Academy of Finland – NSF joint call pilot: artificial intelligence and wireless communication technologies

The overall goal of the partnership between the Academy of Finland and the NSF is to enable and facilitate research collaboration between US and Finnish researchers. This collaboration expects to generate valuable discoveries and innovations that may lead to enhancements in multiple areas of science and technology. The partnership achieves its goals through research projects in which the funding agencies fund the elements of research undertaken by researchers based in their respective nations. For more details on the collaboration, see NSF’s Dear Colleague Letter on the partnership.

The NSF and the Academy collaborate via a Lead Agency Opportunity, in which the NSF acts as the Lead Agency. In this approach, proposers from both countries will collaborate to write a single proposal. It is the responsibility of the US proposer to submit the proposal to the appropriate NSF programme for review. Researchers from Finland participating in the joint research project will submit a proposal separately to the Academy in accordance with the guidelines and procedures provided in this call text.

In Finland, the partnership and the joint call pilot is guided by the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering at the Academy of Finland and managed under the Research, Development and Innovation Programme ICT 2023. Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of core research programmes in the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the Academy’s Finnish Research Flagships in which Finland has widespread demonstrated expertise: artificial intelligence (AI) and wireless communication technologies.

How the programme works

Proposers from both countries will collaborate to write a single proposal. It is the responsibility of the US proposer to submit the proposal to the appropriate NSF programme for review. During this joint call pilot, applicants from Finland can participate in an NSF funding opportunity via proposals submitted to the NSF between 10 March and 7 May 2021. For more details, see NSF’s Dear Colleague Letter on the partnership.

Proposers should comply with the proposal preparation requirements outlined in NSF’s Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and submit the proposal through NSF’s FastLane system or Grants.gov and include any additional documents required by the NSF programme.

It is required that the Finnish researchers participating in the joint research project will submit a proposal separately to the Academy in accordance with the guidelines in this call text. The application procedure is described below.

Notification of intention to submit

In order to be considered for funding by the Academy, applicants who are eligible (see section ‘Who can apply’) must have identified a US collaborator who is willing to develop a joint grant application. The Finnish principle investigator (PI) must send a mandatory ‘Intention to Submit’ form to the Academy using the template provided (see below). The document must be submitted to the Academy at least eight weeks before the proposal is submitted to the NSF.

The information required is summarised below and the ‘Intention to Submit’ form (PDF) can be accessed here. Please submit the form to ict2023@aka.fi.

1. Contact details of the PIs from both countries
2. NSF target programme/call and planned proposal submission date
3. Proposed topic, keywords, collaboration and link to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research
4. Indicative costs to be requested from the Academy of Finland
5. Indicative total budget figure to be requested from the US funder

The information in the form will be used for planning purposes, including a preliminary eligibility assessment, by the Academy. It is important to note that draft full proposals (see below) will not be accepted if the ‘Intention to Submit’ form has not been submitted within the specified time frame.

Draft proposal submission

A close‐to‐final draft of the full proposal (i.e. a version of the proposal being prepared) for submission to the NSF, in NSF format, must be submitted to the Academy via the Academy’s online services at least four weeks before the proposal is submitted to the NSF. Draft proposals will only be accepted from applicants who have submitted an ‘Intention to Submit’ form no later than eight weeks before the NSF submission.

Applicants should prepare their proposal in collaboration with the US investigator(s) and based on the guidelines outlined in the corresponding NSF programme call and associated documentation. The Academy will accept a draft version of the proposal in NSF format. For more details on submitting a draft proposal to the Academy, please refer to the section ‘Application parts and guidelines’.

Following submission of the draft proposal, the Academy will assess the proposal to:

• verify the eligibility of the Finnish applicant(s)
• confirm that the topic links to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research
• determine if there is evidence of significant participation by partners from both countries
• pre‐approve the budget for the project
• if supportive, provide a ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter to the Finnish applicant for inclusion in the full proposal submission to the NSF.

Please note that the Finnish site of research must commit to administering and funding the project before the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ will be provided. Read more about the commitment by the site of research.

Note also that the amount of funding available for the individual investigator collaborative US-FI projects may affect the pre-approval of the budget (and the following issuance of the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter). If the Academy has issued 'Confirmation of Eligibility' letters for a sum potentially significantly exceeding the available funding of about 2 million euros, it will no longer issue new letters, and the call may be closed prematurely. More details on the available funding is provided in the section ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.

The Academy will issue a ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter outlining the level of budget commitment subject to NSF selecting the proposal for funding following established NSF grant review/selection processes. The Academy will issue a single ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter to the Academy applicant, who is responsible for ensuring its inclusion in the final proposal submission to the NSF by the US PI.

