Academy of Finland Newsletter, October 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:
Increase in Academy of Finland research funding
30 million euros to biosciences and environmental research
31.5 million euros to cultural and social sciences research
40 million euros to natural sciences and engineering research
Research programme on the Future of Work and Well-being deals with topical phenomena
Academy brought together Baltic Sea researchers and practical actors within natural resources
Survey of researchers' unemployment benefits
Director appointed to Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland
Academy Centre of Excellence researchers involved in Nobel Prize-winning research
Two researchers receive Academy of Finland Awards
Marja Makarow new ESF Chief Executive
Anita Lehikoinen to head Ministry of Education Division for Higher Education and Science
Scroll down for more on these stories
INCREASE IN ACADEMY OF FINLAND RESEARCH FUNDING
The state budget for 2008 proposes an increase of 20.3 million euros in the Academy of Finland's appropriations. In 2007, the Academy finances research with about 260 million euros. The Finnish Parliament is to decide on the budget in late 2007.
Research also receives funding from lottery revenue. An estimated 419 million euros in lottery revenue will be available in 2008. The proposed share to be allocated to research is 77.1 million euros.
30 MILLION EUROS TO BIOSCIENCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
The Academy of Finland's Research Council for Biosciences and Environment has decided to support research projects with roughly 30 million euros. The major part of this, i.e. 22.3 million euros, goes to extensive research projects. The Research Council was able to fund more research projects than before, 69 projects in all. The projects are scheduled to run mainly for four years with funding worth 320,000 euros on average.
The Research Council wants to secure funding for long-term, high-quality research and support all stages of the research career. The four years enable researchers to complete their doctoral dissertations or postdoctoral researchers to further qualify themselves.
The Research Council processed a total of 264 applications, including the fields of biochemistry, ecology, cell and developmental biology, forest economics and geography. The bulk of the funding goes to projects within biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, genetics and bioengineering as well as ecology, evolution research and systematics.
31.5 MILLION EUROS TO CULTURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCH
The Academy of Finland's Research Council for Culture and Society has backed research in the fields of humanities and social sciences with a total of 31.5 million euros. The bulk of the funding, i.e. nearly 22 million euros, is allocated as general research grants. The total amount of funding granted is exceptionally high, with a 41 per cent increase on 2006.
The Research Council received 293 project applications worth 125.5 million euros. Following an international evaluation, 66 projects were singled out, each to receive 333,000 euros on average. The projects are more extensive than ever before, which ensures the researchers have as long an employment relationship as possible as well as optimal working conditions.
Of all the projects funded, 34 are run by women. In the evaluation of the applications, particular focus was on not only scientific quality but also topicality and overall societal relevance.
Interesting topics among the projects to be funded include research on Russian energy policy; the inheritance of inequalities; the regional differentiation of rural Finland and its effects; and the problems immigrants have with Finnish pronunciation.
40 MILLION EUROS TO NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH
The Academy of Finland's Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering has allocated 40 million euros to research. Professor Pekka Koskela from the University of Jyväskylä received the biggest individual funding (530,000 euros) for his research on geometric analysis in the field of mathematics. Never before has the Research Council granted an amount of this size to any individual project.
The most substantial joint project funding (912,000 euros) went to an interdisciplinary joint project developing new derivation and culture methods for human embryonic stem cells meeting the requirement for cell and tissue transplantation.
The Research Council received a total of 451 applications worth more than 133 million euros. It granted funding to 115 research projects worth close on 28 million euros. Of these, 35 per cent were joint projects between different research teams. The Research Council supported, for instance, plans with links to extensive international science projects and organisations, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON THE FUTURE OF WORK AND WELL-BEING INVESTIGATES TOPICAL PHENOMENA
The Academy of Finland has selected the projects to be included in the Future of Work and Well-being (WORK) research programme. The WORK programme investigates phenomena that are strongly present today both in Finland and in Europe: changes in people's life-course, the appeal of working life and diversifying of labour, structural unemployment and the precariate; well-being, health and work; as well as the significance of work as an economic basis of welfare.
