Academy Research Fellows
Aim
Applicants for research posts as Academy Research Fellow apply for funding for their own salary for a maximum of five years. The aim of the funding is to provide an opportunity for the most talented and advanced researchers to develop their skills of academic leadership and to establish themselves as independent researchers.
Research posts as Academy Research Fellow provide researchers with a good opportunity to work independently on their research and to develop the research in their field. Academy Research Fellows are encouraged to engage in international research collaboration and mobility across international and sectoral borders, for example, so that they work part of their term abroad. Applicants for a research post as Academy Research Fellow may also be foreign researchers who already work in Finland or who will come to work within the Finnish scientific community.
The duties of Academy Research Fellows include (without separate compensation) supervision of thesis and dissertation writers in their own field and teaching associated with their research, covering 5% of their annual working hours.
Applicant
The applicant is a researcher who must have completed his or her doctorate no more than 3‒9 years ago.
Applicants who have gained their doctorate more than nine years ago can be considered only for very special reasons (maternity, paternity, parental or childcare leave, military service or non-military service, or long-term illness). If you plead these special reasons, justify them in the application under Personal data/CV: Degrees, Additional information. If the reasons are strictly confidential, please contact the presenting official (see More information below).
Successful applicants will have engaged in active scientific work and published significant contributions since gaining their doctorate.
In the September 2011 call, the success rate of applications for research posts as Academy Research Fellows was as follows:
- Research Council for Biosciences and Environment: 17%
- Research Council for Culture and Society: 13%
- Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering: 12%
- Research Council for Health: 13%.
Funding
Salary
The funding towards the salary of Academy Research Fellows is determined according to a monthly salary of EUR 4,842. In addition, the Academy allocates funding for indirect employee costs (28%) and overheads (14.29%, i.e., the funding includes an overheads share of 12.5%).
Research costs
Those selected to research posts as Academy Research Fellow can – having received the decision on their salary funding – submit a separate application for a research grant for research costs to the relevant Research Council. This research grant can be awarded to cover research costs, international collaboration and mobility, and to set up a research team.
Separate decisions will be made on the salary and the research costs of Academy Research Fellows. Those selected for a research post as Academy Research Fellow will be requested to separately submit a detailed budget for research costs.
However, applicants shall also append a tentative budget for research costs to their application for a research post as Academy Research Fellow as part of the research plan (section 5, Implementation). The research costs are calculated in accordance with the full cost model.
Funding period
Research posts as Academy Research Fellow are filled for five years. The period can be changed only for special reasons (see Applicant). One and the same person can be granted Academy Research Fellow funding only once.
Research at the EUI
The European University Institute (EUI) can receive one Academy-funded Academy Research Fellow at a time to carry out research at the EUI for 1–2 years. Funding for this opportunity is applied for as part of the five-year research post as Academy Research Fellow. Applicants interested in working at the EUI are requested to read about EUI research before applying and to contact the Academy’s EUI science adviser (see More information below) when drafting their application. Applicants need not append any separate invitation from the EUI to their application.
Restrictions
The Academy will consider only one application from one and the same researcher for an Academy Project (incl. a consortium subproject) and a research post as Academy Research Fellow or Postdoctoral Researcher. If an applicant does submit more than one application for any of these funding opportunities or applies for more than one type of such funding, only the first application received from that applicant will be reviewed. Applications that are not reviewed for this reason will not be eligible for funding.
A researcher who has been granted Academy funding for Postdoctoral Researchers, can be granted a research post as Academy Research Fellow only in special cases, if the two terms would overlap with more than four months.
If Academy Research Fellows are granted funding for setting up a research team, they can be granted funding for a simultaneous Academy Project only for compelling reasons. If those selected to research posts as Academy Research Fellow already have sufficient funding from other Academy funding schemes, the relevant Research Council will consider the need for additional funding on the basis of the research plan.
Appendices
See Appendix 1 A (in the call for applications), Appendices to application.
How to apply
The deadline is in September. The deadline is non-negotiable. Applications are drafted in the Academy’s online services (select Open calls > Academy Research Fellow).
The additional costs model (14.29%, i.e., the funding includes an overheads share of 12.5%) is applied to the overheads in the application for salary costs. Those who have been granted salary funding shall submit a separate application for research costs in accordance with the full cost model. The Academy’s contribution to funding can be no more than 70% of the total research costs.
More information
Science advisors menioned in previous call for applications.
Content updated according to September call for applications 2012