Submission of final proposal to NSF

It is the responsibility of the US proposer to submit the proposal including the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter to the appropriate NSF programme for review. Proposers should comply with the proposal preparation requirements outlined in the NSF’s PAPPG and submit the proposal through the NSF’s FastLane system or Grants.gov and include any additional documents required by the NSF programme. The proposal should indicate that it is to be considered under the partnership between the Academy of Finland and the NSF by prefacing the title with ‘NSF-AoF:’.

Applicants are recommended to contact the Academy early on to check national eligibility requirements. In general, the eligibility criteria of the Academy Project funding scheme apply as outlined below.

The funding from the Academy can be applied for by individual research teams or consortia composed of two or more research teams from Finnish research organisations. The consortium parties may represent one or several research organisations.

In addition to a doctoral degree, the PI of the proposed project must also have other significant scientific merits. Usually the PI is a researcher at the professor or docent (adjunct professor) level. In addition, the applicant must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. This connection must be evident from the application.

Special terms and restrictions

To be eligible for consideration by the Academy, each proposal must have a minimum of one applicant from Finland and the US, and significant research participation by both countries. The collaborative projects must add significant added value that is not achievable by the PI working alone, and the topics proposed must link to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research.

A PI requesting funding from the Academy can have only one active Academy of Finland-NSF partnership proposal. A proposal is considered active from its submission until the date of the funding decision.

Members of the Board, research councils and the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland will not be granted Academy funding during their terms.

Funding cannot be granted to a person who has participated in the planning of the call to an extent likely to give them a comparative advantage over other applicants.

We will not process an application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.

In general, the funding comes under the conditions and restrictions applicable to Academy Projects. For more details, see the latest version of the funding terms and conditions on the Academy’s website.

Project duration is expected to be up to 36 months. The funding period must be within the funding period identified in the NSF programme call to which the full proposal is submitted.

The Academy's funding is granted to sites of research in Finland (usually universities or research institutes). The PI of the funded project must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. The funded researchers may, however, spend time working abroad during their funding period.

In this joint call pilot, the Academy’s funding budget for the collaborative US-FI projects has been set at a total of approximately 2 million euros in 2021. The Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering is prepared to grant a maximum of 450,000 euros for a three-year project. Oversubscription of the Academy’s funding budget of 2 million euros for the collaborative FI-US projects will be restricted at the draft proposal submission stage. For more details on how the programme operates, see section ‘Background and objectives’.

Funding is primarily intended for the salaries of full-time researchers working on the project and for other research costs. The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs. Read more about the salary of the research project’s PI on the Academy's website.

The close-to-final draft application must contain a funding plan drafted in line with the full cost model, including the funding to be applied for from the Academy (up to 70% of the total project costs). Read more about the full cost model.

Academy funding cannot be used for economic activity.

What is required from the site of research?

We require that the site of research (e.g. university) provides the research project with all necessary basic facilities. These are determined based on the nature of the research and are the same as those available to other research staff at the site: office and laboratory premises, equipment (incl. computer equipment), and telecommunications, telephone, mailing, copying and library services. When accepting the funding, the site of research is responsible for ensuring that necessary statements and permits from ethics committees have been obtained before the start of the project. The site of research also commits to ensuring that the data management plan can be implemented at the site of research, and that the measures to be taken comply with good data management practice. Read more in the guidelines on the commitment by site of research.

The application must also include the overheads percentage, indirect employee costs and coefficient for effective working hours of the site of research. The site of research will see to that this information is kept up to date in the online services.

When the site of research is a university or a research institute, as a rule, the funding must be applied for VAT included. Consult the financial administration at the site of research for more information. The Academy’s funding may also cover VAT costs, but only on certain conditions (see Value added tax and read more in the funding terms and conditions).

Funding plan

In the close‐to‐final draft application, provide a cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure. Also include a funding plan that shows all funding granted for the project as well as funding that will be provided by the site of research if the project is launched. Before submitting your application, you must agree with the administration at your own organisation on the contribution of the site of research to the funding of the project. Only costs that pass through the books of the site of the research must be included in the total costs. Applicants must check with their own organisation whether the funding planned as the own funding contribution suits this purpose. The funding applied for from the Academy must not exceed 70% of the total project costs. The cost estimate must be realistic.

All research costs must be justified in the free-text field in the online services under ‘Project funding’.

How to submit and supplement the application

During this joint call pilot, applicants from Finland can participate in an NSF funding opportunity via proposals submitted to the NSF between 10 March and 7 May 2021.

