Mobility grant from Finland to Japan, Taiwan or Russia

The Academy of Finland’s mobility funding is based on bilateral agreements and supports the Academy’s general science policy objectives. The funding promotes the international interactions of Finnish researchers as well as the internationalisation of Finnish research environments.

The funding is intended for the researcher’s own mobility costs (necessary travel and living expenses).

This call for mobility grant applications applies to Japan, Taiwan and Russia.

The applicant is an individual researcher. The applicant must have at least a higher academic degree, but preference is given to researchers with a doctoral degree.

Special terms and restrictions

The funding is granted as a personal grant. As a rule, funding may be allocated to one person for a maximum period of 12 months. More information on the grant is available under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’ in the call text.

If the applicant has ongoing Academy funding or completed projects for which a final report has not yet been submitted, they must prepare a progress report. This does not apply to applicants acting as the responsible person in funding schemes where the funding recipient is an organisation. Read more about drafting the report. If you have not submitted a final report on a completed, Academy-funded project by the set deadline, we may decide not to process your application.

Members of the Academy Board, research councils and the Strategic Research Council 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.

The earliest start date for the funding period is 1 February 2022. The funding period (the period during which the funding may be used) is usually two years.

The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds to the Academy in the 2022 state budget.

The personal grant may be granted for a period of 7–360 days for a two-year funding period. As a rule, the funding may be allocated to one person for a maximum period of up to 12 months. The months may consist of funding decisions from several different years. If funding is applied for for a total period of more than 12 months, this must be separately justified in section 1.3 of the research plan. The justification may relate, for example, to the quality of research cooperation or the special impact and renewal of long-term cooperation. The funding granted under a single call may not, however, exceed twelve months per grantee.

The grant is paid into the personal account of the applicant. The applicant must have a close connection with Finland.

The funding is intended for the researcher’s own mobility costs (necessary travel and living expenses). The detailed funding terms are determined in each bilateral agreement separately and described below country-by-country. The funding does not cover insurances, so applicants must take out appropriate insurance for the grant period.

The funding to applied for must be itemised on the tab ‘Funding for the project’ in the online services as well as in the research plan. The funding must also be justified. The amount of the personal grant is based on a guideline table. It is assumed that the applicants will also receive other salary during their visit. You must clearly state in the application (tab ‘Funding for the project’) and in the research plan if you will not be receiving other salary during the visit, or if you will be receiving only partial salary, and that you have therefore calculated the monthly grants according to the higher categories. In the case of long visits of more than four months, applicants should take into account the guidelines of the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The full cost model does not apply to the Academy’s mobility funding.

Funding plan

In the application, provide a cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure (grants, travel expenses).

All funding to be applied for must be justified in the free-text field on the tab ‘Funding for the project’ as well as under item 1.4 of the research plan.

How to submit and supplement the application

The deadline is non-negotiable. The deadline for applications is 22 September 2021 at 16.15 Finnish time.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. You can make changes to a submitted application (e.g. change appendices), but you must make them before the deadline. If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, 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 supplemented information insofar as it is possible in view of the review and decision-making process.

We may ask you to supplement the application. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, we may decide not to process it. You must make sure that your 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 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 you have provided.

If you have not submitted a final report on a completed or ongoing Academy-funded project by the set deadline, we may decide not to process your application.

An application will not be processed if the applicant or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements, or if the application otherwise does not qualify for processing. A research council or another decision-making body may decide not to process and not to fund an application based on science policy objectives or if it is apparent for some other reason that the applicant cannot receive funding with the submitted application. Read more about the circumstances that may cause the Academy not to process or review an application.

Publicity and data protection

Except for the research plan, abstract and progress report, which are primarily subject to professional secrecy, 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 Researcher Mobility Programme with Japan is based on a bilateral agreement between the Academy of Finland and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

From Finland to Japan

The call name is ‘Mobility grant from Finland to Japan, Taiwan or Russia’. The grant may be applied for two different purposes:

1. Grants for researchers with a doctoral degree for research at universities or research institutes in Japan. The personal grant covers travel and living expenses. The duration of the grant may be 7–360 days during a funding period of 24 months. There may be several visits during the funding period, if this is appropriate for the implementation of the plan.

The applicant must have a letter of collaboration from the host institution. The call is primarily intended for researchers with a doctoral degree. The funding is intended for the researcher’s own reasonable mobility costs (necessary travel and living expenses). The funding does not cover research costs. It is assumed that the applicants will also receive other salary during their visit. If the applicant receives only a partial salary or no other grant or salary during the visit, this shall be clearly indicated in the free-text field on the tab ‘Funding for the project’. The funding comes in the form of a personal grant paid directly to the researcher. The researcher is responsible for taxation and for payments to the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution.

The applicant must have an affiliation to the Finnish research environment or site of research from which they will visit as well as a destination in Japan that supports internationalisation.

2. JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for 12–24 months to Japan. The Academy of Finland and the JSPS have an agreement concerning JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship grants to Japan.

