General Grant Call 2026
The Wihuri Foundation’s general grant call for science, the arts, and societal activities is open 9.5.–31.5.2026.
Grants from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation can be applied for once a year through this call, which supports projects in science, the arts, and social fields.
Applications can be submitted through the Foundation’s online grant service only within the application period.
Funding is intended to support work, encourage new initiatives, and foster development across these areas. Grants are awarded broadly across different disciplines.
Please also see:
Guidelines for Grant Applicants
Evaluation of the applications
Guidelines for providing a reference
What kind of funding and for whom?
Grants are available to individuals, working groups of individuals, and organisations. Generally, working grants are awarded to individuals, while expense grants are provided to organizations.
Projects funded by the grants should be led by Finnish applicants, take place primarily in Finland, or have a strong connection to Finnish society.
Grants for Science
Scientific Work
Grants in the field of science are primarily awarded to support research work.
Applications are welcome for doctoral research, postdoctoral projects, and other research work. In addition, the Foundation offers a special homing grant for researchers returning to Finland after their postdoctoral phase, aimed at establishing their own research group. Research teams can also apply for partial funding for their projects.
Grants are available across all scientific disciplines and may support both basic and applied research. The only exceptions are medicine and biomedicine, as the Foundation promotes these fields through the Wihuri Research Institute.
Other Activities Advancing Science
Grants may also be awarded for projects that strengthen research activities or enhance the visibility and societal appreciation of science.
Grants for the Arts
The Foundation’s art grants aim to support artistic practice and to foster opportunities for society to engage with and experience art.
Grants are available for work in music, literature, dance, and theatre. We also support activities such as acquiring instruments, organising performances and events, or piloting and developing cultural projects.
We support visual arts by expanding the collection at the Rovaniemi Art Museum, as well as by maintaining visual arts residency programs and the partner museum programme. Accordingly, our general grant calls do not typically provide funding for individual visual arts projects or visual art exhibitions.
Grants for Societal Activities
Grants for societal activities support initiatives that help build an active civil society composed of engaged and participatory citizens.
Such activities may include youth programs, voluntary national defense work, cultural initiatives, or efforts to promote entrepreneurial skills. Other projects that contribute to strengthening civil society are also eligible.
How to Apply
Applications can be prepared and submitted through the Foundation’s online grant service during the designated application period. The 2026 general grant call will be open from 9 to 31 May.
Applicants will be notified of decisions by email by the end of September. Grant recipients will also receive official notification by letter. Grants will be publicly announced on the Foundation’s website on 9 October 2026.
Decisions on all grants are made by The Board of Trustees of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, with the assistance of experts from relevant fields in evaluating the applications.
Read more about the evaluation process
