POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER’S PROJECT 2010
Funding granted to 27 Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects
At its meeting on 14 September 2010, the Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Bio-sciences and Environment decided to fund 27 Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects out of the 148 applications submitted within the January 2010 call. The applicants and the sites of re-search will be notified of the decisions (funding granted, placed on reserve list, funding not granted) by e-letter.
The Research Council allocated a total of 8.1 million euros to Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects. Funding was granted to 18 per cent of applicants. The Research Council is prepar-ing a reserve list of the most successful applicants among those who were not funded, in case a researcher who has been awarded funding chooses not to receive this funding. In 2010, a total of 148 applications were submitted for funding for Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects and the amount of funding applied for amounted to some 44 million euros. This is almost as much as in 2009 (141 applications and 45 million euros). In 2010, the average amount of funding granted to a Postdoctoral Researcher’s project was 300,000 euros. As in the past several years, the majority of applications were from the following research fields: ‘Biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, genetics and biotechnology’ and ‘Ecology, evolutionary research and systematics’. These fields also received the bulk of funding.
Since 2009, the Academy of Finland has applied the full cost model to its funding decisions, in accordance with the performance agreement with the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. The Academy’s contribution to funding comes to no more than 80 per cent of the total project costs; the projects are joint ventures in which the site of research or some other funding body contributes at least 20 per cent to the project costs. In the funded 27 Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects, the Academy’s contribution to funding varies between 70–80 per cent. The application of the full cost model has increased the amount of funding applied for and thus further accelerated the competition for funding.
Funding decisions based on international peer review and science-policy criteria
The Academy normally uses international peer review when reviewing applications for multi-year research grants. The Academy requests a written statement from a scientific expert panel, or at least two written statements from persons who are esteemed and experienced researchers in their own field. More information on the review principles is available on the Academy’s website.
The applications submitted within the January 2010 call were reviewed in spring 2010 by seven international panels. One of these panels was arranged together with the Academy’s Research Council for Culture and Society. Due to flight restrictions caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, the meetings of two panels at the Academy had to be cancelled, and the review of these applications was arranged in accordance with the Academy’s specific guidelines. The other panel meetings were held following normal procedure. The panels comprised a total of 65 experts from 15 countries ‒ the majority of experts came from the UK, Germany and Sweden. The Research Council decided on the appointment of the ex-perts at its meeting on 7 June 2010.
The review panels were unanimous in their view that the applications were on average of a high, even excellent, international standard. The panellists also stated that applicants who had taken into account the statements issued on their earlier applications, had in many cases been able to clearly improve their application. The written panel statements on each application are available in the Academy’s online services. The panel statement of some of the applicants includes 2‒3 separate statements and the final ratings, due to the excep-tional review process in two panels.
A weakness identified by the panellists in the applications was the low degree of mobility of young researchers. The panellists therefore encourage young researchers to go abroad after completing their doctoral degree to gain independence as a researcher, or at least to change their research team when embarking upon a research career. Gaining independ-ence is also one of the objectives of the funding for Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects.
The Research Council’s funding decisions are based primarily on the review of the research plan and the applicant’s scientific merits. As the panellists, the Council members also noted the low degree of researcher mobility. Once again, the most important science-policy criterion for the Research Council’s decision-making was how well the applicants had de-scribed their plans for both national and international mobility in their applications. Half of the Postdoctoral Researchers who were granted funding intend to carry out part of their research in an international organisation.
Further information:
Science Adviser Kata-Riina Valosaari, tel. +358 9 7748 8216
Science Adviser Annika Raitala, tel. +358 97748 8323
For more information on the review of applications and the full cost model, please see
www.aka.fi/en-gb/A/For-researchers/Reviewing-applications/
www.aka.fi/en-gb/A/For-researchers/How-to-apply/Full-cost-model/