Applications are submitted to the Academy so that the Academy will screen out the applicants and select a candidate for the JSPS. The JSPS will make the funding decision and be responsible for grant payment. If the researcher and the researcher’s family stay in Japan for at least six months, the Academy may finance the family’s travel expenses if they have been applied for in the Fellowship application. 

The most important part of the application is the JSPS application form, which must be appended to the application in the online services. The JSPS application form (FY 2022, FORM 2, Standard) and the guidelines (FY 2022) are available on the JSPS website.

The tab ‘Research plan’ in the online services does not need to be filled in; instead, it may refer to the above appendix or provide information on the family members (name, age and relation to the applicant, e.g. daughter Anna, age 5), if the family will accompany the researcher in Japan for at least six months and if Academy funding is sought for their travel expenses.

The mobility funding to Taiwan is based on a bilateral agreement between the Academy of Finland and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Taiwan.

From Finland to Taiwan

The call name is ‘Mobility grant from Finland to Japan, Taiwan or Russia’. The personal grant is awarded to cover travel and living expenses for research at research institutes and universities in Taiwan. The duration of the grant may be 7–360 days during a funding period of 24 months. There may be several visits during the funding period, if this is appropriate for the implementation of the plan.

The applicant must have a letter of collaboration from the host institution. The call is primarily intended for researchers with a doctoral degree. The funding is intended for the researcher’s own reasonable mobility costs (necessary travel and living expenses). The funding does not cover research costs. It is assumed that the applicants will also receive other salary during their visit. If the applicant receives only a partial salary or no other grant or salary during the visit, this shall be clearly indicated in the free-text field on the tab ‘Funding for the project’. The funding comes in the form of a personal grant paid directly to the researcher. The researcher is responsible for taxation and for payments to the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution.

The applicant must have an affiliation to the Finnish research environment or site of research from which they will visit as well as a destination in Taiwan that supports internationalisation.

From Finland to Russia

The call name is ‘Mobility grant from Finland to Japan, Taiwan or Russia’. The personal grant is awarded for research at institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences and at universities in Russia. The duration of the grant may be 7–360 days during a funding period of 24 months. There may be several visits during the funding period, if this is appropriate for the implementation of the plan.

The applicant must have a letter of collaboration from the host institution. The call is primarily intended for researchers with a doctoral degree. If funding is available, doctoral candidates may also be funded. The funding is intended for the researcher’s own reasonable mobility costs (necessary travel and living expenses). The funding does not cover research costs. It is assumed that the applicants will also receive other salary during their visit. If the applicant receives only a partial salary or no other grant or salary during the visit, this shall be clearly indicated in the free-text field on the tab ‘Funding for the project’. The funding comes in the form of a personal grant paid directly to the researcher. The researcher is responsible for taxation and for payments to the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution.

The applicant must have an affiliation to the Finnish research environment or site of research from which they will visit as well as a destination in Russia that supports internationalisation.

The application consists of a form completed in the online services and its PDF appendices. As an applicant, you have the right to submit your application in Finnish or Swedish, but we ask you to submit it in English.

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

General information

• Details on the applicant’s Finnish 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

• 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
• Read more about the abstract.

Research plan

• Maximum length 5 pages
• See the guidelines on the structure of the research plan.
• In the JSPS Fellowship application, this tab need not be filled in; instead, you may refer to JSPS application form, which is appended to the application submitted to the Academy.
• See the How-to guides for the online services.

Most relevant publications and other key outputs

• Up to ten of your most important project-relevant publications and up to ten of your most important other outputs, with justifications.
• 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 (the type will not show in the PDF version of the application).
• The information is used to assess the competence of the applicant or consortium to carry out the project.

Mobility

• International mobility for which funding is applied
• Read more about the Academy’s aims concerning mobility.

Collaborators

• Project’s foreign collaborator (name, organisation and country of host or responsible person for visit)
• Describe the collaborator’s project-relevant key merits and provide justifications for choosing the collaborator in section 2.1 of the research plan.

Affiliations

• Research infrastructures: Indicate what kinds of equipment, resources or data reserves provided by national or international research infrastructures the project will 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

• Preliminary ethical review for project and/or animal testing permit (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.
• If necessary, the research ethics description is entered under section 1.2 of the research plan.
• See the ethical guidelines.

Funding for the project

• Enter the funding period. The funding period is usually a two-year period when the funding is available. In the research plan, enter the planned dates of the visit (7–360 days).
• Enter the grant being applied for.
• Enter the travel expenses.
• 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.
• The cost estimate must be realistic.

Public project description

• Maximum length 1,000 characters including spaces
• Popular and reader-friendly description of the research project in English and Finnish/Swedish
• We will use the project description in our communications on the funded research project. The project description is also stored at research.fi, a service that makes available information on research conducted in Finland.
• Read the guidelines on the public project description.

Progress report

• If you have ongoing Academy funding or completed projects for which no final report has yet been submitted, the projects to be reported are available on a separate tab in the online services. This does not apply to applicants acting as the responsible person in funding schemes where the funding recