General information on how to apply

Application rounds

The Academy of Finland has two application rounds: September and April.

In September, applications are invited for Academy Projects, targeted Academy Projects and research programme projects. Funding is also available for personal funding for research posts (Academy Professor, Academy Research Fellow, Postdoctoral Researcher, clinical researcher), and possibly for other purposes.           

In April, funding is available for targeted Academy Projects and other purposes.

The deadlines for research programmes, infrastructures, two-stage calls and calls for international or national research collaboration may differ from the main deadlines.

Funding opportunities

Information on our various funding opportunities at the different stages of the research career is available on our website under Funding opportunities.

Application guidelines

Information on open calls is posted on our website under Apply now. Please check the deadline separately for each call. Applications that have not arrived by the deadline will not be considered.

Detailed guidelines on how to submit applications are available on our website:

1)    Calls for applications published twice a year, describing all funding opportunities open for application at that particular time

2)    Detailed guidelines on how to draft applications

3)    Detailed guidelines on how to draft appendices (structure and length)

4)    Programme memoranda of research programmes to be launched

5)    How to Guide to the Academy’s online services.

We require that applicants read and comply with the call for applications and the other guidelines mentioned above before submitting their applications.

1.2 GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

Who is eligible to apply?

The applicant (the Principal Investigator of a research project) for Academy of Finland research funding must have the qualifications of a professor or an adjunct professor (docent) or be a researcher with a doctorate, unless the call indicates otherwise. In some funding opportunities, the applicant is a university or a research institute.

Academy research funding is allocated on the basis of peer review to the best researchers and research teams and to the most promising young researchers for carrying out scientifically ambitious projects. In principle, a project to be funded shall serve Finnish research and society or international collaboration.

Within the same application round, the Academy will review only one application from one and the same researcher in one of the following funding opportunities:

• Academy Project (PI of a project)
• Academy Project (PI of a consortium or consortium subproject)
• Postdoctoral Researcher
• Academy Research Fellow
• Clinical researcher (targeted funding).

If you do submit more than one application to one or several of the above funding opportunities, only the first application to arrive will be reviewed. In the case of targeted Academy Projects, this limitation will be decided separately for each call

What is funded?

Depending on the funding opportunity, Academy funding can be applied for to cover, for example, the following direct research costs:

• the research team’s working hours
• research costs
• travel
• national and international collaboration and mobility
• the preparation of international projects.

The Academy may also provide funding for the VAT costs on certain conditions: see page 12 of this call for applications and our website under Value added tax.

In calls where the full cost model is applied, Academy funding can be used to cover both direct project costs (e.g. direct salaries) and indirect costs (e.g. costs for premises). Both types of costs are covered with the same percentage. See more on our website under Full cost model.

We require that the institution (e.g. university department) serving as the site of research undertakes to provide the research project with the necessary basic facilities. These are determined on the basis of the nature of the research and are the same as those available to other research staff at the institution, such as office and laboratory premises, equipment (incl. computer equipment), and telecommunications, telephone, mailing, copying and library services.

In the application, you shall give a cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure. You shall also include a funding plan, that is, all funding granted for the project in question and funding provided by the site of research if the project is launched. The cost estimate shall be realistic and justified by type of expenditure in the research plan.

Who is eligible for personal grants?

Personal grants are normally awarded only for work or studies abroad and for a research visit by a researcher from a non-EU country to Finland for a maximum of twelve months (except for so-called mobility grants). A research visit exceeding twelve months requires an employment relationship in Finland. The recommended amounts of monthly grants and a note concerning taxation are available in Appendices 4 and 5 and on our website under Monthly grants abroad and in Finland.

Grants are not paid to EU citizens working in Finland. While working in Finland, EU citizens shall have an employment relationship.

Salary costs of Principal Investigator *New*

Academy funding for research projects (Academy Projects, targeted projects, research programme projects) is primarily intended for the salaries of full-time researchers working on the project and for other research costs. The salary costs of the PI can, with certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs (see below). The PI can also be granted funding for salary costs but for well-substantiated reasons in terms of the research.

1      Including the PI’s salary in the total costs for purposes of heading a project

The salary costs of a PI of a research project can be incorporated into project costs to be funded, in accordance with the full cost model and the research plan. However, these costs must not be significant in relation to the project’s total costs.  As a rule, a four-year Academy Project must not include more than six months of the PI's effective working hours. This is equivalent to one day a week or 1.5 months a year.

The PI’s tasks must be clearly described in the research plan (section 5, Implementation). The salary shall be indicated in the application under Project funding, Salaries.

