FIRI 2024: Membership in international research infrastructures

On a proposal from the Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee, the Board of the Research Council of Finland decided in December 2023 on a long-term plan for research infrastructures until 2030 (PDF). The main objectives of the plan are linked to the Research Council of Finland’s strategy, which aims to open up new avenues for excellent, responsible and high-impact research.

It presents a vision that excellent research infrastructures are the foundation of high-impact research, development and innovation. Based on the plan, the FIRI Committee opens roadmap and funding calls and, together with other actors, develops national and international research infrastructure activities in the coming years.

Memberships in international research infrastructures give the Finnish science and business communities access to research infrastructure services that could not be provided by national means only. International research infrastructures are also a platform for international collaboration in research, development and innovation and a means to advance cooperation and engage in science diplomacy between countries. Becoming a member is always a strategic decision.

The aim of this call is to assess the benefits of the membership for Finnish RDI actors and, on that basis, to make decisions on possible membership recommendations and membership fees.

The Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee (FIRI Committee) is governed by the Finnish Act on the Academy of Finland (the Research Council of Finland was formerly known as the Academy of Finland). The Act assigns the following duties to the FIRI Committee:

• monitor and develop national and international research infrastructure activities
• make a proposal to the Board of the Research Council of Finland on a long-term plan for research infrastructures
• decide on the selection of research infrastructure projects and monitor the projects
• perform other infrastructure tasks assigned by the Board of the Research Council of Finland.

Based on this, the FIRI Committee

• gives recommendations on Finland’s memberships to relevant ministries, which, if they so decide, will refer the matter to Parliament
• may commit to covering international membership fees for a maximum on five years at a time
• finances the development of national research infrastructure activities through competitive funding calls
• monitors the progress of and the benefits of investments in memberships and funded research infrastructure projects.

See the terms and definitions related to research infrastructures (e.g. research infrastructure, national research infrastructure, international research infrastructure membership, research organisation and project).

Characteristics of international research infrastructure memberships

The action plan and the review questions used to assess the plan are based on the characteristics expected of a membership in an international research infrastructure.

Wide and versatile impact

Membership generates added value and impact in the research community, in national and international research infrastructure activities, and in society as a whole.

National research infrastructure activities play an expert and visible role as facilitators of collaboration, platforms for innovation and drivers of RDI. Memberships in international research infrastructures support this objective.

There must be a long-term plan for how the international research infrastructure membership can be utilised in Finland.

Services and users

The international membership provides research infrastructure services that cannot be provided at national level alone. The services of the international research infrastructure are openly accessible. The international research infrastructure has a sufficient user base in Finland.

Ownership, organisational structure, and competence and know-how

The international research infrastructure and national activities related to membership in it are professionally coordinated and managed. The ownership and the actors’ roles, rights and obligations are clear. The coordinating body has sufficient expertise to make full use of the membership.

See also the FIRI Committee’s policy on the characteristics of administrative ownership (PDF).

Data management and production

Through responsible and secure data processing and management, research infrastructures contribute as major players to the large-scale production and use of new knowledge.

Responsible science

In its activities, the research infrastructure must take into account research ethics, equality and nondiscrimination, open science and sustainable development, including the green transition.

Budget and funding

The international research infrastructure in which membership is sought must have a sustainable funding base and a long-term funding plan for maintenance and development of services.

National activities linked to the international research infrastructure must also have a stable and transparent funding base to support the membership and the maintenance and development of services.

The applicant is a research organisation. The research organisation selects the person who will be responsible for submitting the application. We recommend that the research infrastructure’s director/national coordinator is person responsible for the application. The person shall be responsible for the application in its entirety.

The application is filled in and submitted in the Research Council of Finland’s online services. Persons authorised by the responsible person, such as the deputy PI of the consortium, may also participate in drafting the application. The authorisation is given on the tab ‘Authorisation’ in the online services. The duration of the authorisation may be determined case-by-case. However, the authorisation will expire with the call’s deadline. Responsible persons must not authorise themselves.

The commitment by the site of research is issued by the senior management of the research organisation. The commitment is issued in the online services after the call has closed. NB! Only the senior management (rectors, etc.) can issue the commitment of the site of research.

