Search the site
Search the site
Guidelines Contact us

Heli Keskikallio and working group, Shawbrook, 2019

In June 2019, we spent two weeks in the Shawbrook Dance Residency in Ireland working on a piece called Flesh Thing, an intertwinement of a performance piece and a fleshy painting.

Our working group consisted of four dancers and a choreographer. The aims of the residency period were to delve into the question of intertwining the sensuousness of a painting and a performance and to develop the corporeality and the bodily practice of the work. We immersed ourselves e.g. into questions of carnal being-in-the-world: How does our flesh resonate with each other and with the world? How can we practice carnal thinking? We already had two short working periods in Helsinki, so we were able to sink into the work and sketch different possible scores/compositions for the piece easily.

Flesh Thing by Heli Keskikallio and working group

Flesh Thing by Heli Keskikallio and working group

When we arrived at the residency, we were genuinely amazed by the beauty of the place which was surrounded by green fields and forests. We were provided with two studio spaces plus an outdoor forest studio. Our work consists of materials that are slow and difficult to clean and move. Having our own working space where we could leave everything at the end of the working day and then pick back up in the morning was a really nice experience that also gave us more time for creative pursuits.The environment was inspirational to us and working outside in the midst of the forest also affected us because of all the different colours and textures we encountered. We were left wondering how many different shades of green there can be.

Our days consisted of developing the bodily practices in the mornings, working on painting-performance and different scores/compositions in the afternoons and reading related philosophical and theoretical texts together in the evenings after dinner. It was wonderful to be able to live and work in the same place. It gave us the opportunity to immerse ourselves into our work with time and calmness. Additionally, the time spent together outside of the studio gave us the opportunity to get to know each other better which in turn, allowed us to discuss the evolving work more deeply.

The atmosphere was open and supportive. We were free to arrange our working time and spaces in a way that suited us best. Everything needed was at hand and the hosts of the residency were warm and helpful. They also organized dinners and get-togethers for us. On the last day of the residency, we held a performance of our work for the hosts. This was a very rewarding experience for our process as it provided valuable information about how the work could be in dialogue with its audience.

We are very thankful to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for giving us the possibility and support to attend this residency. We would also like to give a warm thank you to the residency hosts; Anica and Philip.

The working group in the residency: Heli Keskikallio, Krista-Julia Arppo, Johanna Karlberg, Karoliina Kauhanen and Elisa Tuovila
Other working group: Miki Brunou, Kristian Palmu, Bea Tornberg and Laura Valkama

helikeskikallio.weebly.com/

 

The January Round of Applications has begun, the Regional Funds will award a total of EUR 13 million in grants

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 new type of grant available

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.

Research shows: Residents with foreign background have more trust in native Finns than in countrymen

Samaa vai eri maata? Tutkimus viiden kieliryhmän arvoista ja asenteista Suomessa

A unique study on five language groups reveals that residents with foreign background have more faith in native Finns than in their countrymen. Also, they strongly trust the police and the judicial system as well as the educational and health care systems. Satisfaction with Finnish politics varies depending on language group. The English-speaking appraise political achievements the highest, whereas Somali speakers are the most critical.

These are findings of People of the same kind – or different? A study on the values and attitudes of five groups of foreign language speakers in Finland, a publication on values, attitudes, trust and identities among residents whose first language is Russian, Estonian, English (background in an English-speaking Western country), Somali or Arabic.

Authors of the report were researchers Ville Pitkänen and Jussi Westinen at e2 Research, and special researcher Pasi Saukkonen at the City of Helsinki. The study was based on more than 1500 query answers, around 300 per language group.

The research project was planned and financed by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, e2 Research, the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, and the Ministry of Justice.

More trust in native Finns than in own countrymen

The speakers of Arabic, Russian, Estonian and English have more faith in native Finns (i.e. whose first language is Finnish or Swedish) than in people from their or their family’s country of origin.

As an exception, the Somali speaking have more trust in other Somali speakers than in native Finns.

– The Somali-speaking form tight communities in the capital region. That strengthens their mutual trust, researcher Ville Pitkänen analyses.

