The Research Council of Finland has selected 11 Centres of Excellence for the 2026–2033 programme period.
The Research Council of Finland (RCF) has selected eleven Centres of Excellence (CoE) for the 2026–2033 programme period. The eleven CoEs of the new CoE programme include research teams from thirteen Finnish universities and research institutes.
The University of Eastern Finland has been selected as the leader of two new Centres of Excellence (CoE) in natural sciences: the Centre of Excellence in Anthropocenic Chemical Ecology of Forests, and the Centre of Excellence in Peatlands, Climate Change and Ecological Restoration.
The Centre of Excellence in Anthropocenic Chemical Ecology of Forests is led by Professor James Blande at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland. In addition to Professor Blande, three other UEF researchers are contributing to the CoE with their own sub-projects, namely Liqing Hao of the Department of Technical Physics, Jorma Joutsensaari of the Department of Technical Physics, and Delia Milagros Pinto Zevallos of the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The CoE partners are the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Åbo Akademi University, the Natural Resources Institute of Finland and the University of Turku.
The Centre of Excellence in Peatlands, Climate Change and Ecological Restoration is led by Professor Eeva-Stiina Tuittila at the School of Forest Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland. The CoE partners are the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Aalto University and the University of Helsinki.
The aim of the Finnish Centre of Excellence Programme is to strengthen Finnish research by raising its level, contributing to its regeneration and promoting its societal impact. The research groups granted CoE funding by the RCF are scientifically first-rate research communities that have capacity for renewal and high societal impact. A CoE is a research community that is striving for or already at the international cutting edge of research in its field.
The call for Centres of Excellence attracted a total of 190 letters of intent. Of these, 34 applications were invited to the second call stage.
The full applications were reviewed by international expert panels. The reviewers also interviewed representatives of the applicant research teams. A preparatory group, consisting of members of the RCF decision-making bodies, and the RCF Board examined the applications and the review reports considering the objectives of the CoE programme. The decisions on the new CoEs to be included in the 2026–2033 programme were made by the RCF General Subcommittee on 29 October 2025.
Among the factors influencing the selections were not only the international reviews and interviews, but also how the candidates aimed to meet the objectives of the CoE programme.
Professor Kimmo Nuotio, Chair of the RCF Board and Chair of the General Subcommittee, said: “The Centre of Excellence call attracted a large number of top-tier applications in terms of both scientific quality and the objectives of the funding scheme. In making the selections, we also wanted to take into account the Finnish research landscape as broadly as possible. CoEs are extensive research clusters that build creative research environments, pave the way for innovations and train new talented researchers for the Finnish research and business sectors and for society at large.”
The Finnish Centres of Excellence in Research are jointly funded by the Research Council of Finland, universities and research institutes. Funding is also made available through a number of other sources. Thanks to the long-term funding provided by the RCF in collaboration with CoE host organisations, the funding effectively facilitates risk-taking and new initiatives. Another objective of the funding scheme is to strengthen the competitiveness of the units selected to the programme in applying for and securing EU funding and other international research funding.
Source: Research Council of Finland
