University foundations

Joensuu University Foundation awards funding and grants for purposes decided yearly by the the Board of the Foundation:

Grant policy of Joensuu University Foundation 2026

1. Initial funding for professorships

The funding is granted to cover the salary costs of new permanent professorships that renew education or research at the Joensuu campus. The grant amounts to 50,000–100,000 euros per year for a maximum of three years. The foundation's funding is co-financing. The funding available for professorship grants will be confirmed when the budget is approved.

2. International conferences on the Joensuu Campus

The grant is designed to promote international cooperation and networking by means of international conferences aimed at promoting scientific research and debate.

Applications must, as a rule, satisfy the following eligibility criteria:

• The conference promotes the areas of scientific research that are pursued on the Joensuu Campus
• A significant percentage of the participants are expected to be foreign nationals
• The language of the conference is English
• Credible evidence is provided on other likely sponsors of the conference as well as registration fees
• The conference is held on or in the vicinity of the Joensuu Campus

The following purposes and events are, as a rule, ineligible:

• National seminars with no foreign speakers
• Working meetings held for preparation for international research projects
• Conferences held abroad
• Researcher training courses and summer schools
• Events that have already taken place when decisions on awarding grants are made

Budget: Will be decided separately for each call.           

Call for applications and application form will be published in university´s intranet.

Data protection and processing of personal data in UEF.

3. PhD Researcher to postdoctoral researcher transition

This funding is designed to support the advancement of a research career and can be awarded to researchers who have defended, or will be defending, their dissertation on the Joensuun campus of the University of Eastern Finland.

Researchers who have submitted their doctoral dissertation for per-examination before the end of the application period can apply. Payment of the funding requires approved permission to defend the dissertation. Researchers who have already defended their dissertation may apply for funding up to two years from the date of their degree certificate (as of the end of the application period).

Decisions regarding the available funding are made separately for each call.

The call for applications and the application form will be published on the university's intranet.

4. Grants for regionally significant projects or events

The Chair of the Board of the Foundation has the authority to award grants towards regionally significant projects within the budget approved by the Board.

Application period: continuous. Please contact the Executive Manager Soili Makkonen, [email protected].

Joensuu University Foundation has its roots in Pohjois-Karjalan Yliopistoseura ry, an association formed by regional influencers in North Karelia seeking to support the establishment of a university in the region. Once that goal was achieved and the University of Joensuu established, the association discontinued its activities and assumed a new name: Joensuu University Foundation. 

When the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio merged to constitute the University of Eastern Finland in 2010, the foundation kept its original name. Today, the purpose of the foundation is to support and raise awareness of the activities of the Joensuu Campus of the University of Eastern Finland.

The foundation’s decision-making power is used by its board, which comprises the university’s Rector/ Academic Rector based on the Joensuu Campus, as well as eight other members, four of whom are selected at the proposal of the university.

The foundation’s assets amount to approximately 5.5 million euros, consisting of stocks, two forest estates, apartments and liquid assets.  The foundation's grant-awarding activities are based on returns on assets and donations.

Postal address

Joensuu University Foundation

c/o University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus

P.O. Box 111

FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

Chair of the Board of Joensuu University Foundation

Rector Tapio Määttä

Tel. +358 505751589

Email: [email protected]

Vice Chair of the Board of Joensuu University Foundation:

Professor Matti Turtiainen

Tel. +358 294455313

Email: [email protected]

Executive Manager

Director of Strategy and Development Soili Makkonen

Tel. +358 294458208

Email: [email protected]