Academy of Finland general conditions for funding decisions

(Decision of the Administration Office of the Academy of Finland, 18 December 2008)

• Researcher mobility in working life 
• Doctoral studies of employed persons

The Academy of Finland will apply the full cost model (not applicable to personal grants) when preparing, making and executing decisions regarding applications submitted to calls opened after 1 January 2009. The full cost model will have effects on the way funding applications are made, on budgeting, on allocation of funding to users, on accounting and on the way funding use is reported. Academy of Finland research funding is co-funded activity where at least two parties answer for the costs of the project to be funded. When funding is applied for from the Academy, universities and other research organisations commit themselves to co-funded activity with their own funding contribution.

The full cost model is not applied to decisions regarding calls that were implemented in 2008 or earlier. Likewise, the full cost model is not applied to calls that were open in 2008 and on which decisions will be made in 2009.

In connection with the funding decisions regarding calls to be opened in 2009, the Academy of Finland will issue detailed guidelines on the effects of the full cost model on the general conditions of the use of funding. More information on the full cost model is available on the Academy website (www.aka.fi/en-gb/A/For-researcher/How-to-apply/Full-cost-model).

Research funding awarded by the Academy of Finland can only be used for the purpose specified in the funding decision.

If the Academy has set a condition, specified in the decision notification, for the awarding of the funding, it must be adhered to.

The Academy confirms for a central government administration employer directly, without separate request, the research grant and the budget account to be used; the organisation, i.e. the accounting office, enters the budget account in its own accounting.

The change in the legal status of universities will affect the administering of Academy funding. As of 1 January 2010, the Academy will transfer to apply a new payment procedure for all organisations receiving funding. All organisations receiving funding shall invoice the Academy as of 1 January 2010. More detailed guidelines will be given during 2009.

Organisations other than central government administration employers invoice the funding from the Academy at least on a quarterly basis. A certificate shall be appended to the invoice indicating that the person in question has a contract of employment with his/her actual employer. The last instalment of the calendar year shall be invoiced by the 10th of the following January.

Researcher mobility in working life

A condition for receiving funding is that the researcher has a contract of employment with his/her actual employer throughout the entire funding period, even though he/she works in another organisation, and that he/she and the receiving organisation have agreed on the tasks that the researcher will carry out during the funding period.

The funding is paid to the employer and is intended towards salary costs, including indirect employee costs. The funding must not be used for any other purpose.

An approval by the Academy is required if the temporary site of work changes, if any change is needed for the funding period or if any substantial changes are made to the research plan.

If the researcher's employment relationship terminates during the funding period, the employer shall immediately notify the Academy of this. In this case, the funding period is terminated on the day of termination of the employment relationship, unless the person transfers to the employment of the receiving organisation for the rest of the funding period. The Academy shall be notified of the cancellation or discontinuation of the research grant.

A condition for payment of the funding is that the sending organisation and the receiving organisation and the researcher have entered a written agreement on the ownership and use of any intellectual property rights eventually created during the funding period. The accounting office shall oversee that there is a valid intellectual property rights agreement. Except accounting offices, all other organisations shall submit a copy of the agreement to the Academy in connection with the first invoice.

Doctoral studies of employed persons

Funding is granted for co-funded researcher training, where the other party is a business company, a research institute or an organisation within public administration.

The Academy of Finland will pay the employer 2,000 euros a month towards salary expenses.

It is required that the person has a contract of employment with his/her actual employer during the entire funding period and that the person has agreed with his/her employer that he/she can use at least 50 per cent of the working hours towards his/her doctoral dissertation. If the employer terminates the employment or the person resigns from the position, funding is discontinued upon termination of the employment relationship.

Research ethics

The Academy requires that in all Academy-funded research, the guidelines of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics, ‘Good scientific practice and procedures for handling misconduct and fraud in science’ (www.tenk.fi) as well as the corresponding research-ethical guidelines of the Academy of Finland be adhered to. The site of the research undertakes to notify the Academy if an investigation is started concerning violation of good scientific practice by the research leader or a researcher of a project that has received Academy funding.

Scientific publications

The scientific publications produced by Academy-funded research projects must always indicate that the research has been conducted with funding from the Academy of Finland. The Academy recommends that Academy-funded researchers publish their research articles in open-access electronic scientific journals in cases where there are electronic journals available that meet at least the same quality standards as traditional subscription-based journals. Likewise, it is recommended that parallel copies of all published research articles be saved in Finnish open electronic publication archives.

Social science research data gathered for the project

The Academy recommends that a research project funded by the Academy deliver the social science research data it has gathered for the project to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD), based at the University of Tampere, see www.fsd.uta.fi. The delivery shall take place as soon as possible after the ending of the funding from the Academy.

Reporting

Accounting offices shall report on the use of the funds, indicating cumulatively the income and expenses of the Academy-funded activity in the budget year, accrued from the beginning of the year, on a quarterly basis. For the first three quarters, the income and expenses shall be reported no later than the 20th of the month following the quarter. For the fourth quarter, the income and expenses shall be reported no later than 31 January of the year following the reporting year.

Person-years shall be reported annually, no later than 15 January of the year following the reporting year.

The responsible leader of the research project shall report to the Academy on the progress of the research. The final report is to be submitted no later than 15 June of the year following the end of the funding period. For separate guidelines for reporting, see www.aka.fi/eng > For researchers > Reporting.

Discontinuation and recovery of funding

A recipient of funding shall without delay return to the Academy of Finland's bank account 166030-112337 any funding, or any portion of funding, received erroneously, in excess, or evidently without grounds. If the amount to be returned does not exceed 10 euros, it need not be returned.

The Academy may discontinue or terminate the payment of the funds or order that the funding or a portion of it be recovered, if the recipient has used the funds for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was granted; or presented erroneous or misleading information regarding a fact which has affected the granting of the funding, its amount, or its conditions; or concealed such a fact; or otherwise violated the regulations concerning the use of the funds or the conditions incorporated into the funding decision.

Control

The Academy of Finland has the right to monitor and control the use of funding. Likewise, the Academy has the right to carry out any inspections of the finances and activities of the recipient of funding that may be necessary for the control of the use of funding. The Academy has the right to carry out inspections of the implementation, accounting and the observance of the conditions set in the funding decision. The receiving organisation and the responsible leader of the research project are obliged to submit all necessary accounting and other documents and data for the use of the person inspecting, as well as to assist in the inspection. Both the receiving organisation and the responsible leader of the research project shall also otherwise on request give to the Academy information on the research and on the use of the funds.

Appealing against a funding decision

An appeal and a decision by the Academy is needed for:
• changing the condition or purpose of the use of a research funding decision, including cases where substantial changes are made to the research plan;
• extending the funding period on the basis of maternity, paternity, parental och child-care leave, or military or non-military service. The funding period may be extended on the basis of child-care leave for a maximum of one year. The funding period cannot be extended on the grounds that the money has not been used.

Application of conditions

These general conditions are to be applied as of 1 January 2009, and they are also applied to funding decisions made earlier, unless otherwise specified in these conditions.

The general conditions for funding are revised annually. The valid, revised general conditions and more information on the application of conditions.

Further information

Questions regarding finance administration may be put via ‘Questions and feedback’ at the top of the page on the Academy's website at www.aka.fi/eng.