19.12.2024
SOS funds four innovative projects through its 2024 Project Booster Call
In an open call for projects focusing on biodiversity-related marine research, the Centre for Sustainable Ocean Science (SOS) at Åbo Akademi University awarded a total sum of 45 800 euros for four projects to be carried out during 2025.
Through the targeted Project Booster funding, SOS aims to foster collaboration and to support the exploration of innovative ideas and preliminary research questions related to the Centre’s mission. In the decisions given out on December 15, 2024, the evaluation board awarded SOS Project Booster funding to the following four projects:
Saving the Baltic Sea with law? (10 000 €)
Lead: Laura Ervo, Professor in Procedural Law, Örebro University and ÅAU
Meanings of archipelago forests. A co-productive art-science project with two archipelago secondary schools (10 800 €)
Lead: Otso Kortekangas, Researcher in History, ÅAU and Docent in Nordic Studies, University of Helsinki
Escape the heat: Microclimates and Heatwaves (5 000 €)
Lead: Sarah Rühmkorff, Doctoral Researcher in Environmental and Marine Biology, ÅAU
Modeling advanced primary production scenarios in coastal seas – MIMOSA (20 000 €)
Lead: Conny Sjöqvist, Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental and Marine Biology, SOS, ÅAU
In the call, SOS welcomed applications from both early career and established researchers in all fields. The projects could address any biodiversity-related marine research topic, provided that they boldly explore new avenues, work across at least two disciplines or fields, and include linkages to one or more of the SOS workpackages.
The 2024 SOS Project Booster Call is partially funded with a private donation from Timo Ketonen, co-founder of A’Pelago Experience. This was the first of three planned SOS Project Booster calls. The next ones are scheduled to take place in 2025 and 2026.
SOS is an ÅAU Centre of Excellence funded by the Åbo Akademi University Foundation during 2024–2028. In the Archipelago Sea and Åland Island area, SOS studies when and how human actions interact with marine biodiversity in creating wicked problems and aims at creating solutions for these challenges to support the societal transition to sustainability