Funding decisions on RCF winter 2026 call to be made before mid-June

In early June, the Research Council of Finland’s scientific councils will make funding decisions on the Academy Project and Academy Research Fellow applications that were submitted in the winter 2026 call.

• Decision day for Scientific Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering: 9 June 2026
• Decision day for Scientific Council for Biosciences, Health and the Environment: 10 June 2026
• Decision day for Scientific Council for Social Sciences and Humanities:  11 June 2026.

The new funding periods start on 1 September 2026.

The winter call closed on 12 November 2025, and the review of applications is well underway. Applications submitted to the RCF are evaluated with international peer review. Applicants were able to choose the most appropriate review panel for their application from a selection of 40 panels. It gave them the opportunity to personally influence the processing of their application.

Most of the reviewers were recruited by the RCF’s science advisers even before the call closed, but the expertise of the panels has also been supplemented by new experts as needed. In December–January, all applications were already under review, and the panels will convene in January–March. All applications rated 5 (excellent) or 6 (outstanding) by at least one individual reviewer will advance to the panel review stage.

The scientific councils will have access to the applications and review reports in April–May and will prepare the funding decisions based on them. The scientific council will take into account the entirety of the applications to be decided upon in the call in relation to the objectives of the call. The aim of the funding is to promote a wide variety of research. The decisions are based on the review reports and the rankings made by the panels. If there are applications of equal merit, priority is given to the application that the decision-making body considers best advances the dismantling of gender stereotypes, promotes diversity in research and the scientific community as well as supports sustainable development.

The RCF has earmarked funding to strengthen doctoral education in Academy Projects. The inclusion of doctoral education in a proposed Academy Project is one of the criteria used, for example, when deciding between two projects judged to be of equal scientific quality. In addition to the above factors, the RCF’s scientific councils also apply their own specific policies when making funding decisions.

Applicants receive an automatic email after the decision has been made. The decision notice and review reports from both individual reviewers and the panel – if the application advanced to the panel stage – are available in the online services (SARA) under My Applications > Decisions. Each decision is accompanied by the scientific council’s justification for the decision. The review report is, in principle, a document subject to professional secrecy, and no contact with the reviewers is allowed.