Solid trust in Finnish institutions

Residents with a foreign background have strong faith in the school system, the universities and the health care system.

The speakers of Arabic trust the police, public officials and the judicial system more than the others do. Somali speakers, too, have high faith in institutions, although they have less so in the police than the rest of the language groups.

All language groups trust the President of the Republic more than Parliament or the Cabinet. Confidence in politicians and political parties is clearly weaker.

As many as three out of four English speakers actively follow Finnish social issues, and so do two thirds of the Somali speakers. Least active are the speakers of Estonian (36 %).

The ones most disappointed with political achievements are the Somali speakers, of whom 71 percent think that Finnish politics seldom achieve anything good. Only 12 percent of the English speakers share this view.

– Although the Somali speakers show the highest dissatisfaction with politics, they were the foreign language group that voted most actively in the latest municipal elections. Discontent does not equal passivity, Ville Pitkänen accentuates.

Finland’s independence is sacred to many residents of foreign background

More than half of the Somali speakers (56 %) feel that the independence of Finland is extremely important or even sacred. More than the other language groups, they emphasize being Finnish as part of their identity. The same is rare among Estonian speakers.

Three out of four foreign-background residents value Finland’s success in sports, as it unites people regardless of origin. They even give more significance to sports achievements than native Finns do.

– In many areas, contacts are scarce between native Finns and immigrants, but sports and sports clubs bring people together. Foreign-background sportsmen in blue-and-white give positive role models, Jussi Westinen assesses.

Positive attitudes toward migration – except among Estonian speakers

Almost all English and Somali speakers have a positive attitude to global migration. The opposite view is shared by a third of the Russian speakers and as many as three out of four Estonian speakers. A third of the Estonian speakers also see free mobility within the EU as more negative than positive. 

– The Estonian speakers, too, benefit from the internal migration, but those working in Finland may not perceive themselves as migrants. Also, many of the Estonian-speaking in the Helsinki Capital Region have a nationalistic set of values, researcher Pasi Saukkonen ponders.

Belief that success is up to the individual

The studied language groups share a strong belief in the self-made person. Some ninety percent of the Russian, Estonian, Arabic and Somali speakers think that it depends on the individual how they succeed in life. This view is far less usual among English speakers (74 %) and native Finns (64 %).

– The theme of one’s own responsibility and coping was strongly present in a recent Swedish study, too, which featured interviews of immigrants in suburbs of Gothenburg, Jussi Westinen tells.

People of the same kind – or different? A study on the values and attitudes of five groups of foreign language speakers in Finland is the second publication within the research project “Values and identities of language minorities”. The first report was published in September 2019. The research was based on 1527 query answers by individuals. Taloustutkimus gathered the material through personal interviews between 4 October 2018 and 31 March 2019. Authors of the questionnaire, analyses and research report were Ville Pitkänen, Pasi Saukkonen and Jussi Westinen. The report will be publicized in the lobby of Helsinki City Hall on 18 December 2019 at 9 a.m. The report is downloadable at www.e2.fi

For more information, please contact:

Researcher Ville Pitkänen, Dr.(Soc.Sc.), tel. +358 40 777 0869, ville.pitkanen@e2.fi
Special Researcher Pasi Saukkonen, Dr.(Soc.Sc.), tel. +358 40 334 4800, pasi.saukkonen@hel.fi 
Researcher Jussi Westinen, Dr.(Soc.Sc.), tel. +358 40 833 5799, jussi.westinen@e2.fi

A Pitted Ware Mystery

Some four to five thousand years ago, interesting folk populated the southern Swedish shore. The peoples of the Pitted Ware culture provided for themselves through hunting and small-scale plant gathering.

Unlike most ordinary hunters, they also made pottery, which they decorated with pits pressed into the clay.

Usually in history, agrarian communities have spread in fairly linear fashion to replace hunter-gatherer societies.

On the southern Swedish shore, however, early farming communities had already previously  existed before the appearance of the Pitted Ware hunter-gatherer culture. After around a thousand years of coexistence, the latter were eventually ousted by agrarian cultures arriving from various directions.

– We know that the Pitted Ware community were not farmers who had returned to hunting, but a separate society, explains population geneticist and researcher, Dr Tiina Mattila.

