Academy of Finland Newsletter, August 2008
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:
Admission of researchers to Finland made easier
Budget proposes increases in Academy and science funding
Report: Finnish sectoral research system to be developed on the basis of administration model of institutions under public law
Academy does not endorse changing the structures of public decision-making in STI policy
Finnish scientists show great interest in systems biology and ERASysBio
Finnish CoE directors Kulmala and Kupiainen receive ERC Advanced Grants
Academy Professor Jussi Taipale receives Anders Jahre’s Award
Example of Academy-funded research: Infant sensitivity to negative emotional expressions develops at around six months
New brochure on research funding cooperation with China
2008 edition of High Technology Finland out now
Science barometer report available in English
Scroll down for more on these stories
ADMISSION OF RESEARCHERS TO FINLAND MADE EASIER
Admission to Finland of third-country nationals for the purposes of research is to be made easier through an amendment to the Aliens Act. By this amendment, due to come into force at the beginning of 2009, the Finnish Aliens Act is made to correspond to the admission procedures adopted under the European Union’s Researcher Directive. The amendment provides research institutions with a key role in the admission of researchers to Finland. The power related to the control of entry, however, will be kept with the immigration authorities. The Ministry of Education, for its part, will approve and list the research organisations that can serve as receiving organisations for researchers, as laid down in the Researcher Directive.
The hosting agreement signed between the researcher and the research organisation has a key role in the admission procedure. The agreement specifies, among others, the purpose and duration of the research project to be carried out. On the basis of the hosting agreement, the research organisation commits itself to receiving the researcher to conduct scientific research and, respectively, the researcher commits him/herself to carrying out the research in accordance with the signed agreement. The researcher is issued a residence permit by the immigration authorities on the basis of the hosting agreement, provided that the preconditions for entry and residence are met.
BUDGET PROPOSES INCREASES IN ACADEMY AND SCIENCE FUNDING
The Ministry of Education proposes an increase of 507 million euros for appropriations of its administrative sector in the 2009 budget. The total expenditure within this sector amounts to 7.5 billion euros. The Academy of Finland operates within the administrative sector of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry proposes an increase of 12.9 million euros in the Academy’s budget authority for research appropriations, amounting to a total of 258 million euros. The budget proposal includes an increase of one million euros for the development of research careers.
The Ministry further proposes an increase of 285 million euros for university funding, which would raise the universities’ funding to 1.77 billion euros in 2009. The structural development of the universities will be continued with a view to establishing stronger university units and to promoting international cutting-edge research.
The budget proposal will be submitted to Parliament for discussion in mid-September.
REPORT: FINNISH SECTORAL RESEARCH SYSTEM TO BE DEVELOPED ON THE BASIS OF ADMINISTRATION MODEL OF INSTITUTIONS UNDER PUBLIC LAW
According to a recent report on the development of the field of sectoral research, the Finnish sectoral research system is, on average, well-functioning, high-quality and productive, but it should be further developed to meet new needs arising from society. The survey, launched in spring 2008, was assigned the task of investigating the development possibilities and mechanisms of intersectoral research within the framework of Government decisions-in-principle, the productivity programme and the policy lines laid down in the Government Programme.
The report proposes that all government sectoral research institutes be changed into institutions under public law whose tasks, strategic steering, economy and state subsidies will be defined by legislation. The administration model of institutions under public law provides necessary flexibility and independence to activities of research institutes. It is further proposed that a clear sectoral research policy be formulated in Finland that should take into account the topical needs of society as well as the development needs related to foresighting.
In all 20 research institutes operate under Finnish ministries. The sectoral research institutes may form field-specific or regional collaboration consortia the task of which would be to organise intersectoral research producer collaboration. According to the report, it is not motivated to transfer the tasks of sectoral research institutes to universities, excluding basic research possibly carried out at institutes. Instead, the report states, it is possible to step up cooperation, standardise evaluation activities and further develop methods, indicators and foresighting activities.
ACADEMY DOES NOT ENDORSE CHANGING THE STRUCTURES OF PUBLIC DECISION-MAKING IN STI POLICY
Views of different Finnish bodies are presently invited on the recent proposal for a national innovation strategy, submitted to the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs in June. Academy of Finland President Markku Mattila endorses several of the strategic goals presented in the proposal, but is not in favour of changing and centralising the structures of public decision-making in STI policy to promote innovations. According to Mattila, state administration should not be made to pioneer systemic reforms in the world.
