Raisio Oyj: Raisio plc's Research Foundation donates professorship to University of Helsinki to promote nutrition-related heart health
Press release 11th December 2025 at 10:00 EET
Raisio plc's Research Foundation is donating funds to the University of Helsinki to establish a professorship. The new professorship will focus on advancing nutrition-related heart health research in Europe. The Foundation is committed to funding the professorship for five years, during which time the total donation will amount to €600,000.
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide, causing millions of premature deaths and long-term disabilities. Nutrition plays a key role in both the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, in recent years, nutrition research in the field of preventive heart health has decreased considerably.
The aim of the donation is to contribute to the long-term development of nutrition and preventive heart health research. To this end the Research Foundation chose the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry and its Department of Food and Nutrition as the recipient of the donation.
"The University of Helsinki is an excellent environment for this professorship. The aim of using the donated funds to establish a professorship is to achieve both scientific and social impact," says Ingmar Wester, representative of Raisio plc's Research Foundation. Funding an endowed professorship supports both research and the building and growth of networks in the field.
Donating funds for a professorship is also an effective method because very often the tasks initially funded by donations are continued or expanded with core university funding or by obtaining funding from other sources, again increasing the impact of the activities and research.
The donation opens up fascinating opportunities
Mari Sandell, who will take up her position as Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the beginning of the year, is delighted with the donation and says that it opens up exciting opportunities for developing innovations that promote heart health.
The University of Helsinki's Viikki Campus is known for its strong research in the food sector and is closely networked with the Finnish food industry community. The campus is home to the innovative Viikki Food Design Factory, for example.
"The Viikki Campus is characterised by its multidisciplinarity: the nutritionists working there join forces with medical researchers working at the Meilahti Campus on EU projects, for example. This is a big advantage in terms of the priorities of the new professorship. The research carried out at Viikki explores how nutrition affects not only public health but also the human body," says Sandell.
The University of Helsinki has already begun preparations to fill the new professorship. The aim is to recruit a versatile and well-connected person who is familiar with both nutrition and heart health. Sandell estimates that the new professor could start their work in autumn 2026.
The Research Foundation's donations and grants in the 21st century total over €3 million
The donation by Raisio plc's Research Foundation is based on the Research Foundation's aim of contributing to building an ecologically and nutritionally sustainable food system by supporting the renewal of the food system, promoting sustainable transformation and encouraging dietary practices that follow national nutrition recommendations.
Established in 1958, the purpose and goals of Raisio plc's Research Foundation have changed over the years as the world has changed. One of the Research Foundation's largest donations was a €500,000 donation to the University of Turku for a professorship in Food Development in 2018. The aim of the professorship has been to focus on the study of the plants cultivated in Finland, support the export of Finnish foods that are based on sustainable development and promote wellbeing by advancing the development of healthy foods. Since its establishment, the University of Turku professorship, under the leadership of Kati Hanhineva, has also received plenty of other funding in addition to the Research Foundation donation, totalling approximately €2.6 million. This funding has helped launch five PhD projects, grow the research group to about ten people and facilitated the group's very active publishing, including publications in the field's leading journals, such as Nature Food and Nature Metabolism.
Since 2018, Raisio plc's Research Foundation has awarded working grants for doctoral researchers and recognition scholarships to well-executed master's theses. Doctoral researchers who have been awarded a research grant by the Foundation have the opportunity to receive a working grant for a maximum of four years. The total amount of working grants awarded each year has been approximately €150,000. During the next five-year period, Raisio plc's Research Foundation will not be awarding any new grants to doctoral candidates. However, the Foundation has decided that in 2026 it will award working grants to four doctoral researchers who have already received a grant from the Research Foundation. The total amount of working grants awarded in 2026 is approximately €113,000.
Photo caption: Ritva Toivonen, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki; Reetta Andolin, Chief Innovation Officer at Raisio plc and member of the Board of Raisio plc's Research Foundation; Ingmar Wester, Representative of Raisio plc's Research Foundation; Kaarle Hämeri, Chancellor of the University of Helsinki; and Mari Sandell, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry.
Inquiries:
Ingmar Wester, Raisio plc's Research Foundation representative, tutkimussaatio@raisio.com
Mari Sandell, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, Dean from 1 January 2026 onwards, mari.sandell@helsinki.fi
Raisio plc's Research Foundation
Raisio plc's Research Foundation aims to contribute to building an ecologically and nutritionally sustainable food system. We support the renewal of the food system, promote sustainable transformation, and encourage dietary practices that follow national nutrition recommendations. The Foundation was established in 1958 through donations from two companies closely linked to the history of the Raisio Group: Oy Vehnä Ab and Oy Kasviöljy-Växtolje Ab.The Foundation is non-profit, and the grants and donations it awards are funded by returns on its assets. It may accept donations, subsidies and bequests, as well as increase its capital through investments. Raisio plc's Research Foundation is a member of the Association of Finnish Foundations.
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is an international academic community of over 40,000 students and employees, operating on four campuses in Helsinki and in several other locations across Finland. In international university rankings, the University of Helsinki is placed among the top one per cent of universities worldwide. The University was founded in 1640.