Paulo Foundation - Scholarship

Paulo Foundation medical research grant

You will receive a personal research grant of 20,000 to 40,000 EUR to work full-time on medical research projects whilst on unpaid leave. If you are writing a doctoral thesis, the grant is usually 5,000 EUR. The amount is capped at a maximum monthly sum depending on your academic status: approximately 1,700 to 2,000 EUR per month as a student, 2,300 to 2,400 EUR as a PhD student, 2,800 EUR as a postdoctoral researcher, 3,300 EUR as a lecturer and 3,750 EUR as a professor. These upper limits increase slightly if the scholarship runs for more than four months in the same calendar year. In this case, you must take out MELA insurance, the Finnish social insurance scheme for scholarship holders. The scholarship is provided by the Paulo Foundation (Paulon Säätiö), a Finnish non-profit organisation based in Helsinki, which has been funding research projects since 1966.

Who can apply

• Nationality or residence: You are a Finnish citizen or are permanently resident in Finland.
• Field: You work in medical research, preferably in the field of clinical medicine.
• Level: You have a PhD or lead a research group. PhD students are also welcome to apply.
• Commitment: You will be conducting research as your main occupation whilst on unpaid leave.
• University: You can apply no matter where you study or work. Some named funds favour specific fields, such as ophthalmology, anaesthesia or lung-disease research.

How to apply

Applications are accepted once a year via the Foundation’s online portal. The application period runs from mid-August to 15 September. Decisions will be announced by the end of December.