2      Applying for funding for the PI’s research

The Academy can grant a maximum of twelve months worth of funding towards the salary of a PI for purposes of conducting research. The funding is intended to support project implementation and it is granted only for well-substantiated reasons in terms of the research (e.g. working abroad, returning to Finland, and transferring to another research organisation or a company in Finland).

These well-substantiated reasons shall be clearly presented in the research plan (section 5, Implementation), with a clear description of the tasks of the PI. The salary shall also be indicated in the application under Project funding, Salaries.

3      Salary when the PI has no employment relationship

If the PI of a research project has no employment relationship with, for example, a university or research institute, he or she must give an account in the application of how his or her salary will be covered during the funding period. It is the responsibility of the applicant to give an account of these details at the application stage.

Retired researchers cannot be granted funding for their own salary or a personal grant. However, they can be granted other funding on the same grounds as other researchers.

Classification of research fields

In addition to your primary field of research, you may also indicate four other research fields and subcategories in the application, in order of importance. It is important that, in addition to the research field, you also give keywords describing the research and research methods. For more information, see our website under Research field classification (research fields hosted by the Research Councils are also listed here).

List of publications in line with new classification *New*

We ask you to follow a new classification in your list of publications. The classification is based on the classification by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (2010). For more information, see Appendices on our website and the Ministry’s Publication Type Classification Manual. The classification is given in Appendix 6.

Model for researcher’s curriculum vitae *Advance information*   

The Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (TENK), Universities Finland UNIFI, Rectors Conference for Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences Arene and the Academy of Finland have together drafted a model curriculum vitae that complies with good scientific practice. The draft model has been circulated to the Finnish research community and stakeholder groups for comments in summer 2012, after which the working group will publish a final model.

The aim with the model curriculum vitae is to provide information on the research-ethical principles for those who draft curricula vitae so that the merits will be accounted for in the best possible way, that they are truthful and that they facilitate comparisons between applicants. The guidelines on how to draft a curriculum vitae for Academy calls will most likely be updated in line with this model in 2013.

Read more about the researcher’s curriculum vitae at www.tenk.fi/en.

Mobility plan, partners and use of research infrastructures

The application must include a mobility plan. In the application, under Mobility, you shall describe how the project intends to carry out mobility serving the project within Finland and abroad during the funding period. In addition, under Partners, you shall describe how partners will participate in the project.

When applying for a research post as Postdoctoral Researcher or Academy Research Fellow, also give an account of previous mobility (under Previous mobility).

Besides in the application (in details), you shall also describe mobility, partners and the use of research infrastructures in the research plan. For detailed guidelines on how to draft a research plan appendix, see Research plan on our website.

Specify ethical issues in the research plan

The ethical issues and responsibilities to be considered in connection with the application stage are described on our website under Ethical guidelines and applying for funding. The ethical issues of the research must always be specified in the research plan as they are reviewed as part of the scientific review.

Materials management plan part of the research plan

We require that you give an account of how the project proposes to obtain its research material, how the material produced by the project will be used and stored and how the subsequent use of the material will be facilitated. The account shall further cover the rights of ownership and use pertaining to the materials used and generated by the project. This is referred to as a materials management plan, and it is presented in connection with the research plan.

We recommend that research projects funded by the Academy deliver any social science research data they have gathered to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD). We further recommend that any language materials created within the projects be made available for other researchers through the FIN-CLARIN system.

Draft application in English

The Academy uses mainly foreign experts as reviewers of applications. We therefore ask you to submit your application and appendices in English, in order to

• facilitate the international peer review of applications
• ensure an equal preparation of funding decisions
• ensure the fluent processing of applications.

However, you have also the right to submit their applications in Finnish or Swedish.

Applications are public documents

Under the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), an application and its appendices constitute a public document, with the exception of research plans, plans of intent, abstracts and progress reports.

Clear and readable project description

If a project is granted funding, the Academy will publish a description of the project on its website. The description is written by the applicant in connection with the drafting of the application. Finnish- or Swedish-speaking applicants write their descriptions in Finnish or Swedish. All applicants shall also write the description in English.

The public project description is a means for the Academy and researchers to disseminate information on Academy-funded research. Consequently, it is important that the description be as clear and readable as possible – it should be accessible to a general audience. It shall give the reader a brief summary of the key points of the research. For more details, see Public description of project on our website.

We will not edit public project descriptions – it is the applicants themselves who are responsible for the content, clarity and style of their project descriptions.

Submitting and supplementing applications, applications pending

Applications for the September 2012 call can be drafted and submitted in the online services as of 3 September 2012. The deadline is 26 September 2012 at 16.15, if not otherwise indicated in the call for applications. The deadline is non-negotiable.

You must submit your application in your own name and with your own user identification.

