City of Helsinki Research Grants

The research grants are intended for post-graduate students with a Master’s or equivalent degree, working on doctoral or licentiate theses.  Junior post doc researchers are also encouraged to apply.

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Image: Julia Kivelä

The criteria for awarding the grant are the scientific quality of the research plan, its feasibility and the significance of the research topic for the City of Helsinki.

The City of Helsinki awards grants for research on:

  • issues related to urbanisation and its effects,
  • issues related to Helsinki’s economy, vitality and/or business conditions,
  • organisation and evaluation of services produced or ordered by the City of Helsinki,
  • Helsinki’s living environment, wellbeing, history, everyday life, and urban culture,
  • issues related to Helsinki’s internationalisation, and/or
  • Helsinki’s crisis resilience and preparedness for significant exterior changes. 

Research grants 2025

On Helsinki Day, the City of Helsinki also awarded research grants to 11 research projects. The total grant amount is EUR 73,000.

The City of Helsinki research grants 2025 were awarded to the following applicants and research topics:

Milad Malekzadeh: Enhancing Citizen Engagement in Urban Planning through Large Language Models.

Essi Strandén: Varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien ammattiin sitoutuminen työn induktiovaiheessa.

Yanxin Xi: Building Multimodal AI for Urban Imagery and Textual Data to Support Sustainable Development and Urbanization Analysis in Helsinki.

Ilona Kaitala: Ikääntyneiden asiakkaiden kokemuksia Helsingin kaupungin päihteidenkäytön huomioivista senioripalveluista.

Jenni Kuhta: Ammatillisen koulutuksen opettajien kehittäjätoimijuus: ennakointikyvykkyys, tietokäytännöt ja ammatilliset verkostot.

Paula-Kaisa Leppänen: Asuintonttien kasvillisuus ja sen ilmastovaikutukset - skaalaus yksittäisten kasvien tasolta tonteille ja kaupunginosiin.

Jiawei Zhao: From Proximity to Experience: Measuring Green Space Accessibility through Route Quality and Citizen Perception.

Anna-Riikka Rasa: Kielenoppimistilanteet työssäoppimisen ohjauskeskusteluissa sosiaali- ja terveysalalla.

Eurídice Hernández Gomes: Latin America in Helsinki: Unveiling cultural dialogues and identity navigation in the city social infrastructure.

Nanna Wackström: Fysisk aktivitet och motoriska färdigheter bland barn - Betydelsen av familjens rörelsebeteende, urban och rural omgivning och utomhusundervisning.

Boris Brander: Vernacular ritual magic and the magical class struggle of Tattarisuo coven.

For further information, contact Research Director Eero Aalto at tel. 09 310 35821.