Apply for membership in Young Academy Finland!

Dear Early Career Researcher! Do you wish to be part of a multidisciplinary community that aims to promote research and strengthen the status of science and scholarship in society? Are you interested in networking with researchers from different research fields, or augmenting the influence of the work of young academics in society? Are you excited about promoting science in public schools and colleges, or generating ideas for making an impact? Do you wish to communicate with international colleagues from different research fields?

Young Academy Finland is an academy established in 2017, representing the highest level of young scholars in Finland. This year, in addition to invited members, we give the possibility to also apply for membership. We will propose 5 new members for our roof organization, the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, the board of which makes the final decisions of the scholars who will be invited to join the membership for the next 4 years (2023-2027).

Our functional language is Finnish, but Finnish language skills are not a membership criterion. However, we hope that the applicants are motivated to learn Finnish. 

Please, read the instructions below and send your application by 28 February 2023! The list of new members will be public in the summer of 2023 and the membership period will begin in September 2023.


Application process and criteria:

You may apply through this form (in Finnish or English). The information required in the form is the following (it is not possible to save the form, so please make sure you have all the information once you begin filling out the form).

  • Name and year of birth
  • Discipline and current affiliation
  • Year and place of defense
  • Motivation to become a member (maximum 4 500 characters)
  • Academic merits (maximum 4 500 characters)
  • Other merits you consider relevant or issues to be considered in the selection process
  • Five most important academic publications
  • Webpage and ORCID-number


Our board will evaluate whether the applications meet the main criteria in the first phase. Applicants must be Finnish or residing in Finland, and they must be able to demonstrate a high level of excellence in their discipline. With early-career researchers, we mean academics, who have had a doctorate within 5 years and who are younger than 40 years of age (year of birth 1983 or later / year of doctorate 2018 or later). The board may consider also applicants falling outside these ranges if they can justify why they should be considered.

With this call, we aim to cover different research fields and especially disciplines from which we do not have members yet. The suitable candidates will be evaluated in the next phase, emphasizing their motivation. Approximately 10 applicants will be interviewed, paying attention to covering different disciplines.

The final decisions will be made based on motivation letters and interviews. The 5 applicants chosen by the board of Young Academy Finland will be proposed for the board of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Please, send your applications by 28 February through this form!

Inquiries: riikka.hiltunen[at]yaf.fi