University foundations

Joensuu University Foundation awards funding and grants for the following purposes:

1. Doctoral researcher to postdoctoral researcher transition funding

The grant is designed to promote further academic research and can be awarded to researchers who have defended, or will be defending, their doctorate on the Joensuu Campus of the University of Eastern Finland. The Foundation pays the grant to the unit where the applicant is or has been enrolled as a doctoral candidate, provided that the unit is prepared to employ the applicant.

In the application form, the applicant has to present on how the grant for a transition phase supports the applicant’s research career. A work plan for the funding period must be presented. 

Only researchers who have submitted their doctoral dissertation for pre-examination before the end of the application period can apply. Eligibility for the funding requires permission to proceed to public examination. Researchers who have already successfully defended their doctoral dissertation can apply for the funding within the first two years after the date of their degree certificate (at the end of the application period).

The maximum amount that can be awarded is EUR 24,000 per researcher, which corresponds to six months of full-time employment. The job-related salary element is based on job requirement level 4 (EUR 2,720.86 per month). The funding also includes a salary element based on personal performance, which amounts to between 6% and 50% of the job-related salary element. The funding must be spent by the end of 2025.

Budget: EUR 72,000 (usually one grant per faculty in Joensuu).

Application period: 15 January 2024 to 27 March 2024.

Apply for the doctoral researcher to postdoctoral researcher transition funding via this form. (form will be opened as the call opens).

2. International conferences on the Joensuu Campus

The grant is designed to promote international cooperation and networking by means of international conferences aimed at promoting scientific research and debate.

Applications must, as a rule, satisfy the following eligibility criteria:

• The conference promotes the areas of scientific research that are pursued on the Joensuu Campus
• A significant percentage of the participants are expected to be foreign nationals
• The language of the conference is English
• Credible evidence is provided on other likely sponsors of the conference as well as registration fees
• The conference is held on or in the vicinity of the Joensuu Campus

The following purposes and events are, as a rule, ineligible:

• National seminars with no foreign speakers
• Working meetings held for preparation for international research projects
• Conferences held abroad
• Researcher training courses and summer schools
• Events that have already taken place when decisions on awarding grants are made

Budget: 35 000 €/year               

Application period: 15 January – 27 March 2024

Please apply using the online application form.

Data protection and processing of personal data in UEF.

3. Regionally significant projects (co-financing or seed funding)

The Chair of the Board of the Foundation has the authority to award grants towards regionally significant projects within the budget approved by the Board.

Budget: EUR 20,000 per year

Application period: continuous

Joensuu University Foundation has its roots in Pohjois-Karjalan Yliopistoseura ry, an association formed by regional influencers in North Karelia seeking to support the establishment of a university in the region. Once that goal was achieved and the University of Joensuu established, the association discontinued its activities and assumed a new name: Joensuu University Foundation. 

When the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio merged to constitute the University of Eastern Finland in 2010, the foundation kept its original name. Today, the purpose of the foundation is to support and raise awareness of the activities of the Joensuu Campus of the University of Eastern Finland.

The foundation’s decision-making power is used by its board, which comprises the university’s Rector/ Academic Rector based on the Joensuu Campus, as well as eight other members, four of whom are selected at the proposal of the university.

The foundation’s assets amount to approximately 5.5 million euros, consisting of stocks, two forest estates, apartments and liquid assets.  The foundation's grant-awarding activities, which amount to almost 200,00 euros annually, are based on returns on assets and donations.

Postal address

Joensuu University Foundation

c/o University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus

P.O. Box 111

FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

Chair of the Board of Joensuu University Foundation

Academic Rector Tapio Määttä

Tel. +358 505751589

Email: tapio.maatta@uef.fi

Vice Chair of the Board of Joensuu University Foundation:

Professor Matti Turtiainen

Tel. +358 294455313

Email: matti.turtiainen@uef.fi

Executive Manager

Director of Planning and Development Soili Makkonen

Tel. +358 294458208

Email: soili.makkonen@uef.fi