Academy of Finland general conditions for funding decisions

Academy of Finland terms and guidelines for funding decisions 2010

1. Scope of application
2. Application of the full cost model in Academy research funding
3. Remittance of funds
4. Use of funds
5. Hiring staff
6. Acquisitions with Academy funding
7. Reporting responsibility of site of research
8. Reporting responsibility of principal investigator
9. Deviations from the funding plan
10. Appealing against a funding decision
11. Granting additional research grants
12. Control, discontinuation and claw-back of funding
13. Intellectual property rights
14. Delivery of social science research data
15. Scientific publications
16. Research ethics
17. Certain provisions on research funding

1 Scope of application

The general conditions for funding decisions by the Academy of Finland (hereafter the Academy) are applied to decisions where the funding period starts on 20 April 2010 at the earliest. The con-ditions are applied to the following types of funding:

• General research grants
• Research post as Academy Research Fellow and Academy Professor and research grants
• Research programme projects
• Research grants for development research
• FiDiPro
• Centre of Excellence programmes

The general conditions for Academy funding decisions apply to both the principal investigator of research and the site of research. If the application has been initiated by the principal investigator and the recipient of the funding specified in the Academy’s decision is the site of research, both the principal investigator and the site of research are obliged to comply with these general condi-tions.

2 Application of the full cost model in Academy research funding

As a rule, the drafting, issuing and implementation of Academy research funding decisions shall adhere to the full cost model. Academy research funding is a joint venture in which funds to fi-nance the costs of each project always come from at least two sources. When applying for Acad-emy funding, universities, research institutes and other research organisations commit to contrib-uting a certain percentage of the project costs.

2.1 Funding percentage

The Academy’s funding contribution for a project is specified in the funding decision and comes to a maximum of 80 per cent. This funding percentage is equally applicable to all project costs, that is, both direct and indirect costs. Indirect costs include indirect employee costs and overheads.

2.2 Exceptions

The full cost model does not apply to research grants for salaries of Academy Research Fellows and Academy Professors, or to grants such as for researcher training and work abroad, doctoral studies of employed people and scientific publishing of academies and science policy associations. Likewise, the full cost model does not apply to funding decisions based on the Centre of Excellence calls implemented before 1 January 2009, or to any related decisions on additional funding regarding such calls.

3 Remittance of funds

The Academy has adopted the payment request procedure in 2010, and it is applicable to all or-ganisations that receive research funding from the Academy. The site of research is responsible for advances and for submitting requests for payment.
The Academy will accept requests for advances and payment concerning funding decisions for 2010 as e-invoices. Requests for advances and payment can also be submitted in the Academy’s online services. The payment of the last instalment is tied in with the filing of the final report of the research in accordance with Item 8.

3.1 Advances

Universities and polytechnics can request advances from the Academy annually by 15 February. The Academy may pay an annual advance so that a third of the total annual funding of a project for the year in question is paid by the end of February of that year. Advances can be paid for those funding decisions where the site of research is a university or a polytechnic. Advances are always settled at year-end against the costs accrued within the project. If needed, a credit note for the advances of the previous year shall be submitted to the Academy no later than 10 January. If the project still continues, a new advance is paid for the funding of the coming year. In this case it is required that the request for payment concerning a funding decision of the previous year has been accepted at the Academy. Advances will not be paid on grants.

3.2 Requests for payment

Requests for payment shall be submitted to the Academy on a quarterly basis: January-April, May-August and September-December. E-invoices addressed to the Academy regarding requests for payment of research projects shall be submitted by 15 May, 15 September and 15 January or by the next workday, respectively.

4 Use of funds

Research funding granted by the Academy may only be used for the purpose specified in the fund-ing decision. If the Academy has set a condition, specified in the decision, for the awarding of the funding, it must be adhered to.

Funding is granted as a total sum that must not be exceeded. Funding can be used only for costs that have incurred during the funding period. The principal investigator and the site of research shall see to that the funds are used in compliance with the funding decision, with these general terms and guidelines, and with other regulations and provisions.

4.1 Basic facilities of a project

The Academy will provide funding only in so far as the site of research undertakes to provide the research project with the necessary basic facilities. These are determined on the basis of the na-ture of the research, but the usual basic facilities are the same as those available to other research staff at the institution, such as office and laboratory facilities, equipment (incl. computer equipment), telecommunications, telephone, mailing, copying and library services.