If the application includes cooperation with Russia or Belarus, you must take into account our policies on the matter.

We will not process an application if the responsible person has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.

Consortium applications

If the national research infrastructure linked to the international infrastructure is hosted by more than one research organisation, the organisations may form a consortium. Read the consortium application guidelines.

The consortium application is prepared by the consortium PI (the person responsible for the application), who should be the head of the research infrastructure/the national coordinator. All research organisations acting as consortium parties must demonstrate their commitment to the application in the Research Council of Finland’s online services. NB! Only the senior management (rectors, etc.) can issue the commitment of the site of research.

The director of the consortium (the person responsible for the application) must fill in the basic information of the consortium in the online services for the other parties. NB! The consortium parties will not be able to examine the entire consortium application without authorisation (described above). However, the application can be viewed in the online services by clicking on ‘Application in PDF format’.

In this call, applications are invited for a recommendation from the Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee on membership in an international research infrastructure and for funding to cover the membership fees for a maximum of five years (2025–2029).

There are several stages in the membership process. The image ‘Steps in processing membership in international research infrastructure’ shows the national steps leading to membership in an international research infrastructure.

In the membership process, it is important that all parties know their responsibilities and commit to them. Membership in an international research infrastructure is always a joint undertaking, and the funding is based on co-financing between different national actors.

How to submit and supplement the application

The person responsible for the application shall submit it in the Research Council of Finland’s online services. The deadline for applications is 5 June 2024 at 16.15 Finnish time. The non-negotiable call deadline also applies to consortia. We will not consider (process) an application that has not been submitted by deadline.

The consortium PI can submit the application only after all subproject PIs have tagged their applications as complete.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the content of the application appendices is correct.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. You can make changes to a submitted application (e.g. change appendices), but you must make them before the deadline.

If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, immediately get in touch with us via our helpdesk, so that the application can be reopened for supplementation. We will consider the supplemented information if it is possible in view of the review and decision-making process.

We may ask you to supplement the application. The request for supplementation will be sent to you by email. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, or if the application is substantially incomplete even after a request for supplementary information, we may decide to dismiss it (i.e. it will not be processed). You must make sure that your contact details (email address) are up to date.

How the application becomes pending

According to section 17 of the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act and section 8 of the Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector, the sender is responsible for the application arriving by the set deadline.

An application becomes pending when the online application and the obligatory appendices have been submitted in the online services. The system will confirm a successful submission by sending an email to the address you have provided.

If you fail to submit a final report on a completed or ongoing project according to our guidelines, we may decide not to process your new application.

An application will not be processed if the applicant or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements, or if the application otherwise does not qualify for processing.

A scientific council or another decision-making body may decide not to fund an application based on science policy objectives, or if it is apparent for some other reason that the applicant cannot receive funding with the submitted application.

Read more about the circumstances that may cause us not to consider or process an application.

Publicity and data protection

Except for the research plan, plan of intent, abstract and progress report, which are primarily confidential, the application and its appendices are public documents. For example, the CV is a public document and as such must not include any confidential information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

We are committed to following regulations on data protection. The applicant is responsible for the disclosure of the personal data contained in the application and, where appropriate, for requesting the consent of the parties concerned.

The GDPR-compliant privacy notice concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection.

The application consists of forms completed in the online services and PDF appendices.

As an applicant, you have the right to submit your application in Finnish or Swedish, but we ask that you to submit it in English to facilitate the international review.

Most of the links below take you to the A–Z index of application guidelines and our website.

The online application contains the following parts

Personal data

• Personal details of person responsible for the application (research infrastructure director)
• Degrees (most recent one first)
• Titles of docent and professorships

Organisation parties to the research infrastructure (parties)

• The consortium name and abbreviation consist of the name and abbreviation of the research infrastructure. It is exactly the same name as the one you select on the next tab ‘General information’.
• Name and abbreviation of consortium
• Details on each party (role, name of responsible person, email address, organisation and country)
• Read the guidelines for consortium applications

General information

• Details on the site of research
• Commitment by site of research. Make sure you have a commitment from your site of research to supporting the project. NB! Only the senior management (rectors, etc.) can issue the commitment of the site of research. Read more: commitment by site of research.
• Details on the research infrastructure (select from list)
• Research fields (at least one, no more than five). See the research field classification.
• Keywords in English and Finnish/Swedish

