Research Council of Finland Centres of Excellence

The Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care studies the transformation of ageing and care of the elderly.

The care sector is undergoing a transformation caused by, among other things, digitalisation, globalisation and the ageing of the population.

The Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care produces new information on the care needs, agency and equality of the ageing population as well as the changing nature of care work. The research conducted by the centre also highlights perspectives related to the care needs of minority groups and financial issues related to care.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care is Teppo Kröger. The centre comprises research groups at the University of Jyväskylä, Tampere University and the University of Helsinki.

The Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires studies how the social identities of groups of people were formed in the ancient Near Eastern empires.

The Near East was governed by various empires during the period starting 3,000 years ago and ending at the start of the Common Era. Power relations and the current dominant empire affected the identity of people, or who they felt themselves to be, in a way similar to power relations between states and societies affect the identities of people today.

The research conducted by the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires increases our understanding of how power relations affect people's identity and lifestyle. The centre also develops methods in digital humanities in the fields of language technology and network analyses as well as engages local communities in the preservation of cultural heritage.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires is Saana Svärd. The centre comprises scholars from the University of Helsinki and visiting scholars.

The Antimicrobial Resistance pandemic is considered a major global crisis because it threatens human health, not only in the form of non-treatable infections but also by complicating modern medicine as we know it: Without protective antibiotics, it would be impossible to carry out procedures such as intensive cancer treatment, organ transplantation and prosthetic joint surgery.

The Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence in Antimicrobial Resistance Research takes a comprehensive approach to understanding determinants of antimicrobial resistance across scales from a One Health perspective that incorporates humans, animals and the environment. The researchers from different scientific disciplines will work in close collaboration in order to achieve the interdisciplinary scientific goals.

The director of the Multidisciplinary Center of Excellence in Antimicrobial Resistance Research is Marko Virta.  The centre comprises research groups operating at the University of Helsinki and University of Turku

The Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics studies how understanding molecular-level mechanisms can help to better predict, prevent, diagnose and treat complex diseases.

Complex, or multifactorial, diseases are diseases, often common ones, that are caused by a combination of several factors. These include cardiovascular diseases, various types of diabetes, mental health disorders and allergies. Finnish gene registers and unique population studies enable the use of large datasets in research.

The Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics is developing and planning to implement a new method based on large genetic and clinical datasets to better identify factors contributing to the risk of developing a disease or protection from one. The centre is also developing ways to apply genetic research outcomes in practice in the prevention and personalised care of complex diseases.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics is Samuli Ripatti. The centre comprises research groups at the University of Helsinki, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, and Harvard University.

The Centre of Excellence of Inverse Modelling and Imaging studies what kinds of mathematical inverse modelling methods can be used to solve complex inversion problems.

Inversion problems often arise from the need to ask simple questions, as it were, ‘the other way around’. For example, if a simple question would be “If we know the exact composition of the internal organs of a patient, what kinds of x-ray images could we get from the patient?”, the inverted question would be “If we have a certain group of two-dimensional x-ray images of a patient, what is the three-dimensional composition of the patient’s internal organs?”. Mathematical modelling that provides an answer to this question enables computed tomography in healthcare.

The Centre of Excellence of Inverse Modelling and Imaging produces new, efficient and theoretically sustainable solutions to practical inversion problems. The centre focuses in particular on issues related to medicine, geophysics, space research, remote sensing as well as environmental and climate research.

The director of the Centre of Excellence of Inverse Modelling and Imaging is Matti Lassas. The centre is internationally recognised as a leading unit in its field. It comprises research groups at the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the University of Jyväskylä, the LUT University, the University of Oulu and Tampere University.

The Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives studies how various narratives about Europe came into existence.

The current official European narrative was born as a result of 20th century crises. The EU was established on the ideals of human rights, equality and economic opportunity. The support of these ideals among Europeans has decreased while simultaneously migrants seeking to enter Europe are searching for the very same things.

The Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives increases our understanding of how stories and ideals related to Europe continue to play a role in the activities of the EU. The research conducted by the centre also highlights alternative narratives and gives a voice to groups for whom Europe represents something other than security, justice and economic opportunity.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives is Kaius Tuori. The centre comprises scholars based at the University of Helsinki.

The Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain studies how the cognitive, emotional, embodied, and interactional experience of music develops, and how music functions as a powerful engine of change throughout the life span.

Music is a source of pleasure, aesthetic enjoyment, and recreation that also engages the brain extensively, and that can enhance learning, social interaction, and mental wellbeing. However, the individual, contextual, psychological, and neural mechanisms underpinning the efficacy of music are not yet well known.

The Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain will provide new knowledge on the multimodal experience and mechanisms of music from childhood to old age as well as in different developmental, psychiatric, and neurological disorders across life stages. The centre will also develop new music-based methods that can support learning and improve emotional, cognitive, motor, and social wellbeing in both daily life and educational and rehabilitation settings.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain is Petri Toiviainen. The centre comprises research groups at the University of Jyväskylä and at the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Education of the University of Helsinki led by Teppo Särkämö and Minna Huotilainen.

The Centre of Excellence in Quantum Technology studies how to harness quantum phenomena in quantum devices and applications.

The Centre of Excellence in Quantum Technology aims to introduce novel approaches for control of quantum phenomena and to develop new and improved quantum devices in a situation where, in the near future, quantum technologies are expected to have a profound impact on our society.

The research of the Centre of Excellence in Quantum Technology combines experimental, theoretical and applied expertise in the field. New technological applications for the research are foreseen in quantum sensors, simulators, communication and computing, with expectation of significant scientific, economic and societal benefits.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Quantum Technology is Jukka Pekola. The Centre comprises research groups at the Aalto University, the University of Helsinki and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

Many problems in mathematics and its multifarious applications lead to strikingly similar -  universal - questions pertaining to random structures. The geometry of random structures is often fractal. Such structures occur particularly in statistical and quantum field theory, with magnetisation and quantum gravity as examples. Random structures naturally emerge  in the derivation of macroscopic laws of nature  from microscopic ones.

The Centre of Excellence in Randomness and Structures investigates such phenomena. The Centre’s  specific goal is to understand the analytical and geometric characteristics of random structures. As this research requires expertise in a number of mathematical fields, the Centre of Excellence will bring together a new generation of leading mathematicians to solve these problems.

Random structures also make an unexpected appearance in number theory, including the structure of the sequence of prime numbers. As the noted mathematician Paul Erdős stated: "God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers." Among other things, the Centre of Excellence explores the random nature of multiplicative functions and the Riemann zeta function.

The Centre of Excellence also conducts research aimed directly at producing applications by  developing high-dimensional statistics as well as randomised algorithms and their geometric understanding for the purposes of computational applications and machine learning.

Among other things, knowledge pertaining to random structures is used to model the flow of water in rock, with geothermal energy production as the application target. Another target for application is the predictability of the condensation models of atmospheric aerosols and, consequently, models used in predicting climate change.  

The Centre of Excellence in Randomness and Structures is headed by Professor Eero Saksman. In addition to the University of Helsinki, the research groups comprising the Centre of Excellence are active at Aalto University, the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Turku.

The Centre of Excellence in Stem Cell Metabolism studies how stem cell function can be modified by controlling their metabolism.

The metabolism of stem cells differs from that of other cells. We do not yet know exactly how stem cell metabolism affects their functioning.

The Centre of Excellence in Stem Cell Metabolism produces new research-based information on stem cell function and the significance of stem cell metabolism. Research conducted by the centre promotes the development of new stem-cell-based techniques, for example for treating ageing-related diseases, and for tissue repair, organ replacement and cellular-level therapies for diabetes.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Stem Cell Metabolism is Pekka Katajisto. The centre comprises research groups operating at the University of Helsinki and Karolinska Institutet.

The Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research investigates how taxation and regulation affect individuals, business operations and, more broadly, society, and how individuals and businesses make financial decisions.

The goal is to produce reliable knowledge in support of designing the tax and income transfer system. The research challenges previous notions on the effects of taxation on the behaviour of businesses and private taxpayers, potentially having a fundamental impact on social and public policy recommendations pertaining to a sound tax system.

The Centre of Excellence utilises extensive registry datasets, survey data and randomised experiments.

The unit is led by Professor Kaisa Kotakorpi from Tampere University. Also active in the Centre of Excellence are the VATT Institute for Economic Research and the University of Helsinki. Research is also carried out collaboratively with other Finnish institutions involved in high-quality economic tax research and top international scholars in the field.

The Centre of Excellence in Tree Biology investigates how trees take up and use carbon dioxide.

Trees bind carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through their stomata and use photosynthesised carbon for growth and development. Through their conductive tissue, trees transport the molecules produced by photosynthesis to various tissues responsible for tree growth.

The Centre of Excellence’s research will produce new knowledge needed for sustainable environmental policy.

Some individual trees are more effective as carbon sinks than others. Consequently, the findings of the Centre of Excellence on the genetic basis of the carbon sink effect can be applied also to forest tree breeding.

The Centre of Excellence in Tree Biology is headed by Yrjö Helariutta and comprises research groups based at the University of Helsinki.

The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space studies how space can be sustainably utilised for the benefit of science, technology and commerce.

An increasing number of small satellites are being launched into space for scientific, commercial and military purposes. However, they are rarely brought back from orbiting the Earth. Consequently, there was over 5,000 tonnes of space debris in the Earth's orbit in 2017. Due to space debris some orbits are no longer usable.

The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space produces pioneering research-based information in the field of space research. The centre is developing and planning to launch a fleet of next-generation nano-satellites that can withstand radiation and be brought back from the orbit.

The director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space is Minna Palmroth. The centre comprises research groups at the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Turku and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

The Centre of Excellence in Tumor Genetics Research studies how the patient's own genome affects the characteristics of a tumour.

Each tumour is different, since the characteristics are affected by so many things: the environment, gene mutations occurring in the tumour during its lifetime and the patient’s own genome. Finland has unique national gene registers, which enable population-level data mining and efficient tumour research from the perspective of genetics.

The Centre of Excellence in Tumour Genetics Research produces new knowledge on how tumours function. Research conducted in the centre promotes the use of genetic information in clinical work.

The director of the Centre of Excellence in Tumour Genetics Research is Lauri Aaltonen. The centre comprises research groups operating at the University of Helsinki, Tampere University, the University of Cambridge and the Finnish Cancer Registry.

The Virtual Laboratory for Molecular-Level Atmospheric Transformations, an Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence, investigates how aerosols form from gaseous compounds in the atmosphere.

The formation of atmospheric aerosols is integrally linked to two major challenges facing humanity: climate change and air quality. Namely, aerosols help cool the climate, but they also increase mortality through poor air quality.

A key problem in predicting aerosol formation is that the phenomenon is affected by an enormous number of compounds and extremely complex processes. The Centre of Excellence aims to establish an interactive virtual laboratory that will combine methods of atmospheric physics, chemistry and computer science.

The centre will produce new knowledge that can be used in climate-related decision-making and the development of technical solutions to improve air quality. The utilisation of artificial intelligence provides the opportunity to solve many unsolved problems in the atmospheric sciences, including the reactions responsible for the formation and growth of organic aerosols.

Versions of solutions to be developed by the virtual laboratory tailored for science communication also offer schoolchildren and the general public the chance to gain insights concerning not only the atmospheric sciences, but also the scientific method in general.

The Centre of Excellence: Virtual Laboratory for Molecular-Level Atmospheric Transformations is headed by Hanna Vehkamäki. The research groups comprising the Centre of Excellence are based at the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Eastern Finland and Tampere University.