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Research excellence at Tampere University

Tampere University coordinates four Centres of Excellence funded by the Academy of Finland. We have top researchers who have been granted with funding from the European Research Council (ERC). In addition, we coordinate an Academy of Finland Flagship.

Centres of Excellence

The Academy of Finland’s Centres of Excellence (CoE) are at the very cutting edge of science in their fields. A CoE is a research and training network that has a clearly defined set of research objectives and is run under a joint management.

Tampere University coordinates four CoEs:

In addition, Tampere University is a member of six other Centres of Excellence:

ERC funding from the European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC) funds excellent ground-breaking research. ERC grants are awarded by the career stage: Starting grants (STG) 2-7 years after the PhD defense, Consolidator grant (COG) 7-12 years after the defense and Advanced grant (ADG) more than 12 years after the defense. Proof of Concept (POC) funding is intended for exploring the commercial and social innovation potential of the previously granted ERC proposal. 

ERC funding at Tampere University:

  • Mikko Joronen, Dwelling with Crisis: Home at Spaces of Chronic Violence (HOMCRI), ERC-2022-COG.
  • Arri Priimägi, Light-driven surface shaping for holographic optical elements (HoloShape), ERC-2022-POC2.
  • Humeyra Caglayan, Time Keeping with Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials (TIMEKEEPER), ERC-2022-POC2.
  • Hao Zeng, From light fueled self-oscillators to light communicating material networks (ONLINE), ERC-2022-STG.
  • Arri Priimägi, Light-reconfigurable substrate for cell cultures (L-CELL), ERC-2021-POC.
  • Arri Priimägi, Multimodal Sensory-Motorized Material Systems (MULTIMODAL), ERC-2021-COG.
  • Olli Pyyhtinen, Ontologies of Waste: A Relational Study of How Waste Comes to Matter for Humans, Society, and Future (WasteMatters), ERC-2021-COG.
  • Dario Greco, dAta-dRiven integrated approaches to CHemIcal safety assessMEnt and Drug dEvelopment (ARCHIMEDES), ERC-2021-COG.
  • Robert Fickler, Twisted Ions – A novel tool for quantum science (TWISTION), ERC-2021-STG.
  • Matti Rissanen, Autoxidation of Anthropogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (AVOC) as a Source of Urban Air Pollution (ADAPT), ERC-2020-COG.
  • Timo Laaksonen, Photoactivatable Drug Releasing Implants (PADRE), ERC-2020-COG, joint project: University of Helsinki 60%, Tampere university 40%.
  • Eeva Puumala, Coexistence and conflict in the age of complexity: An interdisciplinary study of community dynamics (EmergentCommunity), ERC-2020-STG.
  • Paavo Rasilo, Multiscale Magnetic Models for Emerging Energy Conversion Applications (MULTIMAG), ERC-2019-STG.
  • Humeyra Caglayan, QUAntum nanophotonics in Rolled-Up Metamaterials (aQUARiUM), ERC-2018-STG.
  • Billy Brumley, Side-Channel Aware Engineering (SCARE), ERC-2018-STG.

Previously granted:

  • Eeva Luhtakallio, Imagi(ni)ng Democracy: European youth becoming citizens by visual participation (ImagiDem), ERC-2018-STG.
  • Johanna Kantola, Gender, party politics and democracy in Europe: A study of European Parliament’s party groups (EUGenDem), ERC-2017-COG. Moved to University of Helsinki 1.1.2023.
  • Arri Priimägi, Optical sensing of relative humidity using photoswitchable molecules (Optosense), ERC-POC-2017.
  • Tuomas Virtanen, Pre-Commercialisation of Sound Recognition for Surveillance Applications (Smartsound), ERC-POC-2016.
  • Mircea Guina, Advanced III-V Materials and Processes Enabling Ultrahigh-efficiency ( 50%) Photovoltaics (Ametist), ERC-ADG-2015.
  • Arri Priimägi, Tunable Photonic Structures via Photomechanical Actuation (Phototune), ERC-STG-2015.
  • Tuomas Virtanen, Computational Analysis of Everyday Soundscapes (Everysound), ERC-StG-2014.

The Academy of Finland Flagship Programme

The Academy of Finland Flagship Programme promotes excellent research and versatile impact arising therefrom.

Tampere University coordinates one flagship:

  • Photonics Research and Innovation (PREIN). The flagship focuses on light-based technologies and their applications. Photonics and light-based technologies play a central role in telecommunications, biomedicine, health care, energy and environment, manufacturing, and consumer products. The flagship is lead by Professor Goëry Genty.The other partners in the consortium are Aalto University, University of Eastern Finland, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland LTD.

In addition, Tampere University is part of two other flagships:

Profiling areas at Tampere University

The Academy of Finland grants competitive funding, often referred to as Profi, to Finnish universities to support them in strengthening their research profiles. The funding is aimed at expediting the strategy-based research profiling of Finnish universities and at supporting the development of the quality of research.

The latest funding round, PROFI6, supports four profiling areas at Tampere University:

Tampere University has received more than 40 million euros of funding in the first six Academy of Finland calls.

Read more about profiling areas at Tampere University