SKS to Lead Its First Research Council of Finland Centre of Excellence

The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) will lead a new Centre of Excellence in Nationalism Research in the Humanities, selected by the Research Council of Finland as one of its new Centres of Excellence.

The Research Council of Finland has granted funding for the SKS-led Centre of Excellence for the years 2026–2033. The unit consists of four subprojects, led respectively by Docent Ulla Savolainen (University of Helsinki), Docent Tanja Vahtikari (Tampere University), and Docent Ann-Catrin Östman (Åbo Akademi University). The SKS subproject and the entire Centre of Excellence are directed by Ville Kivimäki, Research Director at SKS.

The eight-year Centre of Excellence brings together a multidisciplinary group of researchers to examine nationalism particularly from the perspectives of historical and cultural memory studies. Its aim is to investigate how people’s experiences, emotions, and memories interact with national systems of meaning, and how the nation itself is constructed through human activity.

A total of 11 Centres of Excellence were selected for the Research Council of Finland’s new programme, representing research groups from 13 universities and research institutes. According to the Research Council, the selected Centres are scientifically excellent, innovative, and socially impactful research units that are either reaching or already represent the international forefront of their fields.