The topics of the programme projects include the role of early-life risk factors in associations between work and depression; sleep, work stress, health and coping with irregular working hours; part-time and fixed-time work in the Nordic countries; and the changing life-styles and values of the young short-term unemployed.
The aim of the programme is to increase interdisciplinary knowledge of the relationship between work and well-being as well as to develop new solutions to related problems. Another key goal is to combine social and individual well-being with economic and employment growth. Projects involved in the programme are granted funding for four years. The Academy of Finland has allocated a total of eight million euros for the programme.
ACADEMY BROUGHT TOGETHER BALTIC SEA RESEARCHERS AND PRACTICAL ACTORS WITHIN NATURAL RESOURCES
The Academy of Finland and the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) arranged in September a workshop where Baltic Sea researchers and actors within the natural resources had the opportunity to discuss both measures needed to improve the state of the Baltic Sea and the research needs as well as research results already achieved. The workshop showed that the views among researchers and farmers on environmental protection and the loading of the Baltic Sea are not contradictory, even though this is often reported.
According to the workshop participants, it is high time to stop blaming different parties for that nothing has been done to improve the state of the Baltic Sea and pointing the finger at the worst culprit for the heavy loading of the Sea. Instead, we should start discussing cooperation between researchers and the practical actors.
According to Director Jaana Roos from the Academy's Biosciences and Environment Research Unit, international research should also be involved to help solve special problems of the Finnish Baltic Sea coast. On the other hand, research is expected to contribute to an international dimension here. Finland's efforts alone are not enough.
SURVEY OF RESEARCHERS' UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
A proposal for improving the researchers' unemployment benefits has been submitted to the Finnish Ministry of Labour. The survey report deals with legislative amendments to improve and clarify the unemployment benefits of those working in the field of art and science. It also seeks to increase the predictability and consistency of authority statements regarding the professions in the field of art and science.
The report proposes that a network of employment advisors be established in employment offices. The network would enable to better understand the needs of grant recipients, for instance. Compared to other job seekers, the number of researchers in employment offices is low; however, there is a need to increase understanding and knowledge within labour administration of the special features related to the profession of a researcher.
According to the Government Programme, the social security of those living on grants will be improved as from the beginning of 2009 in such a way that the grant recipients will be entitled to pension, sickness, occupational accident and unemployment benefits according to the amount of grants received. Unemployment benefits for those working in the field of art and science will be improved by amending the applicable legislation accordingly; the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has the overall responsibility for this.
DIRECTOR APPOINTED TO INSTITUTE FOR MOLECULAR MEDICINE FINLAND
MD, PhD Olli Kallioniemi has been appointed Director of the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) for a five-year period starting 1December 2007. FIMM is a joint research institute of the University of Helsinki, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa and the National Public Health Institute. The aim of FIMM is to merge resources and research in the field of molecular medicine, genetics and epidemiology in Finland and to develop into a high-profile international research institute.
Kallioniemi is an Academy Professor. He heads the Finnish Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Translational Genome-Scale Biology, which involves researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Universities of Turku and Helsinki. All Centre of excellence programmes are administered and coordinated by the Academy of Finland. Upon Kallioniemi's appointment to the FIMM Directorship, the research within the CoE in Turku will continue and be linked to FIMM by a cooperation agreement between the parties.
FIMM is expected to produce international cutting-edge research, with national and commercial significance as well. FIMM already has a cooperation agreement with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
ACADEMY OF FINLAND CoE RESEARCHERS INVOLVED IN NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING RESEARCH
Two researchers at the COMP Centre of Excellence (CoE) at the Laboratory of Physics of Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) have participated in the award-winning work of Professor Gerhard Ertl, who was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Involved in research at the HUT have been Professor Tapio Ala-Nissilä and Adjunct Professor Petri Salo. Ala-Nissilä and Salo are senior members of the Academy of Finland CoE for Computational Condensed-matter and Complex Research Unit (COMP) headed by Academy Professor, in the field of theoretical and computational nanophysics and nanotechnology. Ala-Nissilä is also Adjunct Professor of Physics at Brown University.
