The Foundation for Pediatric Research awards €255,000 in continued funding to Tampere University

“Clinical research requires both time and resources. This funding allows clinicians to devote more time to research and thereby improve the quality of patient care,” says Sauli Palmu, Head of the Children’s and Women’s Health, Diagnostic Medicine, Psychiatry Unit (COMP) within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology at Tampere University.

Over the next three years, the Foundation for Pediatric Research will allocate a total of €1.53 million to support pediatric research conducted by postdoctoral and senior research fellows in Finnish universities. This funding continues the model initiated in 2022, originally proposed by professors working in pediatric clinics in Finland. The model not only provides an opportunity to combine clinical work and research but also enhances collaboration between hospitals and universities.

“The funding model has enabled clinicians to pursue research on a part-time basis. It is often more effective to allow clinician-scientists to dedicate, for example, a specific part of the week for their research. This approach provides a more long-term focus for their research, while also enabling them to contribute to advancements in medical knowledge and patient care concurrently,” says Palmu, who is also a specialist in pediatrics and pediatric hematology and oncology.

The Foundation for Pediatric Research has pledged to annually award €170,000 to the University of Helsinki and €85,000 to the Tampere University, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Turku and the University of Oulu, respectively, for three years.

“Clinical research has been particularly hard hit by the decline in public research funding in recent years. With this donation, we want to support the continued pursuit of world-class research in Finland,” says Tor Bergman, Chair of the Board of the Foundation for Pediatric Research and holder of the prestigious Finnish honorary title of “vuorineuvos”.