Finnish Brain Foundation
What does Finnish Brain Foundation stand for?
The Finnish Brain Foundation is working towards building a future for Finland, where fewer people have to suffer from disease that affects the brain or the nervous system. We promote research with the help of donations, and together with researchers from different fields we aim to increase the understanding of brain health, brain disease and brain research.
We provide grants for scientific research concerning the function and diseases of the brain and nervous system. The application period for the Finnish Brain Foundation’s grants is each year in August.
The grant call for 2023 has closed. We received a record 208 applications. The application amount is 2,3 m € with the total grant amount of 250 000 €. We will inform all applicants before Christmas. Big thanks to all applicants and our donors who made this possible!
The Brain Foundation was established in 2009 by the Finnish Alzheimer Foundation, The Research Foundation for child psychiatry, The Neurology Foundation and Rinnekoti’s Foundation for developmental disability. In addition, Terttu Arajärvi, Professor Emerita in Child Psychiatry, was part of founding the foundation. The Research Foundation for muscle dystrophy was in 2014 merged with the Finnish Brain Foundation.*
Our operations are on all levels directed by our values: responsibility, professionalism and mutual respect.
Briefly about the subjects for our funding
Instructions for applying for a grant
Funding is intended for phd studies and post-docs and to individual researchers, the grant amounts in the past years have varied between 1500 EUR and 15 000 EUR. Grants are personal and they cannot be transferred to a third party. You can apply by submitting an application in the grant system in August.
Personal grants are intended to allow research leave for the recipient. However, the grant is not a salary for work done in an employment or service relationship. If the recipient of the grant does not have the possibility of a full research leave, the research can be combined with clinical work with the grant, as long as the research proceeds as planned. Applications may include research material or license costs.
Finnish Brain Foundation does not award grants for travel costs. The grant should be used within three years from the date that it is awarded. You can only apply for a grant from one fund.
Read more about grants, reporting on their use, taxation, social security, and communication related to the Brain Foundation grant research here (in Finnish).
Make a donation for brain research
Why does the Brain Foundation finance research of the brain and nervous system?
The brain is our most valuable asset. The brain cannot be replaced, and there are no available spare parts either.
Half of all women and every third man over 45 years will at some point during the remaining years of their life suffer from a severe brain disease. This concerns indirectly even more people – family members, friends and colleagues.
Brain disease is also our most expensive national disease. The annual price tag they cause for the Finnish taxpayer is around 11 billion euro. Brain diseases cause 4 times as many costs to society as heart and cancer diseases. **
Better brain health means an increase in work capacity and general performance, as well as lower risk of falling ill. An understanding of what mechanisms cause brain disease increase knowledge of how each one of us can take care of our brain health and how our national health care can identify brain diseases at an earlier stage than at the present.
Care that is based on scientific research in brain diseases increases our performance and ability to work, and it minimizes human suffering and the risk of falling ill. Cures can only be found with the help of scientific research.
*Free translation of all the foundations.
** Figures are estimates as there is no information of exact costs.
The BABA (Baby Brain Activity) centre, which operates in connection with the HUS New Children’s Hospital, is developing smart clothing to help measure a child’s brain waves and facilitate early diagnosis. The multidisciplinary research is partially funded by the Finnish Brain Foundation, and is internationally unique.
Professor Sampsa Vanhatalo and his team explore and develop smart clothing to study early functional brain development in child’s own environment at home. Smart clothing helps in the early identification and treatment of diseases.