Academy Project funding 2019, all research fields

When you apply for Academy Project funding, you apply for funding to hire a research team.

An Academy Project is built around an ambitious research plan of high scientific quality. The research plan is carried out by a high-level research team or consortium made up of several teams. The Academy Project funding scheme is designed to promote the quality and diversity of research, scientific impact and impact beyond academia as well as science self-renewal. 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. In principle, the projects we fund must benefit Finnish research and society and international collaboration.

The funding is granted primarily to teams of researchers with doctoral degrees. In Academy Projects, we encourage researchers to engage in international mobility that will support the research, for example, so that researchers hired to the project work abroad for a fixed period. The project may also hire foreign researchers who already work or who will work in the Finnish scientific community. The funding may also be used to hire researchers returning to Finland.

The Academy of Finland encourages early-career researchers with no more than ten years since their first doctorate to apply for Academy Project funding.  In addition to their doctorate, the applicant must have other significant scientific merits. Usually they are a professor or docent-level researcher.

The funding can be applied for by both individual research teams and consortia composed of two or several research teams. The consortium parties may represent one or several research organisations.

A consortium application is an application built around a joint research plan, where each party to the consortium applies for funding from the Academy. The Academy treats the consortium application as a single application, although the funding is granted to each subproject separately. Consortium compositions cannot be changed after the call deadline has expired. Read the guidelines for consortium applications.

In addition to their doctorate, the PI of the Academy Project must have other significant scientific merits. Usually they are a professor or docent-level researcher. In addition, the applicant must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. This connection must be described in the application.

The applicant is considered an early-career researcher if no more than ten years have passed since their first doctorate or if no more than 14 years have passed since their first doctorate if they have since completed medical specialist training. The doctoral degree certificate (the first doctorate, if the applicant has multiple) of an early-career researcher should be issued 25 Sept 2009–25 Sept 2019 and of a medical specialist 25 Sept 2005–25 Sept 2019. The date of the doctoral degree certificate may deviate from the above-mentioned because of career breaks (maternity, paternity and parental leaves, military or non-military service, or long-term illness). A consortium application represents an early-career application if no more than ten years have passed since each of the consortium parties’ doctorates or if no more than 14 years have passed since their doctorates if they have completed medical specialist training.

Special conditions and restrictions

Academy Project funding is primarily intended towards the salaries of researchers who work full-time on the project and for other project costs. The salary costs of the research project’s PI may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs. Read more about the salary of the research project’s PI in the call text under Funding to be applied for and funding period.

In the September call, we will consider only one application per researcher if the application concerns Academy Project funding (incl. a consortium subproject), Academy Research Fellow funding, Postdoctoral Researcher funding or clinical researcher funding. If you do submit more than one application for any of these funding opportunities or apply for funding from more than one of them, we will only review the first application to arrive. Applications that are not reviewed will not be eligible for funding.

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.

If the applicant is a PI for an ongoing Academy Project, they will not be granted funding for an Academy Project. However, if the the applicant is a PI for a consortium subproject in an Academy Project, they may be granted funding for an Academy Project for a well-justified reason. In the September 2019 call, however, a PI who has an ongoing Academy Project ending on 31 December 2020 can be granted Academy Project funding as of 1 September 2020.  A summary of the policy is presented in the table below.

If the applicant has ongoing funding for a post as an Academy Professor, they will not be granted funding for an Academy Project.

If the applicant has ongoing funding for a post as an Academy Research Fellow, they will not be granted funding for an Academy Project during the first three years of their term.

Directors, vice directors and team leaders of Academy-funded Centres of Excellence (CoE) cannot receive Academy Project funding during the first three years of the CoE term.

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.

The research councils which started in the beginning of 2019 will update their science policies in May‒June. Funding decisions are based on the policies of each research council. The policies are updated on the research council’s website before the call opens. Read the policies of the research council before submitting your application.

The funding period starts on 1 September 2020. As a rule, the funding is granted for four years.

The funding is paid via a site of research (usually a university or research institute) based in Finland. Academy-funded researchers may, however, spend time working abroad during their funding period.

In their application, the applicant presents a funding plan drafted in line with the full cost model (see guidelines in the funding terms and conditions), including the funding to be applied for from the Academy (no more than 70% of the total project costs).

You can apply for Academy funding to cover, for example, the following direct research costs:

• research team salaries
• salary costs of principal investigator (under certain limitations)
• salaries of researchers returning to Finland
• essential implementation costs
• travels
• collaboration and mobility in Finland
• international collaboration and mobility
• mobility allowance for periods abroad
• preparation of international projects
• publishing (e.g. costs of open-access publishing).

Research team salaries

As a rule, staff hired with Academy of Finland research funding must have an employment relationship. We recommend that they be hired for a period of employment no shorter than the funding period, unless a shorter contract is necessary for special reasons dictated by the implementation of the research project. Short-term research, study or other assignments may also be carried out in the form of outsourced services, if it is determined to be necessary for the project.

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, etc.

The overhead for the site of research, indirect employee costs and coefficient for effective working hours are also included in the application.

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 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 is, all funding granted for the project as well as funding that will be provided by the site of research if the project is launched. The Academy funding must not exceed 70% of the total project costs. The cost estimate must be realistic. While drafting the cost estimate, the applicant must consider the research council policies on the granted funding. The research councils will update their science policies in May‒June 2019.

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

Salary costs of principal investigator

Academy funding for research projects (Academy Projects, Targeted Projects and Academy Programme Projects) is primarily intended for the salaries of full-time researchers working on the projects and for other research costs.

The salary costs of the PI may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs. The PI’s salary is entered under Salary of principal investigator in the online services.

1. Including PI’s salary (for project management) in total project costs

The salary costs of the PI may be incorporated into the total project costs in accordance with what is stated under the tab Salary of principal investigator in the online services. In order for the salary costs to be eligible, the PI’s tasks must be clearly specified.

The salary costs must not be significant in relation to the project’s total costs. For example, a four-year research project must not include more than six months of the PI’s effective working hours. This is equivalent to approximately 1.5 months a year.

2. Applying for funding for PI’s salary (for research)

The Academy may grant funding for the PI’s salary for no more than a year for well-justified reasons (e.g. work abroad, return to Finland or transfer to another research organisation or a company in Finland). Possible business collaboration must fulfil the terms set out in the Academy’s Funding terms and conditions

For the funding to be granted, the research-related reasons and the PI’s tasks must be clearly presented on the tab Salary of principal investigator in the online services. The funding cannot be used for this purpose unless it is mentioned in the terms and conditions included in the funding decision.

3. Granting salary funding to PI with no employment relationship

If the PI does not have an employment relationship with, for example, a university or research institute, they must give an account  of how their salary will be covered during the funding period under the tab Salary of principal investigator in the online services.

Retired researchers can be granted funding on the same grounds as other researchers.

Mobility allowance in research projects

The mobility allowance in research projects depends neither on the target country nor on the duration of the stay. It is a taxable benefit and indirect employee costs will be deducted from it:

• for a researcher with no dependants:1,050 euros/month
• for a researcher with dependants:1,500 euros/month

The mobility allowance is applied for as research costs for implementing the research plan and as part of the original application of the research project. The recommended amount should be enough to cover the costs of higher living expenses from living abroad.

Mobility allowance is applied for on the tab Funding for the project under Other expences. Ticket costs for travel abroad are entered separately under Travel costs. If researchers and their families stay abroad for at least six months, funding can also be applied for to cover family travel costs. You must justify the need for mobility allowance.

How to submit and supplement the application

The non-negotiable call deadline also applies to consortia.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. 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 deadline expires. You can make changes (e.g. change appendices) in an application you have submitted to the Academy, but you must make them before the deadline expires. If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline has expired, immediately get in touch with the call’s contact person, so that the application can be reopened for your supplementary additions. 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 review and decision-making process. An important addition is, for instance, an invitation by a foreign university.

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 by the set deadline. 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

Under the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities, an application and its appendices are public information; confidential documents such as research plans, plans of intent, abstracts and progress reports, however, are not. For example, the CV is a public document and as such must not include any confidential information. 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 application consists of forms completed in the online services and PDF appendices. As an applicant, you have the right to submit your application in Finnish or Swedish, but we ask that you to submit it in English to facilitate the international review.

The online application consists of the following parts:

Personal data/CV

• Personal details
• Degrees (most recent one first); parental leaves etc. may be filled in under Additional information
• Titles of docent and professorships
• CV appendix following the template structure, no more than two pages

Consortium parties (if applicable)

• 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)
• Keywords in English and Finnish/Swedish

Abstract

• Maximum length 2,500 characters
• Brief overview of scientific and societal objectives, research methods and data as well as expected results and impact of the research
• Read more about the Abstract

Research plan

• Maximum length 12 pages, 15 pages for consortium projects
• See our guidelines on the structure of the research plan
• See the how-to guides for the online services

Most relevant publications

• No more than ten of your most important publications for the project; no more than 20 publications in the case of consortium projects
• Search for publications in the VIRTA publication information service See the how-to guides 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)
• Append a complete list of publications to the application under Appendices

