TURNS Funding Decisions 2024

TURNS funding decisions for the autumn 2024 have now been made. Read more about the funded initiatives and projects below.

In the first ever call, TURNS received 38 funding applications, out of which 19 were for seed funding and 19 for mobility funding.  The total sum of applied funding was c. EUR 300 000.

TURNS Management Board made decisions about this year’s seed and mobility funding on its meetings on 19 and 20 June 2024. TURNS has decided to grant the total of EUR 110 000 for 17 applications/applicants.

The applications were evaluated based on how well they met the purposes and criteria of the funding call. Special attention was paid on the multidisciplinarity, innovation, and scientific courage of the applications as well as their linkage to the topic of urban sustainability.

Funded applications

Seed Funding

  • Alatalo, Elina
  • Ameel, Lieven
  • Honkatukia, Päivi
  • Moshtari, Mohammad
  • Salonen, Kirsi & Ahtinen, Aino
  • Saloniemi, Antti
  • Taylor, Jonathon
  • Vinha, Juha

Mobility Funding

  • Hatami, Fatemeh
  • Kuusisto, Anna-Kaisa
  • Kyrönviita, Mikko
  • Lohan, Elena Simona
  • Steiler, Ilona
  • Uimonen, Laura & Siren, Elina
  • Vainikka, Vilhelmiina
  • Vanhatalo, Jaana
  • Wallin, Antti

Read here more about the funded initiatives:

Seed funding

Mundane Utopias – Embodied Knowledge Activating Sensorial Walks (Elina Alatalo)

Insurgent Spatial Practices -tutkijakollektiivi ja fema-taiteilijaryhmä syventyvät kehollista tietoa aktivoivien kokemuskävelyjen tutkimuksen suunnitteluun Hiedanrannassa. Kokemuskävelyt luovat uutta tietoa rakennetun ympäristön muutoksesta, siinä piilevistä valtasuhteista, arjen utopioista sekä kinesteettisestä eli liikkeen kautta syntyvästä empatiasta.

‘Talking to You?’ Building Sustainable Dialogue in Urban Civic Space (Lieven Ameel)

In a time of increasing social divisions and the looming threat of catastrophic climate change, building dialogue is as crucial as ever for our cities to become more environmentally sustainable and to help develop resilient communities… What does an interdisciplinary theory of civic dialogue, taking into account narrative and cultural studies as well as recent planning theory and cultural geography, look like? And how effective are contemporary efforts to build dialogue in civic space – do they create connections or antagonism, do they result in action or passivity?

Young People, Social Circus and Sustainable Wellbeing in the City (Päivi Honkatukia)

This initiative develops significant new perspectives on how urban sustainability and sustainable wellbeing can be supported through the creative means of youth and social circus. The objectives of the initiative include writing funding applications and developing an international, multidisciplinary network on youth and social circus research.

Social Innovation for Sustainable Development in Small Cities (Mohammad Moshtari)

This study investigates the social innovation as an approach to tackle sustainability challenges in small cities, with a focus on developing countries. It aims to provide customized, community-based, and low-cost sustainability pathways for areas with limited budgets and inefficient governance systems.

Re-Think Office! Co-designing and evaluating novel tools to support the young working adults’ personal and planetary well-being in urban environments (Kirsi Salonen & Aino Ahtinen)

This initiative aims to co-design and develop ecologically responsible ways of work at urban areas, supporting young workers’ well-being at the same time. The aim is to create relevant networks in the area of ecologically responsible ways of work to support human’s and planet’s wellbeing, and head to further funding opportunities in this area.

Uuden energian aika? Energiasiirtymän paikalliset ehdot ja vaikutukset (UNE) (Antti Saloniemi)

Hanke tutkii energiasiirtymän alueellisia vaikutuksia Poria esimerkkinä käyttäen. Ytimenä on tapahtuma, joka perehtyy paikallisiin strategioihin ja toimijoihin. Hanke edistää yhteistyötä tutkijoiden ja paikallisten toimijoiden välillä, luoden samalla edellytyksiä laajemmalle tutkimushankkeelle.

