The first evaluation round, which opened on 1 Jan. 2023 and closed on 28 Feb. 2023, has been completed. The external reviewers have submitted their respective evaluations on the applications. Today, the Vice-rector for research has made a decision on which of the 30 applicants will go on to the second round.

Reko Leino, the Vice-rector for research comments on the first round of applications as follows:
“I am very impressed by the breadth and quality of ongoing research at Åbo Akademi in many disciplines and within all our faculties. I am also very pleased that the call attracted a record number of applications, even though some applicants could have benefitted from having had a broader focus instead of a relatively narrow one and thus developed a clearer alliance thinking and thereby possibly reach a more successful evaluation result”. Leino points out that external expert evaluations always evoke strong feelings. “I would therefore like to emphasize that the decision on which applications now will progress to the second round is based exclusively on the external expert opinions and their unanimous assessments of which applications most consistently demonstrate excellence. I wish everyone who is now moving on to the second round the best of luck. Together with our support organization for research, I will be happy to be of service to you all in other upcoming calls.”

Ruth Illman, the Director of research at the Åbo Akademi University Foundation summarizes the foundation’s investment as follows:
“The purpose of the investment in centres of excellence is to support research at Åbo Akademi that has the potential to create new, ground-breaking knowledge that is characterized by the highest possible quality and impact. The external experts have made a solid and diverse assessment of the many excellent applications that were submitted in order to put forth the projects that fulfill these criteria to the highest extent,” says Ruth Illman, director of research at the Åbo Akademi University Foundation. “The CoE units are one of the most strategically important and long-term forms of cooperation between Åbo Akademi University and the foundation when it comes to research funding, and it is gratifying to note how successful the call has once again been.”

The following applicants has been selected to the next application round:

Jan Antfolk

Psychology at the Frontiers: Asylum Interviewing and Decision-Making [Psych-AID]

Antti Laato

Texts to New Times: Biblical Argumentation after the Edict of Milan [BAEM]

Olli Lagerspetz

De-Legitimising and Re-Legitimising the Human Sciences: Empirical and Conceptual Aspects

Viveka Lyberg Åhlander

Consequences of Large Language Models in Higher Education

Peter Nynäs

Religion and Social Exclusion: A Cross-Cultural Approach and New Methodology [RELEX]

Jessica Rosenholm

Materials-driven solutions for combating antimicrobial resistance [MADNESS]

Tapio Salmi

Transformative Chemical Engineering [COE TCE]

Lea Sistonen

LifeInMotion: Centre of Excellence in Dynamic Tissue Repair

Pamela Slotte

(Un)Making Nordic Minorities: Centre of Excellence in Minority Research [UNMAKE]

Anna Törnroos-Remes

Centre for Sustainable Ocean Science [SOS]

Chunlin Xu

Cneg-BioRef: Carbon-Negative Biorefineries – Sustainable solutions for upgrading biobased residues and biorefinery side streams

Ronald Österbacka

BIOelectronic Control and sensing and control of Ligand-receptor InteraCtions [BIO-CLIC]