The Research Council of Finland has granted continued funding for the GeneCellNano, UNITE and ACCC Flagships for the period 2026–2028.
The Research Council of Finland has granted a total of more than 3.8 million euros of continued funding to the University of Eastern Finland for three Flagships. The Research Council of Finland made the decisions on continued funding on 3 November 2025.
The Flagships are competence centres that create future know-how and sustainable solutions to societal challenges and promote economic growth by, for example, developing new business opportunities. The continued funding was granted for the period 2026–2028.
The University of Eastern Finland secured 1.7 million euros of continued funding for the GeneCellNano Flagship. The Flagship develops new biological drugs, so-called ATMP products, biomarkers and diagnostics for diseases with unmet clinical need. New treatments are developed for cardiovascular diseases and age-related macular degeneration, as well as for brain, ovarian and bladder cancer. The Flagship is led by Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala in the A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland. The University of Oulu, the University of Helsinki, Aalto University and the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service are also members of the Flagship.
As continued funding for the UNITE Flagship, the University of Eastern Finland was granted 1.49 million euros, with the entire consortium receiving 5.6 million euros. The UNITE Flagship, standing for Forest-Human-Machine Interplay – Building Resilience, Redefining Value Networks and Enabling Meaningful Experiences, – strives to build a climate-smart, resource-efficient, and human-centred society by promoting forest resilience, sustainable provisioning of ecosystem services, climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as meaningful life for current and future generations. The goal of the UNITE Flagship is to make Finland the leading competence centre in the forest-based bioeconomy and forest data, geospatial technology and gamification. The Flagship comprises the School of Forest Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute at the National Land Survey of Finland, and Tampere University. The consortium is coordinated by the School of Forest Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, with Professor Heli Peltola as the responsible Director.
In addition, the University of Eastern Finland is a member of the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center, the ACCC Flagship, which also secured continuation funding from the Research Council of Finland for the period 2026–2028, with the University of Eastern Finland’s share amounting to 615,182 euros. The ACCC Flagship focuses on research addressing climate change and deteriorating air quality. The mission is to contribute toward achieving carbon neutrality in Finland, EU and global societies, as well as contribute to mitigate air pollution to sustain a healthy atmosphere. The Flagship is led by Professor Markku Kulmala at the University of Helsinki. Professor Annele Virtanen at the University of Eastern Finland is the consortium’s Deputy Director.
