Vaikuttavuussaatio

Vaikuttavuussäätiö vahvistaa ja tukee huippututkimuksen vaikuttavuutta ja elinkeinoelämän yhteyksiä.

vaikuttavuussaatio

Maija Urponen Brings Expertise in the Interaction Between Human Sciences and Business to FRIF’s Board

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The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s (FRIF) new board member, Maija Urponen, is a human sciences researcher and entrepreneur who has dedicated her career to promoting the societal impact of research in various roles. During her term, she aims to strengthen the connection between human sciences and the business world.

Who are you, and what motivated you to join FRIF’s Board?

“I was a bit surprised when I was approached about joining the foundation’s board. But my response was immediate: ‘Absolutely, of course I want to be part of this!’ I was happy to accept because, for the past ten years, research impact has been a central theme in my work.

I have a background in sociology and hold a PhD in gender studies. For much of my career, I worked in research services at the University of Helsinki. I also spent time in the United States learning about collaboration between human sciences researchers and businesses. For the past three years, I have been an entrepreneur at Kaupunkitutkimus TA, a company that provides research-based knowledge and research collaboration to support sustainable urban development.”

FRIF’s new strategy places a strong focus on integrating human sciences into business. You have also explored this issue in your career. What needs to happen to make this a reality?

“One challenge in human sciences is that researchers and businesses often operate in completely separate worlds. The further a researcher in human sciences advances in their career, the fewer connections they typically have with the business sector. At the same time, companies are largely unaware of what is happening on the academic side.

For human sciences to be more effectively integrated into business, both sides need to gain a better understanding of each other. It is difficult to generate demand for human sciences expertise if researchers and companies don’t recognize what they could offer one another.”

What advice would you give to researchers in human sciences looking to apply their expertise in business?

“I encourage researchers in human sciences to actively network with professionals outside academia. There are many of us working beyond the university setting. For example, LinkedIn hosts many professional discussions on topics where researchers in human sciences have valuable insights to contribute. It’s promising to see more researchers joining LinkedIn, where business representatives are already active, as this shift could help connect experts across disciplines.

There are also many conferences and events outside the academic sphere that welcome researchers as speakers. These events provide excellent opportunities to hear about the challenges businesses are tackling—challenges where human sciences researchers could offer solutions.

Another effective approach is simply reaching out to business representatives for conversations to identify shared areas of interest. Nonprofit organizations can also serve as valuable bridges between academia and business, as they often collaborate with both sectors.”

Why should a company hire a researcher in human sciences or engage in research collaboration with one?

“Human sciences expertise gives companies a broader perspective on the society they operate in. Collaboration between professionals from different academic backgrounds can lead to new ways of solving problems or overcoming roadblocks that seem otherwise insurmountable. Most importantly, human sciences researchers excel at identifying new questions and challenging old assumptions—this can spark genuinely novel ideas.

Companies conduct various studies and surveys, but human sciences offer tools to extract even deeper insights from data.

For example, in product development, ethnographic research has helped create products that truly meet people’s needs. An ethnographic approach provides a deeper understanding of how a product fits into everyday life and where it might need improvement.”

Finally, what do you hope to achieve during your term on FRIF’s Board? What are you most looking forward to?

“My goal on FRIF’s Board is to support projects that connect human sciences expertise with business. At the same time, I want to ensure that these projects are meaningful for both companies and researchers.

Human sciences-business collaboration may require us to rethink how we approach research partnerships. It might even push us to redefine the role of innovation itself. That’s why I’m excited to see what kinds of projects and results emerge during my term.”

Check out here the stories of the other new board members and read how the outgoing members view FRIF’s impact and future.

Gyöngyi Kovács brings the voices of international experts to FRIF’s Board

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Gyöngyi Kovács is the Vice Rector for Research at Hanken School of Economics and a pioneering researcher in humanitarian logistics. On the Board of the Finnish Research Impact Foundation (FRIF), she wants to promote the integration of international top researchers into Finland and strengthen the interaction between research and business.