The Finnish PI must send a mandatory ‘Intention to Submit’ form to the Academy at least eight weeks before the proposal is submitted to the NSF. A close‐to‐final draft of the full proposal for submission to the NSF must be submitted to the Academy via the Academy’s online services at least four weeks before NSF submission. Draft proposals will only be accepted from applicants who have submitted an ‘Intention to Submit’ form no later than eight weeks before NSF submission. These timeframes also apply to consortia. For more details, study how the programme works in the section ‘Background and objectives’.

Make sure to submit the close-to-final application in good time within the specified timeframe. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information. The joint consortium application is submitted by the consortium PI. The PI can submit the consortium application only after all subprojects have tagged their applications as complete.

You can edit and supplement the application until the four-week limit. You can make changes to a submitted application (e.g. change appendices), but you must make them before the four-week limit. If you notice that your application lacks important information after the limit, immediately get in touch with the call’s contact person, so that they can reopen the application for you. Make sure to re-submit the application after you have supplemented it. We will consider the additions insofar as it is possible in view of the call procedure. We may ask applicants to supplement their applications. If the applicant has not supplemented the application by the given deadline, we may decide not to process the application. Applicants must make sure that their contact details (email address) are up to date.

How the application becomes pending

According to section 17 of the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act and section 8 of the Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector, the sender is responsible for the application arriving within the specified timeframe. An application becomes pending at the Academy when the online application and the obligatory appendices have been submitted in the online services. The system will confirm a successful submission by sending an email to the address provided by the applicant

Publicity and data protection

Except for the research plan, plan of intent, abstract and interim report, which are primarily confidential, the application and its appendices are public documents. For example, the CV is a public document and as such must not include any confidential information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities. The Academy is committed to following regulations on data protection. The GDPR-compliant privacy statement concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection.

The applicants from both countries will write a joint proposal in the format required by the NSF. It is the responsibility of the US partner to submit the proposal to the NSF for review.

In order to be considered for funding by the Academy, applicants who are eligible must have identified a US collaborator who is willing to develop a joint grant application. The PI from Finland must send a mandatory ‘Intention to Submit’ form (PDF) to the Academy using the template provided. The document must be submitted to the Academy at least eight weeks before the proposal is submitted to the NSF. For more details, please refer to the section ‘Background and objectives’ of the call text.

A close‐to‐final draft of the full proposal for submission to the NSF, in NSF format, must be submitted to the Academy via the Academy’s online services at least four weeks before NSF submission. Draft proposals will only be accepted from applicants who have submitted an ‘Intention to Submit’ form no later than eight weeks before NSF submission.

Applicants should prepare their proposal in collaboration with the US investigator(s) and based on the guidelines and criteria outlined in the relevant NSF programme call and associated documentation. The Academy will accept a draft version of the proposal in NSF format; however, the sections/documents listed below must be provided upon submission via the Academy‘s online services for the Academy to accurately and fairly assess the level of support required.

Most of the links below take you to the A–Z index of application guidelines on our website.

The online application contains the following parts

Personal data

• Personal details
• Degrees (most recent one first); parental leaves etc. may be filled in under ‘Additional information’
• Titles of docent and professorships

CV

• CV following the template, no more than two pages

Consortium parties (if applicable)

• Note that the US collaborator is not listed as a consortium party here, but on the 'Collaborators' tab
• Details on each party (name, email address, organisation and country)
• Read the guidelines for consortium applications.

General information

• Details on the site of research
• Title of research project in English and Finnish/Swedish
• Research fields (at least one, no more than five). See the research field classification.
• Keywords in English and Finnish/Swedish

Abstract

• Provide targeted NSF submission date here.
• Maximum length 2,500 characters including spaces
• Brief overview of scientific and societal objectives, research methods and data as well as expected research results and impact
• Brief description of how the topic links to the thematic areas of the Finnish Research Flagships
• Read more about the abstract.

Most relevant publications

• Up to ten of your most important project-relevant publications; no more than 20 publications in total for consortium projects
• You can retrieve publication details from the VIRTA publication information service. Also see our how-to guide for the online services.
• Details on publications may also be entered manually. Obligatory information: author(s), title, year of publication, name of series/journal, type of publication (will not show in the PDF version of the application).

Mobility

• Enter information on planned national and international mobility within the project, itemised by person.
• See more information on mobility.

Collaborators

• Note that the US collaborator should be listed here.
• Project collaborators, itemised by collaborator (name, organisation, country)
• If necessary, append a letter of commitment. See the guidelines on the letter of commitment.

Affiliations

• Research infrastructures: Indicate what kinds of equipment, resources or data reserves provided by national or international research infrastructures the project plans to use. The menu includes infrastructures included in Finland’s national roadmap and/or ESFRI’s roadmap. Other possible infrastructures are entered in a free-text field. Read more about research infrastructures.
• Centres of Excellence in Research: Read more about Centres of Excellence.
• Finnish Flagships: Read more about the Finnish Flagship Programme.