4.2 Costs covered with Academy funding

Academy funding can be used to cover both direct project costs (e.g. direct wages and salaries) and indirect costs (e.g. rents for premises). All these costs are covered by the same funding per-centage specified in the decision.

Research grants awarded by the Academy can be used for the following purposes relating to the research plan of a research project: salaries and fees, indirect employee costs, grants normally paid for work or studies abroad, and for the research visit by a foreign researcher in Finland of no more than twelve months, travel costs, equipment costs, costs for arranging seminars, costs for inviting a foreign researcher and for other direct costs resulting from project implementation. If the Academy requires an auditors’ report on the project, the auditing costs may be accepted from the project costs. Value added tax is also paid from Academy research grants, provided that it is not deductible in taxation and the activity has not been carried out in the form of business activity.

4.2.1 Grants

A funding decision by the Academy may also include personal grants that are usually paid only for work or studies abroad, or for shorter than 12-month research visits by foreign researchers to Finland. If the decision includes no mention of a grant, the site of research where the researcher works may decide to pay the grant for the above purposes. In this case, the principal investigator shall submit a proposal with justification for a personal grant to be paid to a researcher of his/her project. The proposal shall be submitted to the competent party (e.g. personnel, finance or gen-eral administration) of the organisation of the principal investigator. If a personal grant is ap-proved, the site of research may pay a grant from the research grant.

The Academy recommends that the Academy’s grant amounts be followed.
The Academy is not responsible for any tax consequences possibly arising from the payment of a grant. The Academy recommends that the site of research consult tax administration concerning any tax consequences in connection with the grant payment before the grant decision is made.

Both the grant recipient and the granting organisation are obliged to notify the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution Mela (www.mela.fi.) of the grant. The grant recipient is obliged to take out statutory insurance cover.

5 Hiring staff

Staff hired with Academy research grants shall be in an employment relationship. They shall be hired for a period of employment not shorter than the funding period, unless a shorter contract is necessary for special reasons dictated by the implementation of the research plan of the project.

The collective agreements in force at the site of research and other regulations concerning the employment relationship conditions shall be observed in the hiring and other employment rela-tionship conditions of any staff to be hired with Academy funding.

Funding for the salary of the principal investigator of a research project can be granted for a maximum of twelve months. The funding in question may be granted for a Senior Scientist’s sal-ary, for work abroad, in connection with a researcher’s return to Finland, or transfer to a different research organisation, or for other justified reasons expressly connected with research.

5.1 Research posts as Academy Professor and Academy Research Fellow

The research grants awarded by the Academy for research posts as Academy Professor or Acad-emy Research Fellow shall be used by the site of research for the salary of an Academy Professor or Academy Research Fellow and to hire the Academy Professor or Academy Research Fellow in question at least for the funding period. The relative competitiveness of the salary shall be main-tained during the funding period. The pay-rise margin, which is based on general pay-rise effects, has been taken into account in the indirect employee costs of a salary grant. The Academy will not be liable for any expenditure arising from arrangements in excess of the above and specific to the employer. Research posts as Academy Professor and Academy Research Fellow are intended for full-time research work and related tasks. The duties of Academy Professors and Academy Re-search Fellows comprise teaching and supervision of theses in the researcher’s own field to the equivalent of 5 per cent of the annual working hours, without separate remuneration; in all, no more than 10 per cent of the annual working hours may be spent on teaching and other work not immediately connected with the researcher’s own research. The above conditions concerning the use of working hours shall be applied in compliance with the established practices of the Academy of Finland.

The full cost model does not apply to research grants awarded for the salary of an Academy Re-search Fellow and Academy Professor.

5.2 Amount of teaching by hired staff

The Academy recommends that Academy-funded researchers with a doctorate provide teaching or supervision of theses and dissertations to the equivalent of 5 per cent of their annual working hours without separate remuneration. However, no more than 10 per cent of the annual working hours should be spent on teaching and other work not immediately connected with the re-searcher’s own research.

The Academy recommends that if Academy-funded doctoral candidates provide teaching it shall be connected to their own research and be equivalent to no more than 5 per cent of their annual working hours. Teaching must not delay the completion of a doctoral dissertation.