The proposal for a national innovation strategy would more strongly than presently steer public funding towards serving the research, product development and innovation activities of selected lines of business. Mattila sees that, in addition to a strategy focusing on innovations, Finland also needs science policy that takes into account the whole operational field of science, culture and civilisation in society. The goals included in the proposal seem, according to Mattila, too narrow in terms of Finnish science policy.
In addition to the focal points included in the proposal’s strategic action plan, Mattila expects strengths that also thus far have contributed to the economic and social success of Finnish businesses as well as Finland as a nation. According to Mattila, Finland should avoid taking measures that could harm our present strengths. For instance, heavily raising the educational level of the Finnish population will also in future be a decisively important national driving force and a factor that will increase citizen well-being. Likewise, the knowledge and know-how generated by scientific research, open competition of high-level researchers and good working conditions for the best researchers are necessary prerequisites for the future success of our society. Most of the new technologies are based on in-depth understanding of phenomena by means of latest scientific knowledge and competent application of this knowledge.
According to Mattila, the solid knowledge base Finland has established by strongly investing in education and research shall be maintained and further reinforced. He points out that both cutting-edge research and the diversity and renewal of science call for a long-term and independent approach. Comprehensive know-how also forms a basis to receive knowledge and know-how created elsewhere as well as to identify new opportunities. To be able to manage an uncertain future, it is not enough to merely select priority areas and profile. What Finland also needs is a high scientific level of its own.
The national innovation strategy is due to be approved during 2008.
FINNISH SCIENTISTS SHOW GREAT INTEREST IN SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AND ERASysBio
The European ERASysBio network, including the Academy of Finland, is expected to launch a new call for research proposals, most likely this autumn. As the Academy’s own research programme on systems biology and bioinformatics (SYSBIO) has been completed, new sources of funding are needed.
The first Finnish Programme Manager for ERASysBio, Sirpa Nuotio from the Academy of Finland, says that the programme got underway in 2005 with the first pilot call SysMo, which was focused on microorganisms. Prior to this, European scientists and funding bodies had been testing the ground for research collaboration in the field of systems biology for a couple of years. Finland did not participate in the pilot that involved six European countries, even though the Academy had its own ongoing SYSBIO research programme. SYSBIO involved 21 research projects and 54 research teams. Academy funding to the programme amounted to nine million euros, and the other Finnish research funding agency, Tekes, contributed with 1.7 million. A large number of foreign scientists were involved in SYSBIO. In October 2008, the Academy will conduct an evaluation to see how well the programme objectives were met.
FINNISH CoE DIRECTORS KULMALA AND KUPIAINEN RECEIVE ERC ADVANCED GRANTS
Academy Professors Markku Kulmala and Antti Kupiainen have been granted the European Research Council’s (ERC) Advanced Grants. The amount of the ERC Advanced Grants in the domain of physical sciences and engineering is 2.5–3.5 million euros for five years. Both Kulmala and Kupiainen are directors of Finnish Centres of Excellence (CoE) in research, reviewed by international peers as cutting-edge: Kulmala heads the Finnish CoE in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Meteorology of Atmospheric Composition and Climate Change, and Kupiainen the Finnish CoE in Analysis and Dynamics. The funding criteria for the ERC grants intended for advanced and leading European scientists are the researcher’s earlier merits, excellent results and an excellent research plan.
The ERC received a total of 997 applications for Advanced Grants in the domain of physical sciences and engineering; of these 105 are granted funding. The success rate was 10.5.
Kulmala receives ERC funding for his research “Atmospheric Nucleation: From Molecular to Global Scale”. His research is concerned to investigate the formation mechanisms and amounts of new nanoparticles in the atmosphere and how they grow. Aerosol particles are a key uncertainty factor when assessing how the climate will change. A closer understanding of the development of new particles is essential in order to reduce this uncertainty or even remove it.
Kupiainen will use ERC funding to research the mathematical physics of out-of-equilibrium systems. Physical, chemical or biological systems are normally out-of-equilibrium with their environment, which causes in them flows of energy, particles or other quantities that remain at stable equilibrium. Kupiainen takes his examples from physics: the flow of heat through solid matter and gas-liquid turbulence.
