Academy of Finland Newsletter, September – October 2008
03.10.2008
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:
Academy of Finland: 60 years of impact on science
Government science budget under discussion in Parliament
Research infrastructures require an annual €40–60m worth of funding
Academy funds health research with 22 million euros
Academy’s October call for research funding applications open
Academy funding strengthened collaboration among social capital researchers
International evaluation: Corporate research needs steer Finnish mechanical engineering research
Academy Research Fellow Anne Birgitta Pessi receives Nils Klim Prize
Scroll down for more on these stories
ACADEMY OF FINLAND: 60 YEARS OF IMPACT ON SCIENCE
2008 marks the Academy of Finland’s 60th anniversary. The Anniversary Ceremony will take place in Helsinki on 28 November 2008. The founding of the Academy 60 years ago tied in closely with national ambitions to emerge from the post-war era. Today, the Academy is a major player in the science arena, said Academy President Markku Mattila, speaking at an anniversary seminar on science, the research career and impact.
As a funding agency for scientific research, the Academy has influenced Finnish society in a number of ways. Mattila emphasised in particular the standard and renewal of research, equality in research and internationality. In terms of raising the standard of research, the Academy’s guiding principle in decision-making has always been to support research that is of the highest possible scientific quality. To this end, the Academy has made good use of scientific peer review performed by international top experts and the feedback from these experts, to encourage researchers to see and understand the value of high-quality and competition-based research. Finnish research groups, being both of sufficient size and scope, and Centres of Excellence in research have proven to be successful both in terms of research and research training.
Promoting the renewal of scientific research is all about supporting early-career researchers and seeing to the contents of research. The Academy has worked to provide support to researchers and proposals that display an innovative approach and courage, as well as significance in terms of the renewal of scientific content or structures. Also, as regards decision-making, the Academy has been keen to highlight the importance of multi- and interdisciplinarity.
A number of improvements have been achieved with respect to equality in research. As late as in the 1950s, none of the Academy’s research councils had any women as members. A decade later, the situation had hardly changed: in the 1960s, there were still only three female members in the research councils. Since then, the share of women in the research community has grown steadily. What is more, appreciation for international activities has increased, Finnish science is more international than ever before, and the best researchers have little difficulty crossing national boundaries. In conclusion, Academy President Mattila pointed out that researchers and research funding agencies should remember that internationality is an integral element of their work.
GOVERNMENT SCIENCE BUDGET UNDER DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT
The Finnish Government’s budget currently under discussion in Parliament proposes an allocation of some 7.5 billion euros to the administrative sector of the Ministry of Education. This would mean an increase of about 508 million euros on 2008. The Academy of Finland operates within the administrative sector of the Ministry of Education. In the budget proposal, the appropriations for science increase by 15 per cent and for universities by 21 per cent.
If Parliament accepts the budget proposal, the funds for universities are set to increase to a total of 1.75 billion euros. In addition, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy has decided to allocate an additional funding of 150 million euros at the beginning of 2010 to securing the liquidity and improving the operational preconditions of Finnish universities that will change into institutions under public law as from the beginning of 2010.
An increase of 12.9 million euros, to a total of 258 million euros, is proposed for the Academy of Finland’s budget authority regarding research grants. In addition, an increase of one million euros will be allocated to the development of the researcher career.
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES REQUIRE AN ANNUAL €40–60M WORTH OF FUNDING
The Academy of Finland wants the Government to budget for long-term funding of research infrastructures. The Academy further stresses the urgency of defining a cross-sectoral, comprehensive and efficient infrastructure policy. Also of crucial importance is to launch government funding for infrastructures already next year, before the completion of the Finnish road map for research infrastructures.
Finnish research infrastructures will require an estimated investment of 20 million euros a year. Respectively, new European and international joint infrastructure projects and related participation and membership fees will require some 20–40 million euros a year. This calls for swift action to draft an infrastructure programme, covering at least five years. The Academy has for its part risen to the challenge and initiated work on a strategy for research infrastructures. The strategy is expected to have a major influence on national selections and decisions on science policy.
Investing in research infrastructures is especially of current interest now, in 2008. Besides drafting national-level infrastructure roadmaps, EU countries are also required to make commitments to and investments in joint European research infrastructures. The European-level roadmap prepared by ESFRI, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, in 2006 as well as its updated edition to be completed later this year include ten or so major projects in which Member States are expected to express their interest.
ACADEMY FUNDS HEALTH RESEARCH WITH 22 MILLION EUROS
The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Health has decided on the allocation of general research grants for health research within the Academy’s January 2008 call. The funding decisions made amount to 15.5 million euros. Among others, the Research Council funds a research project investigating the impact of preterm birth on adult health, a project on prostate cancer and a project investigating the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and the role of inflammation in the development of the disease.
