways to get closer to society and adapt to the evolving needs of the world, Niemi says.

She hopes that the research will give new information that teachers, educational professionals and, for instance, architects can use to develop more efficient learning environments.

– There is a lot of potential involved in supporting self-direction and community building but these spaces need to adapt to multiple uses, and enclosed spaces are also needed. In Finland the teachers are genuinely keen to develop learning environments and practices. A bit of time is just required for everything to come together, Niemi concludes.

The Post Doc Pool’s Spring Call is open from 15 Dec 2020 until 31 Jan 2021. For more information go to postdocpooli.fi/en

PhD Crystal Green received a Post doc pool’s grant in 2020 and 2021 for her research concerning Social Justice and Equity Promotion in Teacher Education.
PhD Kreeta Niemi received a Post do pool’s grant in 2021 for hes sresearch concerning Rethinking Learning and Teaching within Modern Learning Environments.

The results from the Säätiöiden post doc –pooli’s autumn application round

Fil. tohtori Lotta Jokiniemi sai Post doc -poolin apurahan syksyllä 2020.

Lotta Jokiniemi received a grant to for her research in Barcelona University.

Altogether 122 post-doctoral scholars from around Finland took part in the autumn application round. Thus a grant could be awarded to 25 % of the applicants.

Amongst others the Cultural Foundation awarded Neda Neisi, whose comprehensive study of the AMB supported rotor; Normal operation and rotor dropdown, received a 54 000 euros funding. Medical Doctor Lauri Holmström received a 70 000 euros funding for his study of Genetic underpinnings of sudden cardiac arrest due to non-ischemic myocardial diseases.

Doctor of Philosophy, Lotta Jokiniemi, will conduct her study in Spain, in the University of Barcelona. Her study of neutrino scattering of atomic nuclei in connection to new physics Beyond the Standard Model (BMS) received a 38 000 euros funding.

You can find all the Cultural Foundation’s post doc grantees here.

An important support for young researchers

Säätiöiden post doc -pooli has proven to be an important instrument of research funding which has enabled young scholars with families to finance research periods at top universities abroad. The grants awarded by the Pool are determined flexibly in accordance with the applicant’s needs and they often include their family’s moving expenses and children’s day care or school fees.

The Pool has a role in making Finnish research more international. After twenty-two application rounds over 600 scholars have already received funding through the Pool for at least a one-year research period abroad. One third of the grantees have received a two-year funding.

The Pool’s next application round will take place from 15 December 2020 until 31 January 2021, when some 1.6 million euro will be given in grants. The results of this round will be published in April 2021.

The Säätiöiden post doc -pooli was set up in the autumn of 2009. During the fourth three-year-period 2019-2021 there are thirteen foundations involved, allocating altogether 3.2 million euro annually to the pool. The Pool’s foundations are Emil Aaltonen’s Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, the Foundation for Economic Education, the Paulo Foundation, Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish Medical Foundation, Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and the Ulla Tuominen’s Foundation.

Further information: www.postdocpooli.fi, info(at)postdocpooli.fi or from coordinator Mikko-Olavi Seppälä, tel. + 358 400 868 006