ACADEMY PROFESSOR JUSSI TAIPALE RECEIVES ANDERS JAHRE’S AWARD
Academy Professor Jussi Taipale has been granted the esteemed Anders Jahre’s Award to younger medical researchers. The award is given to outstanding medical researchers in the Nordic countries. Taipale shares the award, worth 400,000 Norwegian crowns, with Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam from the University of Oslo.
The Academy of Finland has two types of research posts: Academy Professor and Academy Research Fellow. Like Jussi Taipale, Academy Professors are highly recognised in their fields and work at universities, research institutes and other organisations outside the Academy. Before his appointment to Academy Professor, Taipale served as Professor of Medical Systems Biology at the University of Helsinki and as Research Professor at the National Public Health Institute. Taipale’s research team is included in the Genome Biology Research Programme of the Medical Faculty at the University of Helsinki and part of the Academy of Finland’s Centre of Excellence in Translational Genome-Scale Biology.
Systems biology is a relatively new field of study that aims at a comprehensive understanding of the cell mechanisms by carrying out extensive test series and by combining the data received by means of computational methods. By applying systems biology methods, Taipale’s research team is the first in the world to identify the genes affecting the growth and division of animal cells. The precise regulation of growth is essential to both the development of the embryo and the renewal of tissues. Damages in regulation mechanisms contribute to cancer development, for instance. A closer understanding of cell growth mechanisms opens new opportunities for the prevention and treatment of diseases.
EXAMPLE OF ACADEMY-FUNDED RESEARCH: INFANT SENSITIVITY TO NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIONS DEVELOPS AT AROUND SIX MONTHS
Scientists working in the Academy-funded Research Programme on Neuroscience (NEURO) have discovered important changes in the way that infants react to another person’s face at age 5–7 months. Infants aged five months react very differently to a fearful face than those aged seven months. According to Mikko Peltola, researcher at the University of Tampere, at the age of seven months babies will watch a fearful face for longer than a happy face, and their attentiveness level as measured by EEG (electroencephalography) is higher after seeing a fearful than a happy face. By contrast, infants aged five months watch both faces, when they are shown side by side, for just as long, and there is no difference in the intensity of attention in favour of the fearful face. It seems that at age six months, important developmental changes take place in the way that infants process significant emotional expressions. A fearful face attracts intense attention by the age of seven months. In addition, it takes longer for infants to shift their attention away from fearful than from happy and neutral faces.
The interpretation of this is to suggest that the brain mechanisms that specialise in emotional response and especially in processing threatening stimuli regulate and intensify the processing of facial expressions by age seven months. The emotions conveyed by facial expressions are an important part of infant-parent interaction from childbirth onwards. Another area of interest in the Neuroscience Research Programme is how inherited differences impact the development of perceptual functions in infants. Likewise, scientists in the programme are interested in interindividual variation in mother-child interaction.
The results of the project shed useful light on emotional reactions related to the perception of human faces and how they develop. Furthermore, the project will help to increase understanding of the development of perceptual functions that are crucial to normal social interaction.
NEW BROCHURE ON RESEARCH FUNDING COLLABORATION WITH CHINA
A new Academy brochure, entitled Research Collaboration with China, has just come out presenting research collaboration between China and the Academy of Finland. The brochure can be ordered from the Academy (viestinta@ aka.fi) and is also available on the Academy’s website at www.aka.fi/publications > Brochures. At present, the Academy’s Research Councils and Chinese funding agencies cooperate by funding research projects in jointly agreed fields and on the basis of competition. Support is also provided for the mobility of researchers. The Academy also works to promote networking and cooperation between Finnish and Chinese universities and research institutes.
2008 EDITION OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY FINLAND OUT NOW
The publication High Technology Finland: A World of Ideas and Innovations presents Finnish technology and innovations. The Academy of Finland is represented with two articles. The publication is available in English, Japanese and Chinese and can be ordered from the Academy at viestinta@aka.fi.
SCIENCE BAROMETER REPORT AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH
The Science Barometer 2007, a questionnaire survey that assesses the Finns’ attitudes to science and that was published in Finnish last year, is now available also in English at www.tietysti.fi. According to the survey, science and researchers are highly valued in Finland. The mass media are clearly the Finns’ most important source of information. The online media are just ahead of the printed media. As a source of information, television and radio are considered somewhat more important than the press.
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 276 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@aka.fi.