According to Section 17 of the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act, the sender is responsible for the application arriving by the set deadline. Applications received after the deadline can only be considered if the delay or failure of submission is due to causes not attributable to the applicant.  

An application is regarded as pending at the Academy when the online application and the obligatory appendices have been submitted in the online system. The system will indicate the successful submission of an application by sending an email to the address given by the applicant. 

Please note you cannot submit an application in accordance with the full cost model in which the Academy’s contribution to funding is higher than the percentage indicated in the call for applications.

The procedure for how to submit an application in the online services is described in the How to Guide. If you run into problems in the online services at the time of application submission, please contact us before the deadline, either by phone or via Questions and feedback on our website. To ensure smooth drafting and submission, it is important that you submit your application well in advance of the deadline.

Only the requested appendices are appended to the application. The maximum length of appendices indicated in the guidelines must not be exceeded.

If you have, for example, received a letter of invitation from a foreign university after the deadline or if you notice significant omissions in your application after the deadline, you are urged to immediately contact the person named in the call for applications (under More information), who will open the application for your additions. These supplementary additions will be taken into account insofar as it is possible in view of the review, application processing and decision-making process.

You must immediately notify the Academy if you receive funding from other sources for the same purpose after your application to the Academy has been submitted.

Reviewing/Not reviewing applications

Academy funding is based on a scientific review of the research plan and the applicant. Our evaluation procedures and criteria are presented on our website under Review of applications and Guides for reviewers. You are advised to read the criteria and any additional guidelines available on the Research Councils’ pages.

The Academy may, for justified reasons, decide not to review an application. Applicants are advised to read about the criteria used when considering this, see our website under Not reviewing an application.

1.3 SUPPLEMENTARY GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

Project collaboration or consortium?

Researchers and research teams may cooperate through normal project collaboration. In this case, the partners independently apply (with their own application) for funding for their projects and the collaboration is described in each partner’s research plan. Project collaboration applications are reviewed as separate applications.

Applicants for research funding may also be consortia composed of research projects working at different sites, for example at different universities or at different departments of the same university. A consortium is a fixed-term body of individual subprojects that work under a joint research plan with a view to generating greater added value through systematic collaboration than through normal project collaboration. A consortium application is reviewed at the Academy as one application and the decision is made by a research council or subcommittee.

The application of the whole consortium can be processed only if the applications of all subprojects have been submitted by the deadline. The deadline is non-negotiable. The composition of a consortium cannot be changed after the deadline.

Detailed guidelines on how to draft consortium applications and appendices are available on our website under Consortium application.

Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation

In line with a decision by the Board of the Academy of Finland, the Academy works to promote leading-edge scientific research serving Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation (Finnish acronym SHOK) through all its funding opportunities (Academy of Finland financial and action plan 2013‒2016, PDF, in Finnish). The research may be incorporated as part of a specific strategic centre or be scientific research that serves the thematic area of a strategic centre.

If your application is tied in with a thematic area of a strategic centre, the following guidelines apply to the application: When submitting your application, select on the list in the online services the strategic centre with whose thematic area the application is affiliated.

1. If your application is directly affiliated with the strategic centre, you shall attach a statement issued by the centre. The statement shall

• confirm that your project is affiliated with the centre
• give a description of the role and significance of the project for the centre’s operations 
• agree on the form and content of the collaboration between the project and the relevant centre.

2. If your application is not affiliated with a strategic centre (as described above), but you consider that the application serves the centre’s thematic area, you shall justify this in your research plan.

The applications are reviewed in accordance with the Academy’s general practices and criteria. The general evaluation criteria are available on our website under Evaluation criteria. For more details on the thematic areas of the strategic centres, see our website. Contact details for the centres are available at www.shok.fi/en.

1.4 GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SITES OF RESEARCH

Funding conditions 

The Academy will provide funding for research projects only insofar as the site of research undertakes to provide the researcher with the necessary basic facilities for research.

Academy funding is allocated to the researcher’s host organisation. Grants for work abroad (referred to as mobility grants) may also be allocated directly to researchers.

Academy funding to organisations outside the central government (e.g. universities) is classed as a discretionary government transfer. Since Academy funding is not allocated to individual researchers but to their host organisation, the host organisation is regarded as the recipient of the transfer, in accordance with the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, and will accordingly be required to assume all related obligations. The host organisation receiving the transfer is permitted to use the transfer solely to fund the research carried out by the PI named in the application.

Staff to be hired with Academy research funding must have an employment relationship with the site of research or the organisation that has received the funding.

Detailed conditions and guidelines (revised annually) on the use of funding and reporting are available on our website under Use of funding.

