Academy of Finland Newsletter, December 2012
The Academy of Finland newsletter keeps you updated on leading-edge scientific research funded in Finland and on other news from the Finnish world of science and research. If you want 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
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Eight-country comparison shows both similarities and differences in R&D systems
The new Academy of Finland report The State of Scientific Research in Finland 2012 analyses the impact of the Finnish research system in international comparison. The reference countries are Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. A separate summary presents the main findings of the international comparison.
The Finnish-language review of the state of scientific research in Finland 2012 was published in October and the English version was published on 12 December 2012. In all, the report analyses the impact of the Finnish research system, the discipline-specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and the state of scientific research in selected research fields that address the grand challenges facing humankind and society. The report can be downloaded from the Academy’s website at www.aka.fi/researchstate2012 . A paper copy can be ordered from viestinta(at)aka.fi.
According to the report, the state of Finnish scientific research has remained relatively stable during the last few years. Public R&D funding in Finland accounts for some 1 per cent of GDP in 2012. Public funding is clearly the most important source of funding in terms of scientific research and its societal impacts, as the private business sector’s R&D investments are mainly directed to development activities. The report highlights scientific research, the pursuit of new knowledge and the versatile development of the knowledge base as key factors for Finland’s future success. Long-term research renews our intellectual capital and is a prerequisite for technological development and innovation.
Guidelines on prevention of fraud in science
The National Advisory Board on Research Ethics in Finland has published its guidelines on good scientific practice and procedures for handling misconduct and fraud in science. The guidelines are designed to promote good scientific practice in Finland and to ensure that suspicions of violations of good scientific practice are processed competently, fairly and swiftly. The promotion of good scientific practice and the processing of suspicions of violations are first of all the responsibility of the organisations conducting research. After an investigation of fraud undertaken by the research organisation in line with the guidelines has been completed, the party dissatisfied with the decision can request a statement from the Advisory Board, which serves as an expert body under the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
The National Advisory Board on Research Ethics issued its first guidelines for handling alleged misconduct in science in 1994. The guidelines were revised in 1998 and 2002, and then again in 2012 in cooperation with the scientific community. All scientific disciplines in Finland follow these guidelines, and the effectiveness of the guidelines will depend on the voluntary commitment by the scientific community to comply with them. Even though the responsibility for abiding by good scientific practice rests with the scientific community as a whole, commitment to good scientific practice is primarily up to each researcher and each member of a research team individually.
The new guidelines also cover the so-called grey area in research ethics, that is, irresponsible procedures that do not fit in with the traditional categories of fraud or misconduct in science. At their worst, they can also be violations of good scientific practice. One example of such violations is embellishing or distorting one’s merits in a CV, other application documents or their translations. Together with the guidelines, the scientific community has also been provided with a new CV model for researchers involving guidelines on how to draft an appropriate CV from the perspective of research ethics in a way that it presents an individual’s merits as comprehensively, truthfully and comparably as possible. The CV template has been drafted by representatives of the Advisory Board, Universities Finland (UNIFI), the Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Finland.
Interdisciplinary accountability in evaluation of research proposals
In Finland, the standard model of scientific evaluation puts a premium on disciplinary expertise and professional control. Increasing demands for both interdisciplinarity and accountability have brought about pressures to open scholarly knowledge production to scrutiny beyond disciplinary boundaries. Katri Huutoniemi studies this topic in her dissertation “Interdisciplinary accountability in the evaluation of research proposals: Prospects for academic quality control across disciplinary boundaries”. In her research, she has investigated interdisciplinary accountability in the evaluation of research proposals submitted to the Academy of Finland. She studies what constitutes interdisciplinary accountability, and how it can be demonstrated, validated and strengthened in the peer review of research proposals.
Drawing on analyses of research proposals and peer review deliberations, the study explores the various ways in which researchers and peer reviewers actively coordinate, negotiate and modify disciplinary regimes in pursuing high-quality scientific knowledge. In the light of empirical findings and literature on interdisciplinarity, social epistemology and science policy, the study emphasises context-sensitive, open-ended consideration of epistemic accountabilities in knowledge production and evaluation.
