A climate change game, pollinator-friendly farming and a textile recycling transformation. In 2020, the Nessling Foundation awarded grants to projects that promote a holistic change in our current way of life.
In the Nessling Foundation’s autumn 2020 general call for grant applications, a total of 18 grants were awarded to PhD and implementation projects. This year, the new projects to be funded share the theme of change. From educationalists to natural scientists, the researchers aim to take entire industries in a more sustainable direction.
“The list of projects funded by the Foundation is a showcase that illustrates how different sectors are working towards a sustainable future. As the basis, however, there must be a solid understanding of both natural and human systems, which also supports the funding of basic research”, says the Foundation’s Research Director Minttu Jaakkola.
The 2020 call for grant applications had two parts. In the general call, applicants could apply for grants for doctoral theses and projects implementing scientific information. In addition to these, the Foundation opened a special call on the theme “The economy and human health in the planet’s ecological crisis”, which seeks multidisciplinary research projects. Now, in November 2020, we have published the PhD and implementation projects receiving grants. The results of the special call will be available in early 2021.
We received a total of 228 applications in the autumn for PhD and implementation projects. We awarded a grant to eight percent of the applications received. In making decisions on the funded projects we considered what kind of research and activities in this time will best help understand and solve the environmental challenges we see, and take us on new paths?
The number of grants applied for and awarded in 2020 was notably smaller than in recent years. There is a conscious decision behind the reduced number of applications: at the Foundation, we want to direct funding in a more focused way to larger and longer-lasting projects, so that the selected grant recipients have the opportunity to work more effectively and in the longer term.
