31 applicants invited to second stage of Academy Professor call

The General Subcommittee of the Academy of Finland decided on 6 May to invite 31 applicants to the second stage of the Academy Professor call.

Academy Professors are internationally leading-edge researchers and recognised experts in their field who are expected to have great scientific impact in the scientific community and in society at large. Academy Professors are also expected to significantly advance research in their field and to develop creative research environments.

At the first call stage, the Academy received letters of intent from 251 applicants. Of the letters of intent, 66 were submitted to the Research Council for Biosciences, Health and the Environment, 96 to the Research Council for Culture and Society and 89 to the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering. Two applications were not processed because they did not meet the criteria set for the call.

Riitta Maijala, Vice President for Research, said: “Both the letters of intent and the full applications are reviewed through international peer review. We see from the reviewer feedback that the letters of intent were of a very high scientific quality. The competition was very intense already at the first call stage.”

At present, the Academy of Finland funds 25 five-year research posts as Academy Professor in the fields of all three research councils.