6 Acquisitions with Academy funding

The recipient of funding is liable to clarify whether the Finnish Act on Public Contracts is applied to acquisitions made by the Academy-funded research project, and when needed, to see to that the acquisition is in compliance with the practices stipulated in the Act.

6.1 Administration of fixed assets

Any supplies, equipment and literature acquired with Academy funding will remain in the owner-ship and possession of the site of research.

If the funding is granted for a specific purpose defined in the decision on discretionary government transfers for acquisition of assets or for basic improvements, the property must not be used per-manently for other purposes than for those defined in the decision on discretionary government transfers. Neither can the ownership or possession right of the property be handed over to anyone else during the time the property is used, as specified in the decision on discretionary government transfers.

7 Reporting responsibility of the site of research

The basis for reporting in connection with requests for payment is derived from project account-ing, in which the direct costs of a project are entered (based on business accounting). In addition, the calculated overheads and indirect employee costs that are to be entered into the projects are derived from the organisation’s cost calculation. Separate reports on the calculated cost items based on the organisation’s accounting shall be submitted to the Academy Registrar’s Office an-nually.

The overheads percentage approved in the funding decision shall be applied during the entire funding period. The 12.5 per cent overheads percentage is applied to funding decisions that were made before 2009. The percentage is included in such decisions. The coefficient for indirect em-ployee costs may change from year to year if there are changes in statutory payments.

The total outturn data from the start of the project and the outturn data for the period in question are requested for each type of expenditure. The corresponding information shall be given on the Academy’s funding contribution. The percentage indicating the Academy’s funding contribution in accordance with the decision is used as calculation grounds for the Academy’s funding contribu-tion. The amount and percentage of Academy funding are specified in the funding decision.

Reporting on hours worked forms part of the request for payment. If needed, the Academy also approves information on hours worked as files including all necessary data fields.

8 Reporting responsibility of the principal investigator

The principal investigator of a research project shall draft and submit a research report to the Academy no later than three months after the termination of the funding period. Also, if it con-cerns a research project in development research, the principal investigator shall, upon termina-tion of the funding period, submit a copy of publications produced within the Academy-funded project to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. For separate guidelines on reporting, see www.aka.fi/eng > For researchers > Reporting. The payment of the last instalment is tied in with the submission of the final report.

If the total amount indicated in the funding decision exceeds 1 million euros, Centres of Excellence and the principal investigator of a research programme shall submit to the Academy the auditors’ report on the use of funds within the project. The report shall be submitted upon termination of research programme funding. Centres of Excellence shall submit their report after three-year funding and six-year funding. If needed, the Academy may request the auditors’ report separately. The auditors’ report shall be submitted no later than 15 January of the next calendar year. This does not apply to funding granted for research infrastructures. The site of research or the principal investigator is responsible for submitting the auditors’ report to the Academy.

9 Deviations from the funding plan

In addition to the total amount of funding, the Academy’s decision may also indicate the annual instalments and types of expenditure of a project.

Each year, it is possible to deviate from the indicated annual instalments by a maximum of +/- 15 per cent. The types of expenditure specified in the decision are normative and deviating from them is only allowed if it supports the implementation of the presented research plan.

This condition does not apply to funding granted for development research or research grants (to Academy Professors and Academy Research Fellows).

10 Appealing against a funding decision

All relevant changes in the content of Academy funding decisions or in issues relating to the use of funds require an advance approval by the Academy and a change in the funding decision. Devia-tions approved on the basis of Item 9 are not regarded as fundamental changes.

An appeal against a funding decision can be made by the site of research and the principal investi-gator of a project, who must submit the appeal to the Academy. The appeal shall include sufficient justifications and all necessary appendices needed for processing the issue.

Appeals against funding issues can only be made during the funding period, however, no later than two months before the termination of the funding period.
Examples of fundamental changes that require advance approval by the Academy:

• Substantial changes in the research plan, e.g. change of research topic
• Extension of the funding period
• Change of the principal investigator
• Appeal by the site of research
• Deviation from the annual instalment exceeds +/- 15 per cent (specified annual instalment plan for funding).

The funding period may be extended only on application and for a special reason, such as on the basis of maternity, paternity, parental or childcare leave, military or non-military service, or a chronic disease of a researcher working in the project in cases when no substitute has been hired and when the researcher returns to work with Academy funding. The maximum extension on the basis of childcare leave is twelve months. The appeal – and all relevant certificates – shall be filed with the Academy without delay, no later than two months before the termination of the funding period.

