10.12.2019
The Academy of Finland awards grants to study of public opinion and bioimaging
The research consortium The Finnish Research Infrastructure for Public Opinion (FIRIPO) led by Kimmo Grönlund, Professor of Political Science at Åbo Akademi University, has received a grant of 774 000 euros from The Academy of Finland. Professor John Eriksson and project leader Gleb Grebnev also receive a total of 980 000 euros (490 000 euros each) for development of the Finnish node within Euro-BioImaging ERIC.
The research period for FIRIPO is 1.1.2020–31.12.2022 and ÅAU’s share is 357 000 euros. Heikki Kauppi at the University of Turku and Kaisa Herne at the University of Tampere as partners in the consortium.
FIRIPO is a multidisciplinary consortium for the study of public opinion, attitude formation and choice behavior. The consortium is one of two new, and one of ten infrastructures altogether, which received a grant in this round.
– FIRIPO will serve a broad spectrum of academic disciplines and scholars around the world who study public opinion. It will also inform the society, especially decision-makers and the media. Through large-scale panel data design, we will be able to track developments in public opinion, says Kimmo Grönlund.
The central aims of the consortium are to systematize and coordinate scientific research on public opinion and choice behaviour in Finland, as well as to learn, develop and share (new) methods in public opinion research, and to advise on the use of public opinion in policy-making. The consortium will also create an open node for public opinion research, and accelerate open science aims through open data and open collaboration in public opinion research in collaboration with the Finnish Social Science Data Archive FSD.
The Academy of Finland provides funding for the acquisition and establishment of nationally significant research infrastructures that promote high-quality scientific research and for strengthening and expanding existing services. In this round, the Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee at the Academy of Finland granted a total of 12.8 million euros for building and developing national research infrastructures. More funding decisions will be made by the Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee on 21 January 2020.
Research infrastructures refer to a reserve of research instruments, equipment, data, materials and services enabling research, promoting research collaboration and reinforcing research and innovation capacity. Research infrastructures may be single-sited, distributed, or virtual or a combination of these.