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Aalto University boosts bold and new transdisciplinary research projects 

13 interdisciplinary teams got internal seed funding for research that boldly pushes existing boundaries and contributes to creating a radically new kind of future
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Aalto University supports interdisciplinary research consortia pushing transformative change. Photo: Mikko Raskinen

The new strategy of Aalto University encourages collaboration across schools and disciplines. To support this, Aalto invests over one million euros during 2022–2024 through its internal seed funding and research funding calls.

The seed funding for Cross-Cutting Areas and the Radical Creativity research funding call received altogether 45 excellent proposals, of which Aalto funds 13 research consortiums.

‘We believe in transdisciplinary collaboration and want to encourage it and support it with these calls. One of Aalto University’s greatest assets is the unique combination of different disciplines, which enables high-quality science and border-crossing innovations’, says Ossi Naukkarinen, Vice President of Research.

The seed funding for Cross-Cutting Areas got 19 proposals, of which nine research groups were funded. The funding encourages professors to establish new research consortiums and new collaborations and thus aims to enhance chances to get major external funding in the future. It sought to fund emerging research groups and support establishing a new international collaboration network.

The Radical Creativity research call received 26 proposals, of which four research groups were granted funding. The projects aim to provide tools, knowledge, and theoretical frameworks for future applications of radical creativity, or take a radically creative approach to their research subjects, familiar things like ceramics and vision, with the potential to completely transform the way they are made and perceived.

‘These are all novel, unique, and interesting projects that have the potential to create a radically new kind of future, as well as produce sustainable solutions to the challenges of the current world. In addition, the research projects are aligned with our strategy and strengthen our key research areas’, Ossi Naukkarinen concludes.

List of funded Radical Creativity research projects

List of funded Cross-Cutting Areas research projects

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More information 

Krisztina Cziner, Head of Platform Services
[email protected]
+358 50 3161028

Riikka Mäkikoskela, Head of Radical Creativity
[email protected]
+358 45 1313562

Radical creativity illustration: Anna Muchenikova

Radical creativity

We enable experimental activities that challenge the status quo. 

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