She is now using ancient DNA to explore the mystery of these late hunters, during a stay of at least a couple of years at Uppsala University in Sweden. The big mystery is what happened when the hunter-gatherers and farmers came into contact with each other.

Perhaps the technologically advanced farmers displaced the hunters, or maybe the cultures merged peacefully so that the hunters adopted the farmers’ technology and they procreated together.

Gender differences are an issue of note. If the farmers took over by force, they might have taken wives from the hunter-gatherer society, but the men would have met with an untimely end. This means that the findings from the switchover period should contain a lot of male Y chromosome DNA from the farmers and female mitochondrial DNA from the hunters.

– Even that does not necessarily signify violence. It is possible that lone men from the farmer community set out to these new areas.

Roughly speaking, the farmers were genetically close to modern Europeans, whereas the hunters’ heredity is less like ours. Modern Scandinavians probably possess a mixture of both in their heritage, and the project will help to build a clearer picture of this.

Ancient DNA can be found mostly in recovered teeth and bones. In old remains, DNA chains are broken into very short segments, but by comparing and combining them using computers, geneticists can reconstruct individuals’ original gene sequences.

DNA is composed of different combinations of four nucleobases: adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. Ancient DNA chain segments have a lot of thymine on the ends, because cytosine converts into thymine over time.

– Those chain segments are useless. On the other hand, they help us to easily distinguish the ancient DNA from modern DNA coming, for example, from the researchers themselves.

Tiina Mattila, PhD, received a 45,000 euro grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s post doc pool in 2018 for conducting ancient DNA analysis on Scandinavian hunter-gatherers’ remains in Sweden. Applications for the post doc pool are accepted twice a year. For further information, see postdocpooli.fi.

PoDoCo Doctors Support the Renewal of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

17 doctoral and business partnership projects are funded in the fall 2019 application round of the PoDoCo program. The program received 30 collaboration applications from companies and doctors who have recently completed or will soon complete their degree. A total of 134 grants have been awarded in the PoDoCo program since 2015.

– Especially small and medium-sized enterprises have been active and successful in the PoDoCo program. In this application round, 75% of the collaborative projects funded are focused on research and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises, says Dr. Seppo Tikkanen, leader of the PoDoCo program.

The transition time from research to business is shorter than before in the currently funded collaborative projects, as nearly half of the PhDs have been completed this year or will be completed in the spring. PoDoCo program has played a major role especially in the recruitment of doctors with foreign background to the private sector. In this fall application round, almost half of the PhDs are of foreign background.

The funded projects represent a wide range of disciplines and sectors, from medical to material technology and from applications that support children’s emotional development to active magnetic bearing. 

Weather forecasts with block accuracy

In the city, the weather conditions change from block to block. This is caused by different surface shapes. As the climate and environment change, it becomes even more important to understand the local weather conditions. Vaisala’s PoDoCo project is implemented in cooperation with the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Maria Filioglou explores in her research the wind forecasts of Helsinki using Vaisala’s new wind lidars for remote sensing of wind.

– The expected results of the project will provide information for the development of Vaisala’s Smart City business concept. The results will give a better understanding of how the best accuracy of urban environment weather forecasts could be best achieved on a block scale. Future citizen services, such as air taxis and drone-transport, need more accurate weather information to enable safer and more efficient operations, says Tapio Haarlaa, Head of Aviation, Strategy and Business Development, Vaisala’s Weather and Environment business area.

Studied plants for wall and table

Martina Angeleri, currently a Researcher of Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Turku, is studying the effects of light in small greenhouses in her PoDoCo collaboration with Plantui Ltd. The chemical composition and growth of plants grown in Plantui’s miniature greenhouses, which combine special light and aquaculture technology, has not been previously studied. The goal of the PoDoCo-project is to study the effects of changes in light conditions on the levels of vitamins and various antioxidant compounds as well sugars.

– In the project I am developing light conditions that affect the growth and taste of the plants. The idea is that everyone can enjoy the food they produce as they wish. I’ll start my research with lettuce, kale and tomatoes. The intention is to expand to other plants later. I look forward to the project because food science has always been close to my heart, and now I can integrate it into my research, Angeleri says.

