Evaluation criteria

In the review of applications, the Academy uses the following criteria:

• scientific quality and innovativeness of the research plan
• competence of the applicant/research team 
• feasibility of the research plan
• cooperation contacts for the research 
• significance of the research project for the advancement of professional careers in research and for researcher training. 

Depending on the research project, the significance and impact of the research for society and business and industry is reviewed. In principle, a project to be funded shall benefit Finnish research and society or international collaboration.

Research projects that are ambitious and aim to achieve new breakthroughs always carry a risk of failure. This is taken into consideration in the review of applications. The aim of the Academy is to provide an opportunity for scientific breakthroughs and to enhance the renewal and regeneration of science and research, even in view of potential risks.

The Academy need not, for justified reasons, request a review on an application. These criteria are:

• The application is substantially incomplete after one request for supplementary information.
• The applicant or the application does not meet the competence or other key requirements set for the call.
• The application is submitted for a purpose for which the Academy does not grant funding.
• The application does not belong to the scope of the call.
• The application submitted within a research programme call does not belong to the scope of the programme.
• The applicant has in the same application round submitted more than one application for one or several of the following funding opportunities: research post as Academy Research Fellow, research post as Postdoctoral Researcher, or Academy Project. In this case, only the first application received from the applicant will be reviewed.
• The director of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) applies for Academy Project funding during the first three years of the six-year CoE funding period; as a general rule, this also applies to other researchers closely affiliated with a CoE.
• The researcher with a research post as Academy Postdoctoral Researcher applies for a research post as Academy Research Fellow, the term of which would partly overlap with the Postdoctoral Researcher term.
• The applicant has not followed the guidelines on reporting on an ongoing or completed research project with Academy funding.
• It is clearly evident that, for some other reasons, the applicant will not be eligible for funding on the basis of the application submitted.

 (Decision of 8 May 2012 by the Academy of Finland Board)