Academy of Finland Newsletter, April–May 2007
The Academy of Finland newsletter will keep you updated on basic research funded in Finland and on other news from the Finnish world of science and research. In case you wish us to send this to someone else in your organisation or if you do not want to receive these newsletters in the future, please let us know at viestinta@aka.fi.
Features:
Sari Sarkomaa new Finnish Minister of Education and Science
Creativity, competence and high standard of education key words in new Government programme
Finland to head broad-based Baltic Sea research cooperation
International evaluation of Academy of Finland Baltic Sea Research Programme
International Research Programme on Substance Use and Addictions launched
Academy research funding on the increase
Academy Professor Markku Kulmala EGU Vilhelm Bjerknes Medallist 2007
Professor Raimo Väyrynen to chair ESF's Science Advisory Board
Latest issue of Academy English-language magazine available online
Scroll down for more on these stories
SARI SARKOMAA NEW FINNISH MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Ms Sari Sarkomaa, MSc (Health Care), Member of Parliament, was appointed Minister of Education and Science in the Finnish Government starting its work this spring. As Minister of Education and Science, she will be in charge of matters relating to education, training and science. The Academy of Finland operates within the administrative sector of the Ministry of Education.
Ms Sarkomaa comes from the National Coalition Party.
CREATIVITY, COMPETENCE AND HIGH STANDARD OF EDUCATION KEY WORDS IN NEW GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME
The programme of the new Finnish Government includes a number of educational and science policy goals through which the Government seeks to secure the economic and structural preconditions to carry out good-quality, broad-based basic and applied research.
The Government programme notes that the Finns' high standard of education as well as good-quality and free education form the basis of the Finnish welfare society. The Government will renew the grounds for foresighting with a view to better meeting the qualitative and quantitative needs of competence, education, research and worklife. Universities will be developed with the aim to raising the quality of education and research. Work will be continued to advance the structural development of universities. The Government will also draw up a university development plan. International mobility of researchers will also be promoted.
As to innovation policy, the programme states that raising the productivity and competitiveness of the Finnish economy calls for broad-based innovation policy. The main focus will be placed on education, research and technology policies. Besides technological innovations, the Government also points out the importance of business, design and organisational innovations. The Government will draw up a national innovation strategy in the near future.
The goal is to raise the national product share of R&D funding up to 4 per cent of GDP. The Government will increase R&D investments particularly in the service sector. By targeting public R&D funding the Government seeks to spur SMEs to increase their own R&D spending. The Government sees it important to increase R&D funding in different parts of the country as an integral part of balanced regional development.
FINLAND TO HEAD BROAD-BASED BALTIC SEA RESEARCH COLLABORATION
The research funding agencies of the Baltic Sea States have established the Baltic Organisations' Network for Funding Science BONUS EEIG, whose secretariat is based in Helsinki, Finland. The key initiator and head of the project has been the Academy of Finland.
BONUS is a means to implement a completely new form of cooperation between the Baltic Seas States. It will provide a framework within which the Baltic Sea States will launch a jointly funded research programme aiming to generate new knowledge to support the protection of the Baltic Sea. The programme takes into consideration research needs that have been identified as important, for instance, in the work of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission HELCOM as well as in the implementation of the EU Marine Environment Strategy.
For 30 years now, the Baltic Sea States have through HELCOM been working systematically for the protection of the Baltic Sea. However, not enough coordination has been put into producing the research knowledge needed for protection efforts and the cooperation between research funding agencies has been limited. A joint research programme for the Baltic Sea thus opens up totally new prospects for the social utilisation of research knowledge and it also complements existing forms of cooperation.
The programme will announce its first call for research grants in autumn 2007, worth close on 27 million euros, of which 18 million is provided by the Baltic Sea States and nine million by the Commission. For more information please contact Executive Director Kaisa Kononen, kaisa.kononen(at)aka.fi.
EVALUATION PANEL: ACADEMY OF FINLAND BALTIC SEA RESEARCH PROGRAMME INCREASED UNDERSTANDING OF BALTIC SEA
According to the international panel that evaluated the completed Academy of Finland Baltic Sea Research Programme (BIREME), the programme increased knowledge and understanding of the Baltic Sea. The programme achieved part of its goals well, the research within the programme was of a high scientific standard and the number of scientific outputs was impressive. BIREME was, however, far too subject-oriented, instead of problem-oriented.
The international panel points out that a clear problem formulation would have promoted the creation of genuine interdisciplinary cooperation. Only few projects involved true interdisciplinary research. Nor was the goal to involve interdisciplinary researcher training met in the programme.
BIREME ran from 2003 through to 2006. The goal was to deepen understanding of the ecological, social and economic interactions between the drainage basin, the coastal area and the open sea. The programme particularly encouraged studies that combine materials from different disciplines. Besides the Academy of Finland, the programme was funded by three ministries and one foundation from Finland as well as the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON SUBSTANCE USE AND ADDICTIONS LAUNCHED
The Research Programme on Substance Use and Addictions delves into alcohol, drug, smoking and game addiction as well as the underlying addiction mechanisms. There is a need for more detailed research knowledge on the cause and effects of alcohol and drug addiction, not least because alcohol and drug use is considered one of the main current threats to people's health and safety. The research collaboration is a means to seek out new perspectives on alcohol and drug cultures and related policy in the participating countries.