Urban green infrastructure

Long Xie, a doctoral candidate from the University of Helsinki, has been researching microbial growth in vertical plants for six years. His PoDoCo research concentrates on the indoor and outdoor green walls and it is done in cooperation with a Finnish SME, InnoGreen.

According to Xie’s earlier investigations, beneficial microbes can have a major impact on the function of plant walls. In outdoor walls, especially stormwater management capacity is of interest.

– We hope that the results of the study will inspire consumer interest in plant walls and provide evidence of stormwater management in the new outdoor plant wall structure we have under development. The research is vital for InnoGreen in order to develop the best possible product for creating an urban green infrastructure and stormwater management. This lays the foundations for successful internationalization, says Mikko Sonninen, founder member of Innogreen.

Next grant application round in spring 2020

The next PoDoCo grant application round will be held March 1 – April 15, 2020. PoDoCo program is funded by Finnish Cultural Foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry, Svenska Kulturfonden, Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion, Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation, Foundation for Economic Education, KAUTE Foundation, The Paulo Foundation and Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. The total funding is up to million euros every year, which enables around 35 PoDoCo grants each year.

DIMECC Ltd. is responsible for the practical implementation of the programme. DIMECC is a co-creation platform owned by 67 leading Finnish companies, universities and research institutions.

Projects supported by SKR:

Applicant Company Discipline Grant (€)
Kihlström Minna Finnadvance Oy Medical and Health sciences – Medical biotechnology 21 000
Kulmala Antti Orion Pharma Oy Medical and Health sciences – Medical biotechnology 28 000
Li Shupin Aittokoski Experience Ltd. Social sciences – Educational sciences 28 000
Xie Long InnoGreen Oy Agricultural sciences – Other agricultural sciences 28 000

Additional information

PoDoCo program leader, Dr. Seppo Tikkanen seppo.tikkanen@dimecc.com, tel. +358 40 840 2780
Chairman of the PoDoCo Management Board Dr. Yrjö Neuvo, Aalto University, yrjo.neuvo@aalto.fi

SPARKS project will produce six works to be premiered at Dance House Helsinki

Finland’s first venue dedicated to dance will open its doors in the Ruoholahti district of Helsinki in late 2021. Opening of Dance House Helsinki will inevitably change the conditions in the field of dance in Finland. Dance House Helsinki’s premises and production structure will involve new artistic and production-related opportunities for professionals in the field. The SPARKS project’s aim is to learn the rules and patterns of the new operating environment together and find sustainable production models. The project’s budget totals €800,000, of which the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s share is €500,000.

“The Finnish Cultural Foundation has supported Dance House Helsinki since the planning stage, that is, from 2011. We have followed the project’s smooth progress and we are glad that, very soon, dance professionals will have a new venue to develop cooperation and create new content. It was easy to make the positive decision to support the SPARKS project,” says Jari Sokka, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

The project will produce three premieres, respectively, for the Erkko Hall that seats 700 people and the Pannuhalli stage that seats 250 people. The working groups of the productions to be selected for the Erkko Hall will comprise artists with a keen interest in large stage productions and who are willing to develop their ideas about the relationship with the audience on a large stage. The productions to be seen in the Pannuhalli stage will focus on facilitating the work of artists in the initial stages of their careers. The project’s focus of attention will be on a nationwide approach and embracing the broad spectrum of dance.

“For Dance House Helsinki, the SPARKS project’s launch will be the first significant initiative towards constructing our content. Simultaneously, it offers a huge opportunity for Finnish dance professionals to develop their work. Without the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s generous funding, it would be impossible for us to implement a project on a similar scale. We are extremely glad that we will be able to implement such an extensive multiannual project. We are confident that, in this project, exceptionally interesting content will be created for viewers to see. It is time to dream and think of the potentials now that the resources are in place!” says Dance House Helsinki Director Matti Numminen, describing his vision.

The SPARKS project’s application process will open in spring 2020 and the work with the production ideas is expected to begin in autumn 2020. Further information about the project’s implementation in detail, and the schedule, will be disclosed when the application process is opened.