Abstract

• Maximum length 2,500 characters including spaces
• Brief description of the international research infrastructure in which membership is sought, the national activities, and how these together support research, development and innovation

Estimate of membership fees

• In consortium applications, only the consortium PI fills in the cost estimate. The other parties leave the cost estimate tab empty. Enter the funding period. The funding period for membership fees starts on 1 January 2025 at the earliest and ends on 31 December 2029 at the latest.
• Enter the funding sought to cover membership fees under ‘Other costs’.
• Commitment by site of research. Make sure you have a commitment from your site of research to supporting the project. NB! Only the senior management (rectors, etc.) can issue the commitment of the site of research. Read more: commitment by site of research.

Public description of research infrastructure

• Maximum length 1,000 characters including spaces
• Reader-friendly and popular description of the research infrastructure in English and Finnish/Swedish
• Include the website of the research infrastructure.
• We use the public description to disseminate information on the research infrastructure. The description will also be stored at fi, a service that makes available information on scientific research conducted in Finland.
• Read the guidelines on the public project description.

Action plan

• The maximum length of the action plan is five pages.
• In order to streamline the review, the action plan and the review form have the same structure. That is why it is important that the action plan follows the guidelines and structure provided. Be as concise as you can. Write the action plan on our template and append it as a PDF appendix on the dedicated tab in the online services.

Submit application

• You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information.
• A red warning triangle on the tab tells you that some information is missing. NB! The consortium PI’s application will not show a red warning triangle if consortium parties have not tagged their applications as complete. The PI can submit the consortium application only after all subprojects have tagged their applications as complete.
• You can supplement the application until the deadline. Resaving will replace the earlier version.
• If you want to supplement the application after the deadline, please get in touch with the contact persons listed in the call text.

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to supplement or view your application.
• The person must have an account in our online services (SARA).
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field. Then select the correct person in the drop-down menu.
• You cannot authorise more than one person at a time to edit a field in your application, and you cannot edit that same field while the authorisation is active.
• Do not authorise yourself.
• See technical instructions on the authorisation process in the how-to guides for the online services.

Research ethics

• Found guilty of research misconduct (yes/no). We will not process a funding application if the person responsible for the application (the consortium PI) or a consortium party has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.
• Guilty of illegal employment within the meaning referred to in section 7(2) of the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (yes/no)
• See the ethical guidelines.

International experts will review the applications in a single panel in September 2024. Not only are they highly respected in their own disciplines, but they also have a broader understanding of major national and international research infrastructures.

In addition to the international review, the scientific councils of the Research Council of Finland will be asked to provide input on the national need for the international membership, the user base, and possible overlaps.

Review criteria

Based on the applications received, the international experts will assess the benefits of the membership for RDI in Finland. The review panel will give an overall rating (1–6) to the whole application.

See the characteristics of national research infrastructures (see above).

The review also takes into account any affiliations with research infrastructures included in the ESFRI Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures 2021.

Read the review questions that will be used in the review: review form (PDF), review instructions (PDF) and review principles (PDF). The review guidelines and forms are only available in English.

The Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee will decide on possible membership recommendations to the relevant ministries and on membership fee commitments in early 2025. The Finnish Government will take the final membership decisions after Parliament has given its consent.

The decisions of the FIRI Committee are based on the following factors:

• the expert review reports and the information provided in the application
• opinions of the Research Council of Finland’s scientific councils
• an overall consideration of the objectives of the long-term plan for research infrastructures.

Additionally, the decisions are prepared considering the Research Council of Finland’s criteria for funding decisions and other guiding policies. Read about how funding decisions are made.

As an applicant, you will receive an automatic email message after the decision has been made. After receiving the email, you can log in to the online services with your user ID to view the decision and its justifications. There you can also read the review report(s) on your application.

• Contact us primarily via the helpdesk (Division of Research Environments)
• Get in touch via our helpdesk (Division of Information Management) if you encounter technical issues in the online services.
• Our telephone number (switchboard) is +358 295 335 000.
• Merja Särkioja, Senior Science Adviser
• Marjut Kaukolehto, Science Adviser
• Juhokalle Pekkala, Science Adviser