Research ethics

• Ethical permission for project (yes/no)
• Found guilty of research misconduct (yes/no). We will not process a funding application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.
• See the ethical guidelines.

Funding for the project

• The project’s funding follows the full cost model. The Academy’s funding contribution to the research costs comes to no more than 70%.
• Before you can fill in the cost estimate, you must first select the site of research on the tab ‘General information’.
• The site of research maintains the following percentages: effective working hours, indirect employee costs, overheads percentage and VAT
• Enter the funding period.
• Enter salaries and other costs.
• Enter other funding sources and their funding contributions. You must immediately notify us if you receive funding from other sources for the same purpose after your application to the Academy has been submitted.
• Justify the funding to be applied for. The cost estimate must be realistic. Provide the total budget figure (USD) to be requested from the US funder by the US PI here (section ‘Justification for the cost estimate’).
• The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs: for project management and/or research. The justifications are entered on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services.
• Consult the administration at your site of research when filling in budget details. Read more about the funding in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.
• Commitment by site of research. Make sure you have a commitment from your site of research (usually a university or research institute) to supporting the project. Read more in the guidelines on the commitment by site of research and in the ‘Appendices’ section below.

Salary of principal investigator

• Justifications, if salary costs for the PI are included in the funding plan
• The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs: for project management and/or research.
• If the PI does not have a permanent employment relationship, include a salary plan for the PI for the entire funding period.

Public project description

• Maximum length 1,000 characters including spaces
• Popular and reader-friendly description of the research project in English and Finnish/Swedish
• The public description helps the Academy to disseminate information on the research project. The project description is also stored at research.fi, which makes available information on research conducted in Finland.
• Read the guidelines on the public project description.

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to supplement or view your application.
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field.
• The person must have an account in the Academy’s online services (SARA).
• You cannot authorise more than one person at a time to edit a field in your application, and you cannot edit that same field while the authorisation is active.
• Do not authorise yourself.
• See technical instructions on the authorisation process in the how-to guides for the online services.

Appendices

• Appendices must be PDF files.

Obligatory appendices

• A close‐to‐final draft of the full proposal for submission to the NSF, in NSF format. In case of a consortium application, this document is provided only by the consortium PI.
• Complete list of publications. Read the guidelines on the structure of the list of publications.
• Free-form commitment by site of research in which the site commits to administering and funding the project. Make sure you have a commitment from your site of research (usually a university or research institute) to supporting the project. Read more in the guidelines on the commitment by site of research.

Case-specific appendices

• Letter of commitment: See the guidelines on the letter of commitment.

Submit application

• You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information.
• A red warning triangle on the tab tells you that some information is missing.
• You can supplement the application until the four-week limit. Resaving will replace the earlier version.
• If you want to supplement the application after the four-week limit, please get in touch with the contact persons listed in the call text.

Interim report

• If the applicant has ongoing Academy funding, they must draw up an interim report in the online services on each ongoing project before the four-week limit. Read the guidelines on drafting the interim report.
• See the how-to guides for the online services.

The collaborative US-FI projects will be reviewed in accordance with the standard NSF merit review criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposed effort, along with any additional solicitation-specific review criteria.

More details on NSF peer-review and review criteria are available online. The Academy of Finland has agreed to accept the NSF recommendation on funding of individual proposals.

Funding decisions at the Academy of Finland will be made by the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering under the Research, Development and Innovation Programme ICT 2023.

Applicants from Finland participating in successful applications will be invited to append their existing applications (close‐to‐final draft of the full proposal) in the Academy online services with the final NSF version of the submitted proposal and the review report provided on the proposal (if applicable). It is the responsibility of the applicant from Finland to request these documents from the US applicant.

You will receive an email notification after the funding decision has been made. After receiving the email, you can log in to the online services with your user ID to view the decision and its justifications. A positive funding decision will be accompanied by the terms and conditions of funding.

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the terms and conditions of funding. Make sure to check the decision and accept the funding and its terms in the online services without delay. This must be done via the Academy’s online services within eight weeks of the decision date, unless otherwise stated in the special conditions of the decision notification.

Before you accept the funding, update the popular project description (if necessary), make changes to the annual instalments (if necessary) and attach the data management plan (drafted according to the guidelines). Once you have accepted the funding, the system will send a notification to the commitment issuer at the site of research. That person must also accept the granted funding.

The funds can be paid only after the applicant and the representative of the site of research have accepted them. The system will then notify the funding to the finance administration of the site of research, whereupon the funds will be ready to use.