The application for changing the site of research shall be filed by the principal investigator of the project. The consent of the original site of research and the commitment of the new site of re-search as well as a report by the finance administration on the use of funds at the time of the transfer shall be appended to the application.

The funding period cannot be extended on the grounds that the money has not been used.

11 Granting of additional research grants

In funding decisions made in accordance with the full cost model, the possibility for compensation is included in the indirect employee costs.

If the full cost model is not applied to the cost calculation of a project, the project may be granted additional funding on the basis of maternity leave or a chronic disease of a researcher working in the project. The maximum extension on the basis of childcare leave is twelve months.

If additional funding is granted, the Academy will apply the principles that were valid at the time when the funding decision for the project was originally made. An application for an additional research grant shall be submitted to the Academy by the site of research or the principal investigator of the project.

12 Control and discontinuation and claw-back of funds

The Academy has the right to monitor and control the use of funds it has granted. The Academy is entitled to carry out any inspections that may be necessary for the payment and control of the use of the funds. It also has the right to control the implementation of the research, the accounting and the observance of the conditions set for the funding decision. The site of research and the principal investigator of the research project are obliged to submit to the Academy any necessary accounts and other documents and data, and to assist in the inspection. Both the site of research and the principal investigator shall also otherwise, on request, submit to the Academy information on the research and the use of the funds.

The principal investigator and the site of research must without delay notify the Academy of any changes affecting the use of funds, such as other funding or income received for the implementa-tion of the set research plan. If this other funding or income exceeds the amount presented in the cost estimate included in the application submitted to the Academy, the Academy may require the site of research to return the portion of Academy funding that corresponds to the amount exceed-ing the cost estimate.

The Academy may interrupt or order the payment of funds to be terminated, or recover the funds in full or partly, if the funds have been used for a purpose other than the purpose for which they were granted, or if there is justified reason to suspect that the principal investigator or the site of research has used funds for some other purpose that for which they were granted, or has pre-sented erroneous or misleading information regarding a fact which may have affected the grant-ing, the amount or the conditions of funding or otherwise violated the regulations on the use of funds or the conditions incorporated into the funding decision.

The recipient of government discretionary transfers shall without delay repay into the Academy of Finland’s bank account 166030-112337 (SWIFT Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Helsinki, NDEAFIHH; IBAN FI5616603000112337) any funds, or any portion of funds, received erroneously, in excess or evi-dently without grounds. The funds need not be returned if the sum does not exceed ten euros.

Provisions on the repayment and claw-back of discretionary government transfers have been laid down in Chapter 5 of the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers.

13 Intellectual property rights

The Academy advises that those engaged in research, as soon as possible after the funding deci-sion is made, shall agree in writing with each other and with the site of research on the rights of ownership and use of the research results.

At sites of research where the Act on the Right to University Inventions (369/2006) applies, Acad-emy-funded research is defined as commissioned research as referred to in the Act; in these cases the university has the primary right to inventions produced by research. At other sites of research, the Act on the Right to Employee Inventions is applied (656/1967).

14 Delivery of social science research data

The Academy recommends that Academy-funded social science research data be delivered to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD), based at the University of Tampere, see www.fsd.uta.fi. Delivery shall take place as soon as possible after Academy funding has ceased.

15 Scientific publications

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

16 Research ethics

The Academy requires that the guidelines of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics, 'Good scientific practice and procedures for handling misconduct and fraud in science' as well as the complementary research-ethical guidelines of the Academy of Finland be observed in all Acad-emy-funded research (see www.aka.fi/eng > For researchers > Application guidelines > Research ethics). The site of research undertakes to notify the Academy Registrar’s Office if an investigation is started concerning violation of good scientific practice by the principal investigator or a re-searcher who has received Academy funding.

17 Certain provisions on research funding

The use, payment and control of grants follows the Finnish Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, the State Budget Act and Decree and its implementing provisions and other general provisions and regulations regarding the use of discretionary government transfers. The site of research shall also comply with its internal regulations, provisions and instructions, if these are not in contradiction with the conditions issued by the Academy of Finland.

Updated 28th June 2010