Collaborators

• Specify the collaborators of the project (name, organisation, country, brief description of the collaboration)
• Describe the collaborators’ merits relevant to the project and the justifications for choosing them in research plan in section 3.2 of the research plan

Mobility

• Enter information on planned national and international mobility within the project, itemised by person
• Guidelines on the mobility allowance are available in the call text under Funding to be applied for and funding period.
• Read more about mobility (Academy Projects, Targeted Academy Projects and Academy Programmes)

Affiliations

• ESFRI roadmap research infrastructures
  Other research infrastructures
• Centres of Excellence
• Projects funded under the Flagship Programme

Ethical aspects

• 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.
• The research ethics description is entered under section 4.1 of the research plan.

Funding for the project – Following the Full cost model

• Funding period, effective working hours, indirect employee costs, overheads percentage and VAT
• Salaries and other costs
• 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.
• Justifications for the funding to be applied for. The cost estimate must be realistic.
• The salary costs of the PI may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs: for project management and/or research Justifications for the salary costs of the PI are entered under Salary of principal investigator.
• 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.

Salary of principal investigator

• Justifications, if salary costs for PI are included in the funding plan
• The salary costs of the PI 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 covering the entire funding period
• Read more about the PI’s salary in the call text under Funding to be applied for and funding period

Public project description

• Maximum length 1,000 characters
• Reader-friendly and popular description of the research project in English and Finnish/Swedish
• The topic of the research and the rationale
• The data and research methods to be used (interviews, statistical data, archive materials, etc.)
• The site of research
• The significance and objectives of the research from the perspective of society and science
• Any other interesting aspects
• If relevant, a link to the researcher’s website, if it contains more information on the topic
• If relevant, references to previous publications that are readily available at public libraries or on the internet.

• The public description helps the Academy to disseminate information on the research project.

• Read more about the Public description

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to to supplement or view your application.
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field.
• The person must have set up 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.
• Technical instructions on the authorisation process are available in the how-to guides for the online services.

Appendices

• Appendices must be pdf files

       Obligatory appendices

• CV is appended under Personal data/CV, no more than two pages
• Complete list of publications. The most relevant publications are entered under Most relevant publications
• Data management plan: write the plan with help from DMPTuuli or according to the guidelines found on the Academy’s website

       Case-specific appendices

• Statement by ethics committee or animal care committee.
• Invitation by foreign university or research institute, if the research or part of it will be conducted abroad; do not append any letters of recommendation.
• Progress report on all Academy-funded projects headed by the applicant that have not submitted final reports.
• Research plan following the template structure, no more than 12 pages (no more than 15 pages for consortia); only if the research plan has not been written on the tab Research plan

Submit the 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 information is missing.
• You can supplement the application until the deadline expires. Resaving will replace the earlier version.
• If you want to supplement the application after the deadline has expired, please get in touch with the Academy’s contact persons listed in the call text.

Academy of Finland funding is granted based on peer review. We mainly use foreign experts as reviewers.

The applications are mainly reviewed in international panels. The panel drafts one review report on each application. At least two individual reviews are requested for applications with a subject that does not fit into any of the panels.

Review criteria

• scientific quality, innovativeness and novelty value of the research as well as its impact within the scientific community
• competence of applicant/research team in terms of project      implementation
• feasibility of research plan (incl. research ethics)
• quality of research environment and collaborative networks
• researcher mobility and researcher training
• added value of collaboration between consortium parties.

Read the review questions that will be used in the review of applications: review form for Academy Projects

Each panel will rank the applications that have received a rating of 5 or 6.

The research councils which started in the beginning of 2019 will update their science policies in May‒June. Funding decisions are based on the policies of each research council. The policies are updated on the research council’s website before the call opens. Read the policies of the research council before submitting your application.

The research council will make the funding decisions in two stages in spring 2020. In the first stage, applications that have received rating 1–4 in the review will receive a negative decision at the discretion of the research council concerned. Rest of the applications will be processed in the second stage (mainly applications that received a rating of  5–6). The second-stage funding decisions may be either positive or negative.

While making a funding decision on an application for Academy Project funding by an early-career applicant, the research council pays particular attention to the applicant’s potential to renew research in the future.  

You will receive an email 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. You can also read the funding conditions, if the decision has been favourable. In addition, you will have access to read the expert reviews on your application.

How to receive the funding

After being granted funding, you must check and accept it in the online services without delay. Make sure to check and, if necessary, update the public project description before you accept the funding. The system will then 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 both the applicant and the representative of the site of research have accepted them as received. The system will then notify the funding to the finance administration of the site of research, whereupon the funds will be ready to use.