The programme includes eight Finnish, two Finnish-Canadian and two Finnish-Russian projects and one Finnish-Canadian-Russian project. The programme is coordinated by the Academy of Finland, the main Finnish source for the funding of the programme. Additional funding comes from the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The Canadian funding agency is the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) and the Russian funding agencies are the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Russian Foundation for Humanities.
ACADEMY RESEARCH FUNDING ON THE INCREASE
In 2007, Academy funding for basic research amounts to 260 million euros: in 2006 the figure was 238.7 million euros, accounting for a 15.9 per cent share of government R&D spending. In Finland, the total funding for R&D in the Government Budget for 2007 is 1.73 billion euros. R&D funding increased in nominal terms by 3.6 per cent and in real terms by 1.2 per cent. Government budget appropriations or outlays on R&D as a proportion of overall government spending stand at 4.5 per cent. The share of public R&D funding of GDP totals just below 1 per cent.
The Annual Report 2006 of the Academy of Finland has recently come out. It is available on the Academy's website at www.aka.fi/publications. In 2006, the Academy received a total of 5,567 applications, worth altogether 1.2 billion euros. About 80 per cent of Academy funding went to research projects, research programmes and Centres of Excellence in research at universities.
The Academy's research funding was spread out across several fields of research. Most of the funding was allocated to research applications submitted in disciplines under the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering. The Academy has four Research Councils.
ACADEMY PROFESSOR MARKKU KULMALA EGU VILHELM BJERKNES MEDALLIST 2007
Markku Kulmala, Academy Professor and Professor and Head of the Division of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Helsinki, is the EGU Vilhelm Bjerknes Medallist 2007 for his outstanding contributions to aerosol science (formation and growth mechanisms and aerosol-cloud-climate interactions) and to the creation of a new discipline, terrestrial ecosystem meteorology.
Academy Professorships are one of the research posts of the Academy of Finland. Kulmala is also head of the Nordic Centre of Excellence "Research Centre on Biosphere-Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions".
According to the European Geosciences Union, Kulmala is world leader in aerosol science and a founder of "terrestrial ecosystem meteorology", an interdisciplinary field of research within meteorology and biology addressing atmosphere-ecosystem interactions. His work covers theoretical and experimental physics, theoretical and observational meteorology and biophysics. He has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, not to mention his supervision, educational, and organisational activities.
His approach starts from basic nucleation theories followed by aerosol dynamic/atmospheric chemistry models and laboratory experiments and ends in broad-ranging field measurements, in particular at the University of Helsinki research stations, and 3D modelling. His interdisciplinary research has been complemented by the creation of an interdisciplinary team and the use of a wide range of modern scientific technologies, including analysis of satellite data together with point measurements and 3D models. A combination of personal fundamental research and leadership in large collective projects has allowed Kulmala to considerably advance our knowledge of biosphere-aerosol-cloud-climate interactions.
PROFESSOR RAIMO VÄYRYNEN TO CHAIR ESF SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
The European Science Foundation ESF has appointed Professor Raimo Väyrynen
to chair the ESF's ten-member Science Advisory Board. Professor Väyrynen is at present Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs FIIA, an institute under the Finnish Parliament, and he is the former President of the Academy of Finland. The two Finnish ESF Member Organisations are the Academy of Finland and the Delegation of the Finnish Academies of Science and Letters.
The Science Advisory Board is a new body that will monitor and review the scientific orientation of the ESF's activities and, among other things, advise the Governing Council on measures to be taken to reinforce the European Research Area.
LATEST ISSUE OF ACADEMY ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MAGAZINE AVAILABLE ONLINE
Issue 1/2007 of ProAcademia is now available online. It includes an interview with the Academy of Finland's newly appointed President, Professor Markku Mattila. Professor Mattila says that the quality and internationalisation of research are crucially important not only to the Academy, but to Finnish science as a whole. Other articles feature, for example, the white blood cell research and how buildings go digital.
ProAcademia is the Academy's English-language magazine for its interest groups. The subjects covered in the magazine include Academy-funded research, Finnish research and science policy and the Academy's international activities. Together with brochures and the monthly electronic newsletter, ProAcademia forms an integral part of the Academy's international communications. See www.aka.fi/publications > Magazines. To subscribe to the magazine, please contact viestinta@aka.fi. The subscription is free of charge.
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Academy of Finland in brief: The Academy's objective is to promote high-level scientific research through long-term quality-based research funding, research and science policy expertise and efforts to strengthen the position of science and scientific research. The Academy makes decisions on research funding worth about 260 million euros. Each year about 5,000 people benefit from Academy research funding. For more information, go to www.aka.fi/eng or send a message to maj-lis.tanner(at)aka.fi.