Academy of Finland grants Academy Project funding in natural sciences and engineering research

The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering has granted Academy Project funding for 79 research projects, which comprise a total of 108 subprojects. The total funding comes to around 48 million euros. The funding is granted to the host research organisations, which manage the use of the funding.

The aim of Academy Project funding is to promote the renewal and diversity of Finnish science and to improve the quality and scientific and other impact of research. The aim is to attain internationally as high a scientific standard of work as possible and to support scientific breakthroughs and top-tier international research collaboration.

Academy Project funding is intended for hiring a research team and for other research costs. The funding is granted to a Finnish university or research organisation that manages the use of funding on behalf of the Academy Project. Academy Project funding is granted for four years. The Academy of Finland monitors the impact of Academy-funded research.

Professor Leena Ukkonen, Chair of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering, said: “The Research Council aims to fund research across a broad spectrum, and we received high-quality applications from across the various fields of natural sciences and engineering. Applications in physics in particular were very competitive this year.”

Ukkonen added: “Thematically, the applications in engineering included several energy-related projects. The applications also clearly reflected the popularity of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the public debate. Some applications focused on the research and development of AI methods, while others aimed to use AI as a tool.”

For the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering, Academy Project funding is among the most important funding instruments for promoting the quality, impact and renewal of research. In making the funding decisions, the Research Council put particular emphasis on scientific quality, novelty, breakthrough potential and feasibility. The Research Council could fund only about one-third of the projects that had received the highest overall rating of 6 or 5 in the international peer review. The principal investigators of the funded projects include researchers at different career stages.