Could you introduce yourself and your career briefly? What inspired you to join FRIF’s Board?

“I’m Gyöngyi Kovács, Vice Rector for Research at Hanken and a professor of humanitarian logistics. I joined FRIF’s board through the Council of Rectors of Finnish Universities Unifi.

Even before joining the board, I was impressed by the kinds of projects FRIF is running. For example, the foundation’s TIA Seed funding for international researchers is an extremely important and interesting initiative.”

Could you briefly explain what humanitarian logistics is and why it is needed?

“I often say that logistics is logistics, no matter the field. In humanitarian logistics, the key issue is how to operate in crisis, conflict, and disaster areas and how to get aid delivered effectively. I have done research, for example, with the logistics division of the Red Cross.

I have been working in humanitarian logistics for a long time. When I started, there was hardly any published research in the field. My colleague and I wrote a paper on the topic for a conference, and it was selected as the best paper of the event! But what was even more important was that at the conference, many researchers told me they wanted to develop collaboration around humanitarian logistics.

Now, humanitarian logistics has grown into a huge field. The HUMLOG Institute, jointly run by Hanken and the Finnish National Defence University, is the world’s largest humanitarian logistics institute.”

One of FRIF’s new strategic priorities is to promote the recruitment and integration of international top researchers into Finland. You yourself are a top researcher who moved to Finland from Austria. How do you think this goal can be achieved?

“The integration of top researchers into Finland is crucial, especially since the number of working-age people in the country is steadily decreasing.

It is also important that international top researchers in Finland are not confined only to academic careers but also engage with the business sector. Sometimes it seems that top researchers and businesses still don’t fully connect. Of course, FRIF could support this by organizing funding programs and events that enable these encounters.

Companies should also better recognize when expertise is more critical than, for example, Finnish language skills. In very few situations it is necessary to negotiate in Finnish, but professional expertise is much harder to replace.”

The foundation also aims to strengthen the role of human sciences in business. How do you think this could be promoted?

“There is a lot of research and expertise in human sciences in Finland, but it does not always connect with business. I would focus on ways to promote these connections – that is one of FRIF’s key objectives.

The funding landscape also needs to evolve so that, in addition to technical fields, human sciences are better recognized.”

Finally, what do you hope to achieve during your term on FRIF’s Board? What are you most looking forward to?

“First of all, FRIF’s board is very well structured and balanced. It includes people from different backgrounds, representing both business and research. We have already had very interesting discussions.

I hope that I can amplify the voices of international researchers in Finland. A lot of expertise is wasted when researchers cannot do their work or network simply because essential information and events are available only in Finnish.

We are also seeing examples around the world where researchers face restrictions on what kind of research they are allowed to do. Finland could be a safe haven for researchers from all over the world.”

Check out here  the stories of the other new board members and read how the outgoing members view FRIF’s impact and future.

Book a coaching session for the Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc 2025 call!

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Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc (TIA Postdoc) call is open from 4 March to 14 April 2025. Read more about the call here and carefully read the guidelines before submitting your application.

Do you have questions about the application process or the evaluation? Experts from the Finnish Research Impact Foundation will answer applicants’ questions in one-to-one video meetings.

Book yourself a 30-minute sparring session with the Foundation’s experts using this link.

Please note that a limited number of slots are available. If you cannot find a suitable time or all times are full you can also email us or contact us by phone. See the Foundation’s contact details here.

The recording of the TIA Postdoc application info session on March 3, 2025.

The FRIF’s Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc call’s 6th round opens in March 2025

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The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s (FRIF) Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc (TIA Postdoc) call’s 6th round opens in March 2025. The application period is from March 3 to April 13. Applications must be submitted through the foundation’s grant system by April 13 at 23:59.

The guidelines and funding terms will be updated and published when the call opens on March 3.

