Uniarts Helsinki’s first seed funding strengthens research collaboration
Vice Rector Ossi Naukkarinen granted seed funding of €27,500 to the research project Experimental Preservation of Unstable Artworks, led by Mika Elo.
Mika Elo’s research group examines how historical artworks can remain available for research and display when the technologies, bodies, spaces and systems on which they depend have changed or disappeared. The project establishes a multidisciplinary Uniarts Helsinki research group to develop and test experimental approaches to preserving historical performance, installation and digital art.
The project brings together methods separated across artistic and research fields – including conservation, reconstruction, reinterpretation, reenactment, migration, emulation and documentation – to investigate how artworks can persist under changing material, technological, spatial and performative conditions.
Mika Elo will serve as principal investigator, with Mikhel Proulx as co-lead and project coordinator. They both work at Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts.
Other researchers in the research group are Tuomo Rainio from Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts, Jukka von Boehm from Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, Kristiina Ilmonen from Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, Kıvanç Tatar from Uniarts Helsinki’s Research Institute and Harri Laakso from Aalto University.
Ambitious, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research
Six research groups submitted their application by the deadline. According to Naukkarinen, all the applications were interesting and had many strong qualities, but the application submitted by Elo’s group was assessed as the strongest in relation to the announced objectives and evaluation criteria.
The selected project needed to demonstrate research ambition, lead to clear multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary collaboration and provide a realistic plan for the further development of the collaboration. The expected outcomes of the seed-funded project are, for example, an application for competitive external research funding, a research publication (or several publications) or a new research initiative.
Seed funding supports the formation of new research groups
Uniarts Helsinki launched the seed funding scheme as a pilot initiative in September 2026. The aim is to strengthen research collaboration between different units and research fields within the university and support the formation of new research groups that bring together different fields of research. Collaboration between units was a mandatory requirement in the funding call. The involvement of more than two units was considered an advantage.
The call was coordinated by the Research Institute, and it was open for all Uniarts Helsinki researchers. A total of €30,000 was earmarked for seed funding in the 2026 call for applications, targeting one or two research groups. A maximum of €30,000 may be allocated per group.
The evaluation panel consisted of Vice Rector Ossi Naukkarinen, Vice Dean for Research Tuuli Talvitie from the Sibelius Academy and Vice Dean for Research Laura Gröndahl from the Theatre Academy.
Uniarts Helsinki’s next internal call for applications for seed funding will be in 2027.
“I want to thank all the applicants for their interest in the call and for all the interesting applications. I encourage all researchers to take part in the next application round,” Naukkarinen says.