Chile
The Academy of Finland started research funding cooperation with the Chilean research funding agency National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) in 2007. The aim is to support research collaboration between research teams from Chile and Finland by arranging joint calls for research projects and joint research programmes in areas to be agreed. Joint workshops can also be arranged.
The Academy and CONICYT launched the first joint call for research projects in the field of energy research in autumn 2007, as part of the Academy's Research Programme on Sustainable Energy (SusEn). The themes for the call were sustainable biomass production systems, integrated decentralised renewable energy processes and products, and scientific solutions for low-cost solar heating systems. Funding was awarded to four projects; the Academy's funding contribution was just under EUR 1 million. More information on the projects is available on the SusEn web pages.
The next joint call between the Academy and CONICYT was held in 2009, for research projects in the field of education. The themes were:
- Education policies and the quality of education
- Priorities in teacher training and school development
- Learning and skills development
- Information and communication technology
- Sociology of education
Funding was awarded to four projects; the Academy's funding contribution was some EUR 1.8 million.
The joint calls are implemented simultaneously in Finland and Chile. Applications are evaluated through joint international peer review. When projects are awarded funding, the Academy provides funding for the Finnish researchers, while CONICYT funds the Chilean researchers. The funding is intended for researchers’ salaries, for supporting researcher mobility, acquisition of materials and research equipment, other costs (e.g. for arranging scientific meetings), and for overheads.
EULARINET INCO-NET
The Academy is involved in the EULARINET INCO-NET within the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which aims at finding significant research themes of mutual interest to European and South American researchers, so that they can participate in the thematic calls of the Cooperation Specific Programme of FP7.