Emil Aaltonen Foundation - Scholarship

Emil Aaltonen Foundation scholarship

You get a working grant that funds one full year of research with no other job alongside it. The amount depends on your career stage: 34,000 EUR for doctoral research, 37,000 EUR if you finished your doctorate up to 4 years ago, and 40,000 EUR if you finished it 4 to 15 years ago. At least 30,000 EUR is a personal living allowance, including the roughly 13% statutory pension contribution to Mela. The rest, from 4,000 up to 10,000 EUR depending on your stage, covers research costs such as materials, data or travel. If you have no research costs, you can use the whole sum for living. The grant can run for up to three years, but is granted one year at a time, so each further year needs a new application. The Emil Aaltonen Foundation (Emil Aaltosen Säätiö), based in Tampere and founded in 1937, hands out around 7 million EUR in research grants each year.

Who can apply

• Degree level: You must hold at least one Master’s degree by 15 February of the application year at the latest and be a PhD student or postdoctoral researcher.
• Field of study: Open to all academic disciplines.
• Language and residence: The funding is aimed at Finnish-speaking researchers. Even if Finnish is not your mother tongue, you may apply provided that you are employed at a Finnish-speaking higher education institution or research institute, have a sufficient command of Finnish to communicate effectively, and are permanently resident in Finland.
• Where you research: You can also carry out your research at a university abroad.
• Other work: You may spend up to 20% of your working hours (roughly one day a week) on secondary employment, such as teaching in your field of expertise.
• Who applies: Only individual researchers may apply; institutions are not eligible.

How to apply

Apply online via the Foundation’s funding portal between 15 January and 15 February. The application deadline is 15 February at 23:59:59 Finnish time. Please complete the form in Finnish; attachments may be in Finnish or English. Letters of reference are not required but are recommended. They may be submitted via the electronic reference system by 20 February.

If this foundation grant is not the right fit for you, our guide Scholarships in Finland points you to further funding opportunities across Finland.