We will host an information session on March 3 at 9:30 AM. Register for the online event. You will receive the event link via email before the session starts. During the session, participants will have the opportunity to ask the foundation questions regarding the application process. A recording of the information session will also be available afterward.

The TIA Postdoc funding is intended to support joint research between research organizations and companies, targeting ambitious, pre-competitive collaborative research projects that advance both top-level research and business objectives. In a TIA Postdoc project, the postdoctoral researcher works half of the project duration with the academic partner and the other half with the industry partner in close collaboration.

Upcoming Funding Calls

The FRIF will launch the second edition of the TIA Seed call in autumn 2025. The call was piloted for the first time in 2024. TIA Seed funding is intended for researchers who have recently entered the Finnish research funding system and wish to initiate industry collaboration. More details about the call will be published later.

The TIA Professor call will be held next in 2026. Further details and exact schedules for the TIA Professor call will be announced no later than early 2026.

Business cooperation provides a way to integrate foreign expertise and strengthen Finnish competitiveness

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The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has announced the first grants under its TIA Seed programme in 2024 to support the career paths and industry networking of two research scientists who have moved to work in Finland. The recipients describe the funding as a major appeal factor and as internationally unique.

Although the academic community is well known to be international through and through, it always takes time and effort for researchers to integrate in a new country. A recent statistical report on PhD Pathways commissioned by Finnish Education Employers showed that while some foreign PhD graduates stay on to work in Finland, a majority actually move out of the country post-graduation.

FRIF’s new Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) Seed funding is intended to facilitate the integration of new talent moving to the Finnish research and innovation environment from abroad.

The TIA Seed initiative is founded on the idea of strengthening Finland’s competitiveness. We need top-tier talent for domestic RDI activities. According to a February 2023 report from the Finland Chamber of Commerce, Finland does not rank among the most sought after destinations in international surveys of the preferences and willingness of the best international talent to move abroad. In the OECD’s talent attractiveness rankings, Finland lags behind all other Nordic countries and Estonia.   

TIA Seed funding is intended for researchers who have recently entered the Finnish university system and who are starting out their research careers in Finland. In their projects researchers work closely with at least two companies, fostering the exchange of expertise.

The first TIA Seed grant recipients were announced in November 2024. They were most of all attracted by the prospect of networking with companies and forming new kinds of business partnerships.

Professor Cecilia Nauclér, working at the University of Turku, collaborates with NADMED and Faron Pharmaceuticals with TIA Seed funding.

“I’ve never come across this kind of call before. Typically, grants for corporate cooperation are either projects awarded by one company to address a specific need, or else major EU Horizon calls. TIA Seed gives the opportunity to set up a project focused on experimental and boundary-breaking research,” says Professor Cecilia Nauclér. 

Professor Nauclér has been in Finland since 2022, following her tenure at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. She was drawn to Finland by InFLAMES, an ambitious flagship research project in human immunology.

Nauclér was positively surprised to learn that the project offered opportunities for networking with industry. “Interaction with companies creates a space in which new ideas are bound to emerge,” she says. But in order to establish partnerships with companies, you also need funding mechanisms that are designed for collaboration. 

It was through these informal interactions that she found the industry partners for the TIA Seed research grant project. “We’re super excited to start working together.”

The networks created through the research project pave the way for further research but also support personal career development. “The results of our research have extensive application in a commercial context, so I’m not ruling out a career in industry either.”

“It is motivating to understand companies’ real needs”

Anton Zasedatelev, the other newly-announced recipient of TIA Seed funding, is only just moving to Finland. He was recently appointed to the position of assistant professor at Aalto University, and in that role he will be leading the TIA Seed project, aiming to improve the speed and efficiency of processing large data volumes. The business partners in this project are Picophotonics, Reflekron, and Microsoft.

“When I applied for this role at Aalto University I was most impressed by the close interplay and intertwining of basic and applied research. I felt I could make a meaningful contribution and also learn a great deal from this kind of environment.”