Results of the collaboration have been published in the Physical Review Letters and Physical Review B in 2002 and 2003. The Nobel Committee widely cites these results in its motivation for awarding the Prize. The research featured in the Nobel Committee's motivation is conducted jointly with the Helsinki University of Technology, Brown University in the US and the Fritz-Haber Institute der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin, Germany.
The theorists at HUT and Brown developed a model based on quantum-mechanical density functional calculations of hydrogen on platinum in order to explain the experimental data from the Professor Ertl's team. Special focus was put on the precise characterisation of quantum- mechanical features of hydrogen when it resides on platinum surfaces at low enough temperatures. To investigate this, extensive theoretical calculations were carried out using the super computers of CSC, the Finnish IT center for science, in Finland. Even though the research is basic research by nature, it has potential application in developing new catalytic systems and also hydrogen-based production and storage systems.
TWO RESEARCHERS RECEIVED ACADEMY OF FINLAND AWARDS
The Academy of Finland Awards have been presented to two researchers. The awards went to Hannes Lohi, Academy Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor in Molecular Biology, and Jan Lundell, Academy Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor in Physical Chemistry, who are both based at the University of Helsinki. Lohi was recognised for his scientific courage, Lundell for the social impact of his work.
The Academy of Finland Award for scientific courage went to genome researcher Hannes Lohi. Lohi's research interests lie in the genetic background and inheritance of epilepsy. He has launched a genetic research programme at the University of Helsinki that is aimed at identifying genetic defects related to hereditary diseases in different dog breeds. In Finland, this marks a whole new approach to studying genetic diseases, making use of canine genome data to explore the heredity of certain similar diseases in both dogs and humans.
Dog breeding programmes provide an excellent source of research material for geneticists. Dogs are second only to humans in the incidence of genetic diseases, and the best-known among canine diseases are very similar to the corresponding diseases in humans. The canine model identified by Lohi has played a major part in attempting to understand the aetiology of epilepsy.
The research undertaken by Lohi has many potential applications in the promotion of human and canine health. A further aim of his research is to help develop better treatments. Lohi is building a Finnish databank of canine DNA samples that will contribute to clarifying the genetic background of both canine and human diseases.
The Academy of Finland Award for social impact went to Jan Lundell, who has significantly promoted the use of computer-aided chemistry in chemistry teaching and in chemistry teacher training. He has produced educational materials both for university teacher training programmes and for supplementary training courses for upper secondary school chemistry teachers.
Lundell's goal is to improve the quality of chemistry teaching and to enhance the pedagogic skills of chemistry teachers. He has played an active and pivotal role in the start-up of eChemicum, the chemistry information and communication technologies centre at the University of Helsinki, and served as coordinator for the Chemistry Information Networks project at the Department of Chemistry: this is a virtual education project designed to promote and coordinate the systematic application of ICT in chemistry research, classroom teaching and studying. The know-how gained in this project will be put to use in teacher training courses organised by the Centre for Chemistry Education at the University of Helsinki.
MARJA MAKAROW NEW ESF CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Professor Marja Makarow, Vice Rector of the University of Helsinki, is the new Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation (ESF) as of the beginning of 2008. The ESF Board decided on the appointment in late September. Makarow is the first woman to take this important post in the science organisation. According to Makarow, the ESF has an essential role in complementing the national research funding and research performing organisations and academies and the framework programmes of the EU.
Makarow is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Helsinki. Previously she has worked as Research Director of the Cell Biotechnology Programme at the Biotechnology Institute in 2000–2004, as Professor of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Kuopio in 1998–2000 and as Academy of Finland Senior Fellow in 1997–1999. Makarow holds several positions of trust serving a number of national and intergovernmental research funding and research performing organisations. She is, for example, a member of the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland.
ANITA LEHIKOINEN TO HEAD MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DIVISION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Counsellor of Education Anita Lehikoinen has been appointed to head the Division for Higher Education and Science. Her term of office runs until the end of May 2011.
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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 or send a message to maj-lis.tanner@aka.fi.