Further information:

Director Matti Numminen, +358 50 467 0276, matti.numminen@tanssintalo.fi
Director of Legal Affairs Kristiina Rintala, +358 9 6128 1246, kr@skr.fi

Requests for interviews:

Head of Marketing and Communications Noora Kykkänen, +358 44 593 2460, noora.kykkanen@tanssintalo.fi

Five Art² grants were awarded in the August 2019 round

The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Art² grant is aimed at facilitating the provision of high-quality art productions to the public. The grant is intended specifically for exploring methods by which productions of a high artistic level can reach broader audiences. This can be done by creating new models for collaboration between the non-subsidised art field and existing institutions, by improving upon existing productions or, for example, by organising tours that reach a wider audience. The grant is meant for artistic institutions and registered associations.

These five projects were awarded the Art² grants in the August 2019 round:

  • Arts Management Helsinki
  • European theatre collective association
  • Poetry Society Nihilit Interit
  • Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux
  • Uusinta Ensemble

Collaborative theatre between immigrants and locals

With the Art² grant the international European Theatre Collective is initiating a three-year performing arts project that will give voices and faces to the fast-growing immigrant population of Helsinki and Finland as a whole.  The objective is to achieve a permanent performance space called New Theatre Helsinki (NTH), which will offer multiform intercultural art.

“The operating plan is adaptable in that the space could be established entirely independently, or in conjunction with an existing performing arts space,” explains the project’s leader, actor and director David Kozma.

The project’s aims include gathering all of the necessary resources, including the artists themselves as well as support personnel who will look after audience interaction, communications, marketing, finances and technology. Kozma also has his sights set on the Ministry of Education and Culture, which decides on government subsidies to theatres.

“Many of them live in an interim state. They are not in direct contact with their own culture but are not immediately admitted into the new culture, either.”

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area is home to more than 200,000 people with a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish. They represent more than 200 languages and a huge range of cultural backgrounds. The number of citizens of foreign origin is forecast to double in the area, making up a quarter of the population by 2035.    

“Many of them live in an interim state. They are not in direct contact with their own culture but are not immediately admitted into the new culture, either. In this way what they draw from their own and the new homeland’s traditions forms a third culture: Finland’s own culture,” Kozma says.

David Kozma is himself familiar with the interim state: the Romanian-Hungarian came to Finland for the Tampere Theatre Festival with the Andrei Mureşanu Theatre in 2005, and stayed.

The great population change has not been evident in the theatre business. “It would seem natural for the perspectives of the new arrivals and new artists to be visible in the Helsinki City Theatre. That has happened for example in Berlin’s Gorki Theatre,” Kozma says.

Even without its own New Theatre Helsinki space, the European Theatre Collective is currently producing a series of performances entitled Invisible Finland. It draws attention to professional groups with large proportions of international workers.

The construction industry, for example, has many people who are employed by subcontractors and shift from one building site to another. Many speak no Finnish at all. The performance “The Builders” was based on interviews conducted by Kozma, the Swedish-speaking Finn Nina-Maria Häggblom and the Estonian Piret Jaaksi.  “We hope to carry on with similar collaborations between people from diverse backgrounds,” Kozma explains.

The next instalment will be “Drivers”, in December. It is a monologue based on stories told to a group of writers by tram and bus drivers, as well as food delivery riders.

Leave no friend behind – it’s time to talk about Finland and the world.

The world has become increasingly polarised, and now is the time to sit down and have a constructive discussion on how Finland is doing. We want to hear what you have to say, and Finland needs to hear what we all have to say.

This year, the first-ever Timeout Week will provide you with the opportunity to discuss things in a new and constructive way. To help you achieve this, we want to provide you with the Timeout Discussion Method.

You can arrange a Timeout Discussion at your place of work, home, school, association or organisation, and help bring people from all walks of life to the same table. You can invite your friends, colleagues, students, parents, work communities and neighbours. Especially people who you maybe don’t know too well. The discussion can be arranged in English, Finnish or Swedish.

