Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering

The research fields of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering are as follows:

• energy technology
• physics
• geosciences and physical geography
• chemistry
• mechanical engineering and manufacturing technology
• medical engineering
• mathematics and statistics
• materials science and engineering
• process and chemical engineering
• construction and municipal engineering, architecture
• electrical engineering and electronics (incl. communications and automation engineering)
• computer sciences, information technology
• astronomy
• biotechnology, bioinformatics and environmental technology related to the above fields
• other research into the natural sciences and engineering, including multidisciplinary research

The Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering is unfortunately unable to fund all top-rated applications (overall ratings 6 and 5). Against this backdrop, the Research Council has outlined a set of policies and criteria that it will systematically apply in making funding decisions and prioritising between high-quality applications.

The policies and criteria applied in the September 2021 call are presented below. Please contact us if you want to access the criteria and policies used in other calls.

Policies and criteria for September 2021 call

General policies

1. The Research Council supports natural sciences and engineering research of a high international standard and a wide scope. The specific characteristics of different disciplines, such as research and publishing traditions, will be taken into account in decision-making.
2. As a rule, the Research Council’s funding decisions are based on review reports.
3. The Research Council supports the renewal of science by funding new initiatives, such as high-risk, high-gain research, and researchers who are in a buoyant career phase. The Research Council promotes the development of new methods and technical tools, grants funding to PIs at different career stages and to Academy Research Fellows and Postdoctoral Researchers who return to Finland from abroad, and – in the case of applicants of equal merit – prioritises applicants in the gender minority.
4. The Research Council supports the utilisation of research results. When making funding decisions, the Research Council considers the relevance of the research for business and industry or other societal sectors in Finland. It also considers applicants’ previous merits in the scientific, economic and other utilisation of research as well as their networks with end-users and beneficiaries of research.
5. The Research Council supports high-quality national and international research cooperation and the researcher mobility therein. The supported collaboration may occur between universities, between universities and research institutes or with business and industry or other societal actors. The Research Council’s support for collaboration is researcher-driven and implemented through the funding of Academy Projects, Academy Research Fellows and Postdoctoral Researchers and through participation in strategically selected international funding calls. Consortium-based Academy Projects that include parties from different research organisations are an important tool for promoting international collaboration.
6. The Research Council supports research that makes good use of both Finnish and international research infrastructures.

Criteria and policies for Academy Projects

Decision criteria (in order of priority):

1. Quality of research, new initiatives, breakthrough potential, impact and feasibility
2. Competence of researcher/research team, particularly recent achievements
3. Research cooperation and mobility

Policies

• The goal is to grant an average of EUR 450,000 per four-year project.
• The maximum funding per project is EUR 600,000 (equivalent to EUR 150,000 per year).
• The maximum total amount of funding per consortium-based Academy Project is EUR 1,000,000 (equivalent to EUR 250,000 per year), and the maximum funding per consortium subproject is EUR 600,000 (equivalent to EUR 150,000 per year).

Criteria and policies for Academy Research Fellows

Criteria (in order of priority)

1. Applicant’s personal competence
2. Quality of research, novelty value, impact and feasibility

3. Applicant’s mobility and collaborative networks, for mobility especially quality of applicant’s previous and planned mobility as well as its added value for the proposed research plan and the applicant’s research career

Policies

• The Research Council supports the Academy Research Fellows it funds by granting them funding for research costs to the tune of EUR 400,000 per five years. The funding will be granted in two parts. The funding for the first three years is a maximum of EUR 240,000 and for the last two years a maximum of EUR 160,000.

