Grant call 2026 closed – Application reviews underway in October–November
The Instrumentarium Science Foundation received nearly 400 applications for its 2026 grant call. The review process will begin in October, and funding decisions will be announced to applicants in January 2026. The most popular category was doctoral research grants, while the number of applications for the Silmu grant, aimed at companies, doubled compared to last year.
The 2026 grant call closed on September 15, 2025. In total, 399 applications were submitted, requesting nearly 15 million euros in funding. The Foundation has allocated 1.6 million euros for 2026 grants – the highest amount awarded to date. Grants will be distributed to research in medicine, medical technology, and related natural and social sciences.
The review process, carried out by external experts, begins in October. Funding decisions will be announced to applicants at the end of January 2026.
“Medicine and natural sciences are clearly the largest fields both in terms of the number of applications and the amount of funding requested. Natural sciences received 160 applications and medicine 158, together accounting for more than 6.5 million euros. Technology accounted for 73 applications with about three million euros requested. Eight applications came from economics, with a total of roughly 300,000 euros requested,” says the Foundation’s Secretary General, Markku Lämsä.
Applications by grant category were as follows:
- Fellowship: 27 applications (approx. €3.8 million)
- Post doc – Incoming to Finland: 18 applications (approx. €1.2 million)
- Post doc – Outgoing abroad: 26 applications (approx. €1.7 million)
- Silmu: 20 applications (approx. €1 million)
- Doctoral research: 307 applications (approx. €7.4 million)
The 2026 grants will be announced at a celebration event held at Astoria Hall in Helsinki on February 11, 2026. Be sure to save the date!