The Timeout Foundation will provide all those who sign up with the following:

  • An inspiring and fact-based introduction to the method
  • Instructions on how to title and plan your 1–4-hour discussion 
  • “The Ground Rules for a Constructive Discussion” that will help structure your talk
  • An easy-to-use online form to collect and summarise the ideas that were generated during your discussion
  • Further guidance whenever necessary
  • The material package and instructions will be sent to the organisers of the discussions at the beginning of November.

You will be responsible for finding a space and enough seating, inviting your participants, leading the discussion, and reporting the results of your discussion to the Timeout Foundation – as well as brewing enough coffee and tea, and maybe serving a bun or festive pastry to go with them. You can also encourage other people to host their own discussions!

Every person who arranges a Timeout Discussion will be nominated for the Finnish Dialogue Act of 2019 Award. The Finnish Dialogue Act Award will be given on Valentine’s Day 2020.

The Timeout weeks on Finnishness will be arranged every year between 2019 and 2021 on the week of Finland’s Independence Day. A summary of the ideas that are generated in these discussions during this three-year period will be distributed to Finnish decision-makers and societal actors. Together, we can create an even better Finland!

Sign up by 4 December at www.eratauko.fi

For more information, please contact: Coordinator Anna Väänänen, anna.vaananen@eratauko.fi  

The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s October round of grant applications is now open

In 2020, the Cultural Foundation will award a total of 44 million euros in grants, of which 24 million euros in the Central Fund October round of applications and 1.2 million in the March and August rounds. A further 2 million will be awarded through pools and 4 million earmarked for other special targets. The regional funds will award 13 million euros in the January round of applications.

– All Finnish nationals, people and organisations residing or operating in Finland are eligible to apply. Clear, strong ties to Finland or Finnish culture demonstrate adequate grounds for applying, as well, encourages Director Juhana Lassila from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

The full-year grant sum has been increased to 26 000 euros in both science and arts, while the post doc -grant stands at 30 000 euros. For the first time the application round includes four- and two-year grants in addition to earlier working grants.

Both grant flexibility and its range of uses are being expanded. For example, unlike earlier, a grant can now be awarded for a scientific or artistic project to be carried out in addition to full-time gainful employment, provided the project is not related to the full-time employment. The scale of the project is not specified, but a single so-called passion grant is limited to 3 000 euros.

The science grants are aimed particularly at doctoral dissertation work and post doc scientific research. For PhD students, the Finnish Cultural Foundation offers an opportunity to combine a grant with 50-56% gainful employment with a university or other research institute so that these together enable full-time post-graduate studies. During the application process, there need not be a standing contract with the university; the grant may be applied for full-time work and then retrospectively changed to part-time, which doubles the duration of the grant.

Special targets and large-scale projects in Arts

Artists are eligible to apply for grants for work and projects, and, in addition, organisations can apply for grants to carry out cultural projects. The October round of applications features the Eminentia and Art for Institutions grants. The Eminentia grants are intended for reflection on experiences gained in the course of one’s career, for sharing one’s life’s work in popular form, or for work showing initiative in increasing the social significance of culture. The purpose of Art for Institutions grants is to promote cultural equality and improve the quality of life of people in need of special care or treatment through arts.

– In arts, we also encourage grant applications for larger-scale, multi-year projects. The Cultural Foundation does not determine actual emphases for large-scale projects but hopes for high-quality projects in all fields of art as well as between different fields, reminds Jari Sokka, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

The Central Fund of the Cultural Foundation’s October round of applications will be open between October 1 and 31 2019. An application can be submitted here. The Online Application Service closes on the deadline date at 4 pm Finnish time (Eastern European Time). References connected with applications must also be submitted before this deadline.

Additional funding for research focusing on future energy markets or the technological revolution

The October round of applications includes ca. one million euro additional funding for research concentrating on future energy markets and/or the technological revolution. This additional funding will support between one and five research projects. The funding will be awarded for a maximum of three years and can be used for doctoral dissertation students and post doc researchers’ working grants and other expenses arising from the research. You can find more information here.

