North Savo Grants

Eligible Applicants

The North Savo Regional Fund supports scientific studies, artistic work, and cultural activities taking place in or focused on the region. The Fund gives precedence to applicants born or currently residing in the region. The Fund awarded a total of 1,160,000 euros in the January 2023 round of applications.

Applying for a Grant

You may apply for a grant on the Online Application Service and provide a reference on the Online Reference Service. All applications and references must be submitted to the online service before 4 pm local Finnish time (EET) on the deadline date. Applications and references submitted in any other way will not be considered. The applicant should familiarise themselves carefully with the application guidelines and make sure they have appended all requested attachments in their application. More information on the January round of applications can be found here.

Grant Focus Areas

It is possible to apply for grants in all fields of science and art. The North Savo Fund does not, in general, fund equipment acquisitions, travel, or ancillary staff.

Regional Fund Special Purpose Grants

Additional EUR 1 million funding for the study of cardiovascular diseases

An additional EUR 1 million funding for the study of cardiovascular diseases is open for applications during the January application period. The grant is open for application in all regional funds. Instead of selecting a regional fund, applicants for this grant must select the special purpose grant of the regional funds, that is the study of cardiovascular diseases grant.

Spearhead Projects

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.

Art for Everyone Grant

20,000 euros have been earmarked for Art for Everyone 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.

Local Culture Projects

A grant may be applied, for example, for projects focusing on local culture of the region and cultural heritage projects, such as documenting cultural heritage, showcasing of cultural environment, promoting urban and neighbourhood culture, and histories of local communities and societies, exhibitions, and events. Local Culture Projects grants may also be related to multi-location or independent-of-place local heritage projects, for home region may be taken to mean a natural environment, a built-up environment, social and mental environment, as well as a virtual home region, which a person themselves finds meaningful. Scientific research into a local culture is not considered a local culture project. Note that applicants for the local culture projects grants must choose the field of science or art that their work most closely relates to.

A joint project for sciences is available for application in 2024

The North Savo and North Carelia Funds will award a joint grant of a maximum of EUR 100,000 to a high-quality project combining human and social sciences. The project must include active parties from both regions from the university or from other research institutions. If you are applying for a grant for a joint project, select as the field of application the field that most closely matches the field of your project. In addition, from the list select any other fields matching your project. On the Grant page, select Special Purpose Grants > Joint Grant for Sciences

An application should be submitted to one regional fund only, not both.

Donor Funds

The grants are awarded from a general fund and those donor funds open for application in the next round:

• H. J. Aminoff Fund
• Kuopio Conservatory Women's Committee Fund
• A. A. Laaksonen Fund
• Yrjö Laukkanen Fund
• Maija Makkonen Fund
• Aili and Helvi Rissanen Fund
• Kalevi Silvennoinen Fund
• Natalia and Fredrik Trube Fund
• J. E. and Anna Tuovinen Fund

Grant Guidance

Grant-related enquiries should be sent to pohjois-savo@skr.fi. Enquiries may also be directed to Fund Officer Antti Niskanen and Piia julkunen.

Grant Decisions

The grant decisions are made by an administrative committee consisting of regional experts from various fields. If necessary, outside experts can be called upon to evaluate applications. The grant decisions of the January round of applications 2023 were announced on May 10th. Both favourable and unfavourable grant decisions were sent to grant applicants by email approximately two weeks before that. The 2023 grants can be withdrawn from 22 May 2023.