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The Kalevala Koru Cultural Foundation is awarding Aalto University a grant of EUR 164 000 for a four-year doctoral dissertation project in the field of design. The topic of the work is to involve sustainable development and future design. The doctoral student for this project will be selected later in the spring when the topic of the study will also be specified.

‘We are very committed to promoting responsibility and we want to give extensive support to art, design, and culture. Research can bring fresh points of view to the development of design and, for example, opportunities offered by new materials’, says Kirsi Paakkari, CEO of Kalevala Koru Oy and the chair of the Kalevala Koru Cultural Foundation.

‘My warmest thanks to the foundation for the grant on behalf of the Department of Design. It is great to get support for producing a doctoral thesis on this important topic. Research at our department is at the top of its field internationally, and both sustainable design and human-centred design are important themes for us, says Professor Tuuli Mattelmäki, the Head of the Department of Design.

Established in 1994 the purpose of the Kalevala Koru Cultural Foundation is to support and promote Finnish culture. The foundation, which is a joint project of the Kalevala Women’s Association and Kalevala Koru Oy, awards annual grants for preserving, developing, and researching Finnish cultural heritage.

The Department of Design is one of the five departments in Aalto University's School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The focus of the department's operations is on creative expertise, societal influence, and dynamic international contacts. At the Department of Design, research, teaching, and the practices of design all support each other, while constantly creating new thinking.