By the end of January 2008, the Research Council for Health received 193 general research grant applications worth some 65 million euros in all. The Research Council ultimately decided to fund 59 projects. The Research Council also provides funding to 29 Postdoctoral Researcher’s projects and to eight applications for promoting clinical research careers. The purpose of Postdoctoral Researcher’s project funding is to advance the professional competence and independence of young researchers who have recently earned their doctorate. Promotion of clinical research careers is aimed at supporting, among others, researchers engaged in clinical practice by funding their part-time research.
ACADEMY’S OCTOBER CALL FOR RESEARCH FUNDING APPLICATIONS OPEN
The Academy of Finland’s October call is open through to 31 October 2008. The call for applications and other relevant information is available on the Academy website at www.aka.fi/eng > For researchers > How to apply > Calls for applications.
ACADEMY FUNDING STRENGTHENED COLLABORATION AMONG SOCIAL CAPITAL RESEARCHERS
The Academy of Finland’s Research Programme on Social Capital and Networks of Trust (SoCa) was successful in reinforcing multidisciplinary collaboration among researchers and attracting young researchers to conduct research in the field. The programme also elucidated and strengthened the concept of social capital and established an interdisciplinary research approach in the field. This is the opinion of an international panel that was assigned the task of evaluating the programme.
The evaluation panel feels that it is still too early to assess the programme’s final results. The programme ended at the end of 2007, which means that a number of research results are still to be published. Also, the panel notes in its report, the scientific aims set for the programme were so fundamental and theoretical that it is challenging indeed to achieve them in the course of a single research programme. The panel therefore recommends that the duration of the Academy’s future research programmes be extended beyond the present four years.
According to the panel’s assessment, the SoCa programme succeeded well in strengthening an interdisciplinary research approach in social capital research. The programme also contributed to the establishment of new researcher networks, particularly among young researchers. SoCa was carried out in 2004–2007 and it was funded, besides the Academy of Finland, also by Tekes, the Finnish Work Environment Fund and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Funding for the programme totalled 7.5 million euros and was granted to 31 projects. Academy funding stood at six million euros. The evaluation report ‘Research Programme on Social Capital and Networks of Trust (SoCa) 2004–2007. Evaluation Report’ (Publications of the Academy of Finland 4/08) can be read online at www.aka.fi/publications > Publication series.
INTERNATIONAL EVALUATION: CORPORATE RESEARCH NEEDS STEER FINNISH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH
Finnish mechanical engineering research is too imbalanced to the applied and short-term side, which has an adverse effect on the status of basic research in the field. Urgent measures should therefore be taken to shift the focus of the research from corporate problem-solving to more basic research. This is the conclusion of an international panel that has evaluated the quality of mechanical engineering research in Finland.
It is the panel’s view that the lack of high-level fundamental research will in the long run also undermine the competitiveness of industry. The panel recommends that units in the field create more balanced research portfolios with more emphasis on basic research, visionary and long-term projects. These types of projects should also receive increased research funding. The panel says that Finnish mechanical engineering research should “step up international cooperation and boldly venture into new lines of research”. At present, it seems Finnish research units in the field have difficulties exploring research in emerging fields that are becoming increasingly important.
Finnish mechanical engineering research has traditionally had a close connection to business and industry. This has greatly benefited both industry and Finnish society. However, the panel goes on to point out that this close connection also has its drawbacks. Research driven by the needs of the business sector has led to a declining interest in scientific advancement and new breakthroughs in the field. This is evident among others from the weak publication record among Finnish mechanical engineering researchers. The report ‘Mechanical Engineering Research in Finland 2000–2007. International Evaluation’ can be read online at www.aka.fi/publications > Publication series.
ACADEMY RESEARCH FELLOW ANNE BIRGITTA PESSI RECEIVES NILS KLIM PRIZE
Academy Research Fellow Anne Birgitta Pessi has been awarded the Nils Klim Prize 2008. The Nils Klim Prize is awarded annually to a young Nordic researcher within the humanities and social sciences for outstanding research in his or her own field. The criteria for the selection of prize winners are decided by the Nils Klim Academic Committee, which pays attention to the researcher’s innovativeness and creativeness.
The Academy of Finland has two types of research posts: Academy Professors and Academy Research Fellows. Academy research post holders work at universities, research institutes and other organisations. An Academy Research Fellowship provides researchers with a fixed-term opportunity to qualify themselves to senior research tasks or other expert tasks. Anne Birgitta Pessi works as Academy Research Fellow in the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki. Her field of research is the sociology of religion. Her doctoral dissertation, completed in 2004, deals with volunteerism within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Her current research interests include altruism, justice in the welfare state, volunteerism and urban religion.
According to the Nils Klim Academic Committee, characteristic of Pessi’s research is a strong interdisciplinary approach. Her research is on the borderline between theology, social policy and sociology.
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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 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.