Sign up for the Ask and Apply Info Session

Applicants are welcome to an Ask and Apply Info Session, where help is available for drafting applications and any possible questions can be answered. These sessions are held in the Seminar Room of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma on Tuesday October 22 and Wednesday October 23 at 2-4 pm. Registration is mandatory for either session and 30 places are available on a first come, first served basis. Applicants should bring their own laptops or tablets. Registrations are binding and can be found at skr.fi/klinikat.

You can find detailed guidelines on how to apply and further information here.

Screening for Drugs that Have Adverse Interaction Effects

Proviisori ja kliinisen farmakologian väitöskirjatutkija Helinä Kahma. Kuva: Anna Bui

A pharmacist and a doctorand Helinä Kahma.

When a person takes medicine, it stays in the body for a while having an effect, until it is eliminated. From the body’s point of view, medicine is a foreign substance that must be expelled.

Medicines, i.e. drugs, are often eliminated from the body using CYP enzymes, which are mostly produced in the liver. The CYP enzymes break down the drug into a water-soluble form, which makes it easy to excrete in urine.

When drugs are “antagonistic”, i.e. their combined effect is adverse, it is often due to the fact that one of the drugs acts as an “inhibitor”, competing for the same CYP enzyme with another drug, the “victim drug”. In such cases, the victim drug cannot be excreted normally from the organism and when the drug is taken, its concentration can rise uncontrollably and unpredictably.

When the inhibitor is removed from the organism, the CYP enzymes are usually immediately freed up and start to work on the excretion of the victim drug, according to normal procedure.

There has been a lot of research on drug interactions, and these days drug manufacturers make it known if a product is a CYP inhibitor and must be used with caution in combination with other drugs. Certain pharmaceutical products with particularly dangerous interactive effects have also been removed from the market altogether.

– Some drugs destroy CYP enzymes entirely. This means that the victim drug cannot be eliminated until the liver has had time to produce enough new enzyme. That may take a long time, explains Helinä Kahma, Pharmacist and PhD candidate in Clinical Pharmacology.

This is known as mechanism-based inhibition (MBI). It is a less common, more troublesome CYP interaction, which has been researched less than more common forms of CYP inhibition.

In her PhD work, Kahma is developing a method for easily screening drugs causing MBI.

– These days pharmaceutical developers do take MBI into account, but there are still many drugs on the market that have not been thoroughly examined from this perspective.

Kahma is conducting her research at Biomedicum 1 in Meilahti, Helsinki. There she has access to a drug-screening robot. It can quickly process microplates, which are plates consisting of various “wells” in which various substances can be examined.

The wells are filled with a cocktail of “goo” isolated from the liver and victim drugs requiring diverse CYP enzymes. Then different drugs are added to each well to find out whether it affects the interaction between the victim drug and the CYP enzyme. If it does, it may be a potential inhibitor.

The biggest challenge in the project has been fine-tuning various details of the robotic process.

“A robot is not always as swift to adapt to timed pipetting series as human hands.”

Another challenge is the consistency of biological samples. 

–The solution at the bottom of the wells needs to be stirred occasionally. With water-based solutions this is not usually a problem, but stirring makes the liver isolate foamy, Kahma explains.

Kahma is screening dozens of drugs using microplates as part of her PhD project, but the plan is to extend the research to hundreds of new drugs afterwards.

During her PhD project, Kahma intends to make the process as efficient as possible. This is why enough time must be spent on solving issues like the foaming.

If and when potential inhibitors are found, the findings will be verified using clinical trials on healthy volunteers.

– Results obtained using microplates won’t tell us if the findings are clinically significant.

Kahma (*1985) went on from school to study Pharmacy at the University of Helsinki, because she was interested in science and medicine but did not want to become a doctor. Her diploma work in Pharmacy was related to drug interactions, and she also completed her Master’s thesis on the subject for the pharmaceutical company Orion. That was when she heard about the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Meilahti and applied to carry out PhD research on MBIs there in 2015.

She is getting towards the end of her research, but she is likely to continue working in Meilahti on drug interactions and the microplate robot after that.

Text: Antti Kivimäki
Pics: Anna Bui

Helinä Kahma received a EUR 24 000 in 2019 for her doctoral thesis about drugs that have adverse effects when used together following a less common and lesser-known mechanism.