Zero Pollution Cities Funding Workshop and Public Seminar (Jonathon Taylor)

The EU aims to significantly reduce premature deaths attributable to pollution. This seed funding brings international pollution experts to Tampere to co-develop a Horizon Europe Zero Pollution Cities proposal, while also organizing a seminar and networking event open to the university community.

Preparation of the CEBB Project Application (Juha Vinha)

EU funding application for the CEBB project, which supports sustainable bio-based construction and urban renewal. The goal is to start the multi-year project in early 2025… The project promotes urban, scientific and societal impact and creates cooperation with different actors in Europe.

Mobility funding

Fatemeh Hatami: Supporting Ageing in Place and Enhancing Well-being Through New Mobility Solutions (Leeds, UK, 3 weeks)

Visiting University of Leeds with the objective of research collaboration, knowledge sharing, and network building. Under the overall goal of more sustainable urban environment of all ages, this collaboration has the aim of applying the synergies of the nexus of Social Sciences, Health Sciences and Transportation studies.

Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto: Creating Social Sustainability in Urban Communities: Migrant Befriending Schemes as Socio-Material Encounters (Newcastle, UK, 2 weeks)

Creating social sustainability in urban localities is in the core of inclusive and peaceful societal coexistence. Aiming for this requires practices of coming together with difference. Migrant befriending schemes provide one platform for these socio-material encounters of living together.

Mikko Kyrönviita: Travel Grant for a Research Exchange at Goldsmiths in London (London, UK, 3 weeks)

Matka-apuraha kattaa Mikko Kyrönviidan kolmen viikon tutkijavaihdon Goldsmithsin
yliopistossa Lontoossa. Hän tekee tutkimusta skeittauksesta ja ruohonjuuritason toimijoiden roolista kestävän kaupungin kehittämisessä. Vaihtoon liittyy yhteistyövierailut Exeterin ja Nottingham Trentin yliopistoihin.

Elena Simona Lohan: Secure, Sustainable, and Resilient Urban Planning through Wireless Signals and AI (STELLA) (Barcelona, Spain, 2 weeks)

This short-term research visit at the smart and sustainable cities CORE unit is targeting to create new collaborative paths, to form the basis of future Consortia for EU project applications, and to expand the existing TAU-UAB double-PhD degree agreements also in the area of urban sustainability.

Ilona Steiler: Digital Platforms and Transformations of Urban Street Vending: a Research Visit to Dar es Salaam (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2 weeks)

The mobility fund covers an exploratory visit of postdoctoral researcher Ilona Steiler to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The aim is to build an international team for a project which will provide new knowledge on the role of digital platforms for sustainable urban transformation in a global perspective.

Laura Uimonen & Elina Siren: Swedish Insights about Biodiversity in Urban Planning Research and Practice (Uppsala, Sweden, 2 weeks)

Vierailu Ruotsiin Svenska Lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) Uppsalan kampukselle biodiversiteetin ja yhdyskuntasuunnittelun tutkimushankkeisiin tutustumista ja yhteistyön käynnistämistä varten.

Vilhelmiina Vainikka: More empathic, intersectional encounters in urban youth climate activism (Manchester, UK, 3 weeks)

The three-week researcher visit at Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester Centre for Youth Studies & Department of Sociology. The purpose is to co-author, create network and organize meetings on urban youth climate activism to develop more empathic, intersectional encounters.

Jaana Vanhatalo: Delving into just futures of seniors in Manchester and Leeds (Manchester & Leeds, UK, 2 weeks)

Aging population is increasing. To create sustainable & just future, it is highly important to take our aging population into account. Aging should be praised, and seniors seen as an asset. Manchester has notable research & actions for just aging and Leeds hosts EFL conference on social housing.

Antti Wallin: Developing the green gap theory (Edinburgh, UK, 3 weeks)

The mobility grant will allow Dr Antti Wallin to spend three weeks at the University of Edinburgh as a quest for Dr Hamish Kallin. Dr Wallin and Dr Kallin will collaborate to develop a theory on how and where sustainable urban development investments are targeted, aiming for a high-quality paper.