Criteria and policies for Postdoctoral Researchers

By funding promising early-career researchers, the Research Council wants to ensure that the research community in the natural sciences and engineering sector is competitive and that its renewal rests on a sustainable basis. There should also be a sufficient number of high-quality researchers in engineering sectors of national and societal importance. The Research Council’s most important funding criteria are the competence of the applicant and the scientific quality of the research plan. In addition, attention will be paid to the applicant’s mobility and diverse collaboration networks that support the researcher’s independence during the funding period. The applicant’s mobility plan and collaborations should support the implementation of the research plan. The Research Council also supports the utilisation of research results and considers the relevance of the research for business and industry or other societal sectors in Finland.

Decision criteria (in order of priority):

1. Applicant’s personal competence
2. Quality of research, novelty value, impact and feasibility
3. Applicant’s mobility and versatile collaboration networks that support the researcher’s independence and the implementation of the research plan
4. relevance of the research for business and industry or other societal sectors in Finland.

Policies

The Research Council’s funding for a Postdoctoral Researcher comes to 252,000 euros on average, including salary costs, justified research costs and reasonable mobility costs. The salary of is determined according to a maximum monthly salary of 3,900 euros. The maximum funding for research costs is 20,000 euros, but the amount may be higher in the case of experimental research, for justified reasons.

Policies and criteria for September 2020 call

General policies 

1. The Research Council supports natural sciences and engineering research of a high international standard and a wide scope. The specific characteristics of different disciplines, such as engineering research traditions, will be taken into account in decision-making.
2. As a rule, the Research Council's funding decisions are based on review reports.
3. The Research Council supports scientific regeneration by funding new initiatives, such as high-risk, high-gain research, and researchers who are in a buoyant career phase. The Research Council promotes the development of new methods and technical tools, grants funding to PIs at different career stages and to Academy Research Fellows and Postdoctoral Researchers who transfer to Finland, and – in the case of applicants of equal merit – prioritises applicants in the gender minority.
4. The Research Council supports the utilisation of research results. When making funding decisions, the Research Council considers the relevance of the research for business and industry or other societal sectors in Finland. It also considers applicants' previous merits in the scientific, economic and other utilisation of research as well as their networks with end-users and beneficiaries of research.
5. The Research Council supports high-quality national and international research cooperation and the researcher mobility therein. The supported collaboration may occur between universities, between universities and research institutes or with business and industry or other societal actors. The Research Council's support for collaboration is researcher-driven and implemented through the funding of Academy Projects, Academy Research Fellows and Postdoctoral Researchers and through participation in strategically selected international funding calls. Consortium-based Academy Projects that include parties from different research organisations are an important tool for promoting international collaboration.
6. The Research Council supports research that makes good use of both Finnish and international research infrastructures.

In addition, the Research Council will use the following funding-specific criteria and policies when making funding decisions:

Criteria and policies for Academy Projects 

Criteria (in order of priority)

1. Quality of research, new initiatives, breakthrough potential, impact and feasibility
2. Competence of researcher/research team, particularly recent achievements
3. Research cooperation and mobility

Policies

• The goal is to grant an average of EUR 450,000 for four-year projects.
• The maximum funding per project is EUR 600,000 (equivalent to EUR 150,000 per year).
• The maximum total amount of funding per consortium-based Academy Project is EUR 1,000,000 (equivalent to EUR 250,000 per year), and the maximum funding per consortium subproject is EUR 600,000 (equivalent to EUR 150,000 per year).

Criteria and policies for Academy Research Fellows

Criteria (in order of priority)

1. Applicant's personal competence
2. Quality of research, novelty value, impact and feasibility
3. Applicant's mobility and collaborative networks, for mobility especially quality of applicant's previous and planned mobility as well as its added value for the proposed research plan and the applicant's research career

Policies

• The Research Council supports the Academy Research Fellows it funds by granting them funding for research costs to the tune of EUR 400,000 per five years. The funding will be granted in two parts. The funding for the first three years is a maximum of EUR 240,000 and for the last two years a maximum of EUR 160,000.
• Although a single site of research may include several research environments, the Research Council is of the opinion that the mobility requirement is not met if a researcher changes research teams within the same field and within the same site of research. This applies both to transfers to a new research environment and to mobility after obtaining a doctoral degree.

