Grants+

The Grants+ is available to grant recipients immediately after the award, for the duration of the funding period, and for six months after the final payment. The services are intended for all individuals involved in the project.  

We will keep you informed about our upcoming services in grantees’ own Grants+ newsletter. 

Training and peer mentoring

We arrange training and peer-led learning opportunities on various themes for grant recipients. The aim is to provide you with tools and support for developing your work, as well as opportunities for networking. 

Our communication trainings provide you with tools and skills to help you communicate about your project. 

The Best Practices webinars increase project knowledge. The themes of the webinars vary from year to year. 

Our peer-mentoring groups offer grantees the chance to receive and to provide each other with mutual support as equal participants in the discussions. You can sign up for peer mentoring once a year in January-February. Sign up for the 2026 peer mentoring program by 8 February 2026.

Information on trainings and other events for grantees is published in the events calendar and in the Grants+ newsletter.

Work counselling

As part of the Grants+ services, we provide work counselling for projects funded by the Foundation. The goal of work counselling is to promote teamwork and well-being in the projects and prevent conflicts. Applications for work counselling are invited once a year in January-February.  

Please note that we may not be able to offer work counselling to every project that contacts us. The process will be initiated for projects that are estimated to benefit from it the most. 

Apply for the 2026 work counselling by 8 February 2026.

Workplace mediation

As part of its Grants+ services, the Foundation offers workplace mediation for the projects it funds. Mediation is intended for situations where a working group’s collaboration needs attention. 

The mediator for projects is Miriam Attias (M.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration, M.Sc., workplace mediator, work counsellor). You can learn more about the mediation method in Miriam Attias’s interview. 

If you recognise challenges in your project’s collaboration and feel that workplace mediation could be helpful, please contact the Foundation’s grant coordinator, Marianne Parvinen, marianne.parvinen@koneensaatio.fi. We recommend reaching out to the Foundation at a low threshold, as early as possible when challenges arise. 

Please note that we may not be able to provide mediation for everyone who contacts us. The process can be initiated for projects that are considered to benefit from it the most and whose situation allows it. Mediation can begin only if all parties agree to participate.

Mediation process: 

1. A joint information session for the entire working group. The mediation schedule is agreed upon during this
   session. 
2. Separate meetings between the mediator and the mediation participants. 
3. A joint meeting for the entire working group. The group usually drafts an agreement together, and all participants commit to adhering to it. 
4. A follow-up meeting. 

All sessions are facilitated by the workplace mediator. A representative of Kone Foundation does not participate in the mediation meetings, except for the first information session. 

Working groups may reserve facilities available to grant recipients at Kamari and Sofia in Helsinki for mediation meetings. 

The Foundation requires that all participants of the mediation process fill in an anonymous feedback survey after the mediation concludes. The contents of the mediation are confidential between the participants and the mediator. 

Someturva

From Someturva, you can get anonymous help if you face harassment, hate speech, defamation or targeting in social media or elsewhere. The help is provided by Someturva’s team of experts, including lawyers, psychologists and social psychologists. If you would like to use the service, please contact us, koneensaatio@koneensaatio.fi.

Facilities: Kamari (“The Chamber”) & Sofia Helsinki

Kamari: a space for grantees

Kone Foundation offers a free-of-charge facility in Helsinki for the use of its grantees. Kamari (“The Chamber”) in Ullanlinna is a creative space for project gatherings, discussions and small seminars. 

The facility is located on the fifth floor of a residential building, so the neighbours must always be taken into account. The events should not be too loud or otherwise inconvenient to the residents. 

The premises are not fully accessible: the building has a lift and stairs. Guide and service dogs are welcome in Kamari. 

Please read the instructions of Kamari and make a reservation via booking calendar. 

Sofia Helsinki facilities

Kone Foundation grant recipients have free access to Sofia Helsinki facilities in the centre of Helsinki, by the Senate Square. There are a limited number of day passes available for the coworking facilities. In addition, grantees may book facilities for open speaking events or meetings. Use of the facilities is conditional on grant work being in progress. 

Our grantees can utilise the Sofia Helsinki facilities as follows: 

• Working with a day pass in the Sofia Helsinki coworking facilities 
• Organising a meeting or open speaking event 

Offer on the use of the facilities is limited.

Sofia Helsinki has barrier-free access when entering from Aleksanterinkatu and Sofiankatu. When arriving from the Sofiankatu entrance, an elevator must be used, for which a key is required. A key can be obtained and signed for at the info desk. Indoors, you can use the elevator for accessible movement between floors. 

Please read carefully Sofia Helsinki’s instructions on how to use the facilities:

• Working with a day pass
• Organising a meeting or open speaking event

Further information:

Sofia Helsinki website

Sofia Helsinki meeting and event facilities, information and photos

Sofia Helsinki coworking facilities, more information on coworking

Project questions and advice

Would you like to discuss issues related to payments, change requests or reporting for your project?  

The Foundation’s grant coordinators organise monthly advisory clinics in Zoom. You can come to Zoom clinic for advice without an appointment.  

The Foundation’s communications specialists offer sparring on questions related to project communication. You can book a Zoom or telephone appointment. 

Information about the advisory clinics and communications sparring is published in the events calendar on the Foundation’s website and in the Grants+ newsletter. 

Newsletter

Subscribing to our newsletter is the easiest way to keep abreast of the Foundation’s services and events for grantees, as well as other news. As a grantee, you will receive Grants+ newsletter once a month.

If you are a grantee but haven’t received the newsletter, please email us at koneensaatio@koneensaatio.fi and we will add you on the list.

Short-term retreats at Saari Residence for researchers funded by Kone Foundation

Due to multiyear renovation work in the Saari Residence’s workspaces, we can’t offer short-term intensive periods/retreats in the upstairs of the manor house for individual researchers, researchers or teams funded by the Foundation as well as Metsän puolella (“For the Woods”) projects.