The study makes both a theoretical and a pragmatic contribution. First, it provides a complementary perspective on the changing governance of science by articulating the notion of interdisciplinary accountability. While recent debates have emphasised problem solving and public accountability as important indicators of legitimate science today, Huutoniemi argues in her study that accountability between and across academic disciplines holds an equal promise of more relevant and reliable knowledge. The study contributes to the pragmatic debate on how to evaluate interdisciplinary research. For this purpose, it articulates a framework for conceptualising interdisciplinary accountability in research proposals, and considers options to facilitate interdisciplinary accountability through peer review. The framework helps define the relevant epistemic stakeholders, the functions and benefits of proposed research, as well as the methodological procedures for accomplishing the stated goals, which constitute the prerequisite for any evaluative act.
Hundreds of Brazilian students and researchers to Finland
Brazil and Finland have signed a cooperation agreement within the framework of the Brazilian Government’s Science without Borders scholarship programme. Under this programme, some 100,000 Brazilian university students and researchers will be sent abroad in the next few years. Finland expects to receive hundreds of exchange students and researchers. In Finland, CIMO, the Centre of International Mobility and Cooperation, is responsible for student mobility and the Academy of Finland for researcher mobility within the programme. In Brazil, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) is the responsible body for implementing the programme.
The first Brazilian students are expected to arrive in Finland in autumn 2013. After their spell abroad, Brazilian researchers will return to Brazil. Earlier, Finland has annually received 30–40 Brazilian exchange students.
EUR 38 million in support for top research to protect the Baltic Sea
A competitive call for proposals targeted at research in support of the management of a viable Baltic Sea ecosystem, totalling EUR 31 million, and at innovative technological solutions, totalling EUR 7 million, has been announced by BONUS, the Joint Baltic Sea Research and Development Programme. At the core of BONUS is a long-term collaboration that supports the implementation of HELCOM’s Baltic Sea Action Plan and the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive and other national, regional and European policy developments.
The call is a leap forward in realising research and innovation support for developing regulations, policies and management practices specifically tailored for the Baltic Sea region. The novelty is that BONUS jointly with policy-makers and other end-users have developed a strategic research agenda that serves as the basis for the projects to be funded. By engaging policy-makers and other end-users from the very beginning of the programme, it can be ensured that the knowledge produced is fit-for-purpose and well communicated to those who really need it.
‘Viable ecosystem’ proposals submitted by the deadline of 14 February 2013 can apply for up to EUR 4 million for four years per project. The projects must be interdisciplinary (i.e. natural sciences and socioeconomics included) and transnational, and involve at least three eligible legal entities independent of each other from EU Member States or associated countries. At least two project partners need to originate from the BONUS member states of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Russian scientists can participate in the projects through funding made available by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research or other special agreements.
The innovation part of the call will be implemented in collaboration with BSR Stars, a flagship project of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Individual innovation proposals can apply for a maximum of EUR 0.5 million for three years. Innovation proposals are accepted until 12 March 2013.
BONUS was launched in 2010 with a co-decision of the European Parliament and the European Council. It secured a total of up to EUR 100 million to fund research and innovation projects running in 2013–2018. Half of the BONUS funding originates from the national funding institutions in the eight EU Member States around the Baltic Sea and half from the EU’s Research Framework Programme. More information is available at www.bonusportal.org/calls.
Joint Programming in Neurodegenerative Diseases
The European Commission has launched a pilot initiative for the Joint Programming project in neurodegenerative diseases (incl. Alzheimer’s disease), Joint Programming on Neurodegenerative Diseases (JPND). The call for funding is open under the theme European research projects for the identification of genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors for neurodegenerative diseases. The Academy of Finland will fund Finnish projects that have been successful in the JPND call with a maximum of EUR 800,000. The call has a non-standard procedure. Finnish applicants shall follow both JPND’s and the Academy’s application guidelines.
Appointments
Riitta Mustonen, Doctor of Philosophy and Docent of Genetics, has been appointed as Director of the Academy’s Management Support Unit. Riitta Maijala, Director and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, has been appointed by the Council of State as Director of the Science Policy Division at the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. The Academy operates within the administrative sector of the Ministry.
Season’s greetings
We would like to thank all our partners for a successful year and send our best wishes for a happy holiday season and success for 2013.
Academy of Finland at a glance
The Academy’s objective is to promote scientific research of a high standard through long-term, quality-based research funding, research and science-policy expertise, and efforts to strengthen the position of science and scientific research. In 2012, we have made decisions on research funding worth EUR 327 million.
For more information, go to www.aka.fi/eng or send a message to maj-lis.tanner@aka.fi.