First-stage decisions on September 2020 call have been made

20 Apr 2021

The decisions on applications submitted in the Academy of Finland’s September 2020 call will be made in two stages. The two-stage decision procedure applies to four funding schemes: Academy Projects, Academy Research Fellows, Postdoctoral Researchers and Clinical Researchers. The aim of this phased decision-making is to speed up application processing times in cases where the peer review indicates that an application will not be funded.

At the first decision stage, the Academy’s research councils, at their discretion, will mete out rejections to applications that have received a rating of 1–4 in the review. Applicants who receive a negative decision will be able to view the review report on their application in the online services (SARA).

Applications with rating 5–6 continue to the next stage and will be decided later (see tables below).

The research councils make the funding decisions based on the review reports, the rankings, the Academy’s science policy objectives and their own policies. The research councils have the right to make positive or negative decisions regardless of the panels’ rankings. The justifications for the funding decision are included in the decision notification.

The table on decision dates on the Academy’s website shows two dates for each funding opportunity (where phased decision-making is applied): the first and second decision stage. Applicants receive an email notification of the funding decision after either the first or the second stage of decision-making.

Decision dates for September 2020 call

Research Council for Biosciences, Health and the Environment

Funding scheme 1st stage decisions % of applications turned down at 1st stage 2nd stage decisions
Academy Projects 7 April 60 % 26 May
Academy Research Fellows 7 April 68 % 3 May
Clinical Researchers 7 April 67 % 26 May
Postdoctoral 7 April 68 % 3 May

Research Council for Culture and Society

Funding scheme 1st stage decisions % of applications turned down at 1st stage 2nd stage decisions
Academy Projects 24 March 67% 26 May
Academy Research Fellows 24 March 68% 10 May
Postdoctoral 24 March 66% 10 May

In early June 2021, the Division for Social Sciences and Humanities Research will organise a feedback session on the September 2020 call.

Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering

Funding scheme 1st stage decisions % of applications turned down at 1st stage 2nd stage decisions
Academy Projects 15 April 48% 3 June
Academy Research Fellows 15 April 57% 3 June
Postdoctoral 15 April 62% 3 June

The decisions on the call ‘International Co-Investigator Scheme for Finnish-Norwegian research cooperation in engineering’ (ratings 1–6) will be made on 15 April.

Inquiries and more information

  • For more information, please contact the presenting official mentioned in the decision notification
  • How decisions are made
  • Decisions dates
  • Riitta Maijala, Vice President for Research, Academy of Finland, tel. +358 295 335 002
  • Marko Uutela, Science Advisor, tel. +358 029 533 5113 (Research Council for Biosciences, Health and the Environment)
  • Tiina Forsman, Science Advisor, tel. +358 029 533 5013 (Research Council for Culture and Society)
  • Minna Räisänen, Science Advisor, tel. +358 029 533 5072, (Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering)

Our email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi

Academy of Finland Communications
Vesa Varpula Communications Specialist
tel. +358 029 533 5131
firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi

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