Criteria and policies for Postdoctoral Researchers

Criteria (in order of priority) 

1. Applicant's personal competence
2. Quality of research, novelty value, impact and feasibility
3. Applicant's mobility and versatile collaborative networks in support of increased independence, especially the quality of the applicant's planned mobility and collaboration as well as the added value for the proposed research plan and the applicant's research career

Policies

• The salary of a Postdoctoral Researcher is determined according to a maximum monthly salary of EUR 3,900. In addition, reasonable costs arising from the researcher's mobility and research costs, as a rule up to EUR 20,000, are accepted, but research costs can justifiably be increased in experimental research.
• Although a single site of research may include several research environments, the Research Council is of the opinion that the mobility requirement is not met if a researcher changes research teams within the same field and within the same site of research. This applies both to transfers to a new research environment and to mobility after obtaining a doctoral degree.

The Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering 1 Jan 2019–31 Dec 2021

Chair

• Professor Reko Leino, Åbo Akademi

Members

• Professor  Seppo Hassi, University of Vaasa
• Professor Tanja Kallio, Aalto University
• Professor Jorma Keskinen, Tampere university
• Professor Heidi Kuusniemi, University of Vaasa
• Professor Raine Mäntysalo, Aalto University
• Visiting Specialist Leena Paavilainen, Natural Resources Institute Finland
• Professor Petriina Paturi, University of Turku
• Professor Petri Pellikka, University of Helsinki
• Professor Minnamari Vippola, Tampere university
• Professor Antti Ylä-Jääski, Aalto University

Both the Academy of Finland and the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering actively develop their activities. Feedback from review panels is an important part of this development work, and feedback is collected and analysed annually. The panels also provide valuable feedback to applicants on how applications could be improved from the reviewer’s viewpoint.

• Panel feedback on September 2020 call (pdf)
• List of reviewers enlisted (pdf)

The Research Council supports high-quality, researcher-initiated international cooperation and researcher mobility through the Academy Project, Academy Research Fellow and Postdoctoral Researcher funding schemes and through participation in strategically selected international joint calls. International cooperation forms a natural part of research in the fields of natural sciences and engineering. The Research Council’s international policy follows the Academy of Finland international policy for 2017–2021 (pdf) (particularly sections 1 and 3).

In promoting cooperation, the Research Council pays particular attention to the quality and added value of the cooperation. The Research Council also promotes international cooperation in the European Research Area, between the Nordic countries and with other international actors.

Information on upcoming calls is posted on the Academy’s website and Twitter account.

Calls in which the Research Council participated in 2013−2020:

• TandemForestValues II 2019
  List of funded projects
• Solar-driven chemistry 2019
  List of funded projects
• ERA-NET CoFund CHIST-ERA 2019
  List of funded projects
• ERA-NET CoFund CHIST-ERA 2018
  List of funded projects
• ERA-NET CoFund QuantERA 2017
  List of funded projects
• ICT2023/WiFiUS, Wireless Communications 2016
  List of funded projects
• ICT2023/WiFiUS, Wireless Communications 2014 
  List of funded projects
• Joint Project Call: Materials Research 2014 (Academy of Finland and FAPESP)
  List of funded projects
• WoodWisdom-Net+ 2014
  List of funded projects

The research, development and innovation programme ICT 2023 is jointly coordinated and funded by the Academy of Finland and Business Finland with a view to further improving Finland’s scientific expertise in computer science and promoting the extensive application of ICT. The programme is based on the report 21 Paths to a Frictionless Finland (pdf) by the ICT 2015 Working Group At least 10 million euros of the Academy’s budget authority for 2020 will be used to implement the ICT 2023 programme. Business Finland will not open a parallel call for business-related projects, but funding is available under this topic through BF’s normal application process (see BF’s website). Read more about the ICT 2023 programme.