Joint funding and full cost model *New percentage*

Academy research funding is a joint venture in which the funds to finance the costs of the project to be funded comes from at least two sources. When Academy funding is applied for, universities, research institutes and other research organisations commit to contributing their percentage of the costs.

In calls where the full cost model is applied to the cost calculation, the Academy’s contribution to funding normally comes to no more than 70% of total the project costs (as of the September 2012 call).

The maximum percentage is applied to both the calculation of estimated total costs at the application and decision-making stage, and the calculation of real total costs during the course of the project (payment procedure). The percentage is applied to all project costs, that is, to both direct and indirect costs, including the overheads share.

In your application, you shall include a funding plan in accordance with the full cost model, including the amount of funding applied for from the Academy. At the application and decision-making stage, only funding that is confirmed (e.g. through a decision by the body that has granted the funding) is taken into account in the calculation of the total project costs.

Costs that do not pass through the books of the site of research shall not be included in total project costs. It is the responsibility of the applicants to check from their own organisation if the funding planned for the own funding contribution fits in with this purpose.

The section “How to apply” in the call for applications indicates separately for each funding opportunity whether the full cost model or the model for additional costs previously applied by the Academy is applied to the cost calculation. In applications in accordance with the full cost model, the system will calculate (in addition to other costs) as overheads costs 14.29%, in which case the decision includes an overheads share of 12.5%. If the full cost model is applied, applications shall be written so as to ensure that the Academy’s contribution to the funding comes to no more than the percentage indicated in the call for applications.

Before submitting your application, you shall contact the administration at your own organisation concerning the contribution of the site of research to the funding of your project. After the application deadline, the Academy will request a commitment by the site of research from the person you have indicated. For more information, see our website under Commitment of site of research.

Guidelines on the full cost model are available on our website under Full cost model.

Commitment by site of research

The Academy will provide funding for research projects only insofar as the application includes a commitment by the site of research on which you shall agree in advance with a representative of the site of research.

In calls where the full cost model in applied, you shall (before submitting your application), determine from the own organisation the funding contribution and the coefficients of the site of research, and agree on them with the commitment issuer. The coefficients indicated will be valid during the whole duration of the project.

After the deadline, the Academy will request the commitment by the site of research from the person indicated in the application. He or she will issue the commitment on behalf of the site. By issuing this commitment, the site of research undertakes 

• to secure the necessary basic facilities for the project, which are the same as those available to other research staff at the institution, such as office and laboratory premises, equipment (incl. computer equipment), and telecommunications, telephone, mailing, copying and library services
• to fund the project in accordance with the full cost model with the funding contribution presented in the funding plan  
• to check regarding the projects to which the full costs model is applied that the coefficients (overheads, indirect employee costs and effective working hours) of the site of research indicated in the application are correctly entered
• to check that the VAT practice is correctly entered in the application.

If the funding is a discretionary government transfer awarded to organisations outside the central government (e.g. universities), the site of research also undertakes to act as the recipient of the discretionary government transfer on behalf of the applicant and will accordingly be required to assume all related obligations.

With respect to applicants for research posts as Academy Professor and Academy Research Fellow, the commitment by the site of research also applies to the use of the researcher’s working hours for purposes other than research, to salaries and to other circumstances surrounding the researcher’s work.

If funding is not received from any other sources, the site of research shall cover at least 30% of total project costs as of the September 2012 call. If funding is received from other sources, the contributions by other sources must also pass through the books of the site of research.

Detailed guidelines on how to issue a commitment by the site of research online are available on our website under Commitment of site of research.

Value added tax *New*

The Academy may provide funding for the VAT costs included in the project costs only insofar as the funding recipient (normally the PI’s host organisation) is not entitled to deduct the VAT costs incurred in its operation. For example, universities are not entitled to deduct VAT costs and, consequently, these may be paid out the funding granted by the Academy.

Therefore, researchers working at universities shall enter their research costs including VAT. Applicants shall indicate the VAT practice in the application under Funding for the project.

For more information on how to enter VAT, see Value added tax on our website.

1.5 INFORMATION ON DECISIONS, HOW TO RECEIVE FUNDING

The Academy’s decision timetables are posted on our website under Decision timetables. The projects to be funded, their public descriptions and the call-specific releases on decisions are posted on our website under Funding decisions.

You will receive an automatic email message after the funding decision has been made. After receiving this message, you can log in to the online services with your user identification, select the application on which the decision has been made and see whether the decision is favourable or not. You can also read the conditions related to the funding decision and read the expert reviews on your application, if such reviews have been drafted.

When you have granted funding you must accept it in the online services. After this, the system will send a notification to the person who issued the commitment by the site of research. The commitment issuer must also accept the granted funding, after which the system will notify of the funding to the financial administration of the site of research, and the funds will be available for use.