how to get a funded PhD (CS) in Finland/Sweden/Germany?

Hi all, I’m looking for advice and tips on securing a funded PhD in Finland, Sweden, or Germany. I have an MSc in Computer Science (GPA 4.3/5), four years of industry experience before my master’s, a first-author journal in IEEE IoT Journal on federated learning and LLMs, and a co-author conference paper also on federated learning. My research so far has been mostly applied, but I want to pivot toward methodological and multimodal ML research. I need tips on the best way to find open positions or supervisors in this area, how to approach PIs, and how to strengthen my application materials to increase my chances. Also, how realistic is it to get a funded position at a top-500 university given the current fierce competition?