€118,700 awarded for water technology research in the 2025 call

The call received 34 applications by the deadline, with a total requested amount of €937,450. Both the number of applications and the total amount requested increased significantly from last year. As a result, about 15% of the applications could be funded.

“We are very pleased with both the number and the quality of the applications. It was especially great to see that applications were submitted evenly from different universities. There is a clear need for this type of grant within Finland’s water technology research field,” say Kristiina Paasikivi, Chair of the Board (Erkki Paasikivi Foundation), and Tuomas Olkku, Secretary General (KAUTE Foundation).

Grants were awarded to the following researchers:

Bediako John, Natural polyelectrolyte complex/graphene oxide hybrid nanocomposite filters for water softening and purification, €28,000 (LUT University)

Kayani Fareeha, Natural phenolic compounds as membrane modifiers to decrease biofouling problems, €13,000 (LUT University)

Kimbi Yaah Velma Beri, A sustainable solution for clean water: Bio-based photocatalytic hydrogels for household clean water, €28,000 (University of Oulu)

Voitto Känkänen, Extraction of organic contaminants from water using surface-active fungal proteins, €23,700 (Aalto University)

Aino Länne, Combining 2D-MOF structures with ion-selective membranes on printed electrodes for reliable water quality monitoring, €26,000 (LUT University)

The next water technology research call will be organized in autumn 2026. Learn more about KAUTE Foundation’s other grants.