Zasedatelev’s project combines quantum optics, semiconductor laser technologies and high-performance computing. This type of research benefits greatly from a multidisciplinary approach that brings together in-depth scientific knowledge and the practical know-how of companies. Zasedatelev is convinced that the project will help him build up networks in Finland and develop his own expertise.

“We researchers don’t usually have much insight into the real needs of business companies. Indeed, the big motivation for me is to better understand the actual needs of the industry and, in particular, the current challenges of companies involved in the project. This way we can learn how research can help solve them.”

More about the projects funded under the TIA Seed programme.

FRIF awards almost 700 000 euros in funding to professors – focus on integrating researchers arriving in Finland

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The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has awarded funding to support four professors’ research projects that tap into the data and expertise of their corporate partners. The grant recipients include both established professors and newcomers to the Finnish research funding system. The idea behind the new TIA Seed funding initiative is to facilitate the integration of new talent arriving from abroad into the Finnish business community.

In the image, Jenni Ervasti, Chief Researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Photo credit: Nina Karlsson.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) funding programme is intended to support collaborative research projects with corporate partners. companies. The TIA Professor and TIA Seed projects funded in the 2024 round are based around the professors’ own research ideas, giving them the opportunity to pursue their research interests and at the same time to make good use of industry data and expertise.

Funding was granted to four applicants:

  • Cecilia Nauclér, Professor, University of Turku (TIA Seed)
  • Anton Zasedatelev, Assistant Professor, Aalto University (TIA Seed)
  • Jenni Ervasti, Chief Researcher, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (TIA Professor)
  • Ismo Strandén, Research Professor, Natural Resources Institute Finland (TIA Professor)

The projects funded in the 2024 call are concerned with energy-efficient data transfer (TIA Seed, Zasedatelev); crop plant breeding models adapted to climate change (TIA Professor, Strandén); strategic work ability management (TIA Professor, Ervasti); and cellular metabolism (TIA Seed, Nauclér).

The corporate partners involved in the various projects are the Finnish pension insurance company Ilmarinen; Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd; NADMED and Faron Pharmaceuticals; and Picophotonics, Reflekron, and Microsoft.

Since the launch of the programme in 2022, TIA Professor funding has now been awarded in all to 11 professors. During the funding period the TIA Professor spends the equivalent of one year in premises provided by the corporate project partner.

Jenni Ervasti, Chief Researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and one of this year’s recipients of TIA Professor funding, says collaboration with a business partner provides an opportunity to develop new research questions: “Business cooperation opens up new research avenues but also offers new perspectives on studying work ability and disability. And new research questions can also pave the way to new research projects.”

Read more about TIA Professor projects here.

TIA Seed funding aims to support the integration of researchers in Finland

One key requirement for strengthening Finland’s international competitiveness is the ability to attract and integrate top-level research talent into the Finnish academic and corporate communities.

The TIA Seed funding initiative piloted in 2024 by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation is intended for researchers who have recently joined the Finnish research funding system, are early in their careers in Finland, and are progressing on the professorial career path.

“It’s important that researchers who are entering the Finnish research and funding system have the opportunity from early on to build up cooperation with companies. This funding programme is intended to support researchers in developing their networks and expertise so that their work is effectively integrated into the Finnish business field,” says FRIF Board Member Keijo Hämäläinen.

Professor Cecilia Nauclér, who previously worked at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, says the funding she received will allow her to build long-term relations, which in turn will support her further research. “It is very important for me as a new professor in Finland to gain from the expertise within our industry collaborations and to build new competence and networks that can impact on the future development of our projects,” she says.

TIA Seed funding is open to researchers who have been employed at a Finnish university or research institute for no more than three years and who have resided outside of the country for at least five consecutive years before moving to Finland. Applicants must be pursuing a professorial career and may not have received any significant research funding from Finland.

“TIA Seed funding provides a strong foundation for creating ecosystems between research organisations and public actors, which are crucial to promoting the impact of research,” Keijo Hämäläinen says.

Read more about TIA Seed projects here.