Finnish Concordia Fund - Scholarship

Finnish Concordia Fund doctoral work grant

You will receive a one-off grant of up to 10,000 EUR to support your work on your doctoral thesis. The total amount covers at least five months during which you have no other income and are working exclusively on your doctoral thesis. You must take up the grant within 12 months of it being awarded. It is awarded by the Suomalainen Konkordia-liitto (Finnish Concordia Fund), an organisation that has been promoting women’s studies and academic careers in Finland since 1920.

Who can apply

• Women only: The scholarship is open exclusively to women.
• Nationality: You are a Finnish citizen.
• Degree level: You hold a Master’s degree and are eligible to commence a PhD programme or a licentiate programme (a Finnish postgraduate qualification between a Master’s and a PhD).
• Unfunded work phase: To receive the full grant amount, you must work full-time on your dissertation for at least five months in the year of application without any other source of funding.
• No parallel funding: During the funding period, you must not receive any other scholarship, undertake any paid work or receive any other equivalent financial support.
• Field of study: The funded fields rotate on a two-year cycle, so not every subject is open every year. In even years (such as 2026) the open fields include life sciences, food and nutrition sciences, pharmacy, nursing and health sciences, maths, natural sciences and engineering, law, economics, political science, environmental research, architecture and design, and performing and visual arts research. In odd years the humanities, education, languages, psychology, social sciences and related fields open instead. The exact fields for each year appear on the provider's website at the start of January.

How to apply

Applications are accepted once a year from 2 to 31 January via the Fund’s online funding system. Applications submitted in paper form or by email will not be accepted. You must submit a copy of your Master’s degree certificate, a CV and a research proposal with a timetable, and two referees must submit their references directly via the system. Decisions will be announced in April; only successful applicants will be notified.