Advancing Research and Building Collaboration: Short-Term Grants Respond to a Growing Need

The Fulbright Finland Travel Grants for Research Collaboration received a record number of applications for the academic year 2024-25, marking a 60% increase compared to the previous year. 

As Finnish citizenship in not required, the program attracted a diverse pool of applicants with representation from 25 nationalities, highlighting the demand for research grants in Finnish academia among Finnish and non-Finnish citizens alike.

Over the recent years, there have been significant changes in the application trends from Finland to the U.S. for both short-term and long-term grant programs. Short-term programs, lasting less than three months, have seen an increase of 33% in applications, compared to a more conservative 5% growth for long-term programs.

“Given the limited travel opportunities and grants available for early-career researchers in Finland, the Fulbright Finland Travel Grants provide invaluable opportunities for young scholars like me to gain essential international experience, fostering greater independence, enhancing collaboration skills, and facilitating the development of strong professional networks,” says Lotta Leiwo from the University of Helsinki, who traveled to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, on a Fulbright Finland Travel Grant. In Minnesota, she gathered essential research materials and built collaborative ties with Finnish Americans, whose history she studies in her research. “I believe this trip marks the beginning of what will be fruitful collaborations throughout my future career as a researcher,” Lotta adds.

Finnish universities and researchers often strategically combine the various Fulbright Finland grant program opportunities to support different stages of research collaboration. Katariina Sorvari from the University of Vaasa visited Suffolk University on a Fulbright Finland Travel Grant in 2024. In Suffolk, she was hosted by Fulbright Finland alumna Dr. Mujde Yuksel, who had spent the previous year at the University of Vaasa as a Fulbright-University of Vaasa Scholar.

“Fulbright Finland Travel Grant program has had a significant impact on my doctoral research,” Katariina says. “Engaging with U.S.-based researchers also opened exciting possibilities for future collaborations, and the visit strengthened the ties between University of Vaasa and Suffolk University,” she adds. She has also benefitted from the fact that University of Vaasa takes advantage of the Fulbright Finland Inter-Country Travel Grant Program which supports visits of U.S. Fulbright scholars from other European countries to Finland. 

In spring 2024, the University of Vaasa received an Inter-Country Travel Grant to host M. Berk Talay from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who at the time was on a Fulbright at the ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pontoise in France.

The Fulbright Finland Travel Grants for Research Collaboration program was launched in 2015. It was designed as a direct response to the feedback the Foundation had received from Finnish higher education institutions. Building on this initiative, in 2018 the Foundation introduced a second category in the travel grants: the Fulbright Finland Travel Grants for Institutional Partnership Building, with the purpose of supporting the development of long-term partnerships and collaboration agreements between Finnish and U.S. HEIs.

Read the whole Fulbright Finland News 2/2024!