TURNS Funding Call 2026
TURNS Research Platform aims to catalyze transdisciplinary, innovative and impactful action for urban sustainability. To support new research initiatives in this field, TURNS offers a) seed funding and b) mobility funding for researchers to be used in 2026.
TURNS Funding Call 2026
- Application period: 1.12.2025- 20.01.2026
- Funding period: 16.3.-31.12.2026
- Total funding: approx. EUR 100,000
- Amounts funded: EUR 4,000 to 15,000 (seed funding); EUR 2,000 to 6,000 (mobility funding)
- Decisions on funding will be made in March 2026.
- Application form
Funding criteria
The aim of the funding is to support impactful research and activities related to urban sustainability. Thus, there are several criteria of how the applications will be evaluated.
- The seed initiative / research visit must be related to urban studies and support the strategy of Tampere University and the themes and objectives of TURNS.
- The main applicant must be a member of the Tampere University research community (career stage 1-4)
- Issues to be assessed separately in the proposal: multidisciplinarity, innovation and scientific courage (seed funding); scientific quality and significance of the visit (mobility funding)
- The initiative/visit should support the applicant’s long-term goals within academia.
- First-time recipients of funding are given priority within each type of funding.*
* If a person has previously received TURNS seed funding, they can still normally apply for mobility funding, and vice versa: someone who has received TURNS mobility funding can apply for seed funding. This does not affect the evaluation.
Note that TURNS funding may complement the services already provided by Tampere University, but it must not overlap with these. Therefore, do not send the same or similar proposal to the simultaneous DigiSus Funding Call 2026, but choose the call that suits your application best.
Those receiving funding are expected to either produce a post about their seed initiative / research visit on the Tampere Urban Research Perspectives blog; produce a TURNS seed event as part of their project; or make a presentation at one of the TURNS events. This will be agreed separately with each recipient.
We at TURNS encourage initiatives to include activities and public outreach aimed at the wider research community, stakeholders and/or the general public, and we are happy to help the funded initiatives to gain visibility for that.
Seed funding
Seed funding is granted for the purposes of applying significant external funding; for formation and establishment of multidisciplinary partnerships or consortia; or for other ambitious and high-quality scientific initiatives.
The amount of seed funding is EUR 4,000-15,000 per initiative.
Seed funding can be used to cover:
- The salary costs of the staff of Tampere University (as working time allocations)
- The fees of persons outside Tampere University (see instructions on fees on the intranet)
- Travel costs (see travel guidelines on the intranet)
- Billable domestic and foreign services and purchases (see invoices on the intranet; VAT 0%)
- Reimbursement of expenses in cases where invoicing is not possible.
The main applicant must be a member of the Tampere University research community. A part of the funding can be used to pay the fees of researchers at other universities / abroad, but only for justified reasons explained in the application.
The funding can be used for the salaries of people at Tampere University (please, confirm this from your supervisor/unit/faculty). Please, read through the procedures in intranet already before submitting the application: employment relationships. Any contracts are made at your own unit, and the costs are allocated to TURNS.
Mobility funding: Travel allowance and grants
Mobility funding is granted to the members of the Tampere University research community. The funding is meant for short-term visits (2-8 weeks) to foreign universities and research institutes.
The amount of the travel allowance / travel grant is EUR 2,000-6,000 per applicant.
The type of the mobility funding is based on the employment status.
a) The applicant for the travel allowance must be employed at Tampere University. Note that if the visit lasts for more than 30 days, then rules for working abroad apply.
b) If the applicant is not employed at Tampere University (e.g. people with resource agreements), they can apply for a travel grant. Note that the employees at Tampere University cannot receive the travel grant.
Mobility funding can be used to cover:
- Travel costs (see travel guidelines on the intranet)
- Accommodation costs
- Other costs (workspace costs, conference fees, and other direct costs)
- Tampere University employees only: per diem allowances based on Tax Administrator’s instructions. For visits longer than 30 days, see working abroad on intranet.
- Travel grant applicants only: other daily living expenses (max. 50 euros/day)
Payment details are agreed with TUNI financial administration on a case-by-case basis. Employees at Tampere University must comply with the university’s travel guidelines (see intranet). For others (that is, the applicants of a travel grant), funding is based on the budget presented in the application.
You do not need to provide an official information letter from the university or institute you are planning to visit. Please note that mobility funding is not granted solely for conference trips, yet a research visit may still include participation in a conference, PhD workshop, or a similar program.
How to apply
Apply TURNS seed or mobility funding 2026 by filling in the following form and attaching there your application document. Note that the main applicant must have a tuni.fi email address.
The application form includes following parts:
- The name, e-mail and faculty of the main applicant at Tampere University
- Possible working group members
- Type of the application (seed funding or mobility funding)
- Title and the public description (max. 300 characters) of the seed initiative / research visit
- Total sum of applied funding
- Attachment: application document* (pdf format, max 2 pages, max 10 MB)
* The application document can be free-form (max 2 pages), and it should include:
- Title of the seed initiative / research visit
- Name(s) of the main applicant(s) and possible working group members
- Public description of the initiative / visit for communications purposes (max. 300 characters including spaces)
- A short work plan (seed funding) / plan of the visit (mobility funding)
- Potential collaborators and research environment / network / team
- What are the short- and long-term objectives of the initiative / visit, and why is the initiative / visit important?
- What results can be expected? What will emerge from the initiative in the long run, and what are the next steps after the seed funding/ research visit?
- How is the initiative / visit connected to the themes and objectives of the TURNS research platform?
- A clear budget and timetable describing what the funding will be used for.
- If funding is planned for the salaries of employees at Tampere University, indirect personnel costs and overhead costs should not be included in the budget, but TURNS adds them to the funding for the favor of the project. For possible purchases, VAT is 0%.
The language of the application should be English. The application period closes on 20 January 2026 at 23:59 (EEST).
When planning the application, remember that all the funding must be used by the end of 2026 without exception.
Decisions
The applications are evaluated by the members of the TURNS Management Group and, if necessary, by external evaluators, with grades 1-5. The TURNS Management Group make funding decisions on 3 March 2026 among the applications with the best grades. Any conflicts of interest are taken into account in the evaluation and decision process. We reserve the right to reduce the applied sums. We will not comment on individual decisions.
The applicants will be notified of the decisions by 6 March 2026.
We will inform about accepted applications and publish their public descriptions on the TURNS website, LinkedIn, and other Tampere University channels.
More information
Please address any inquiries to the e-mail address turns.funding@tuni.fi.
Note that between 12 December 2025 – 7 January 2026 we can answer to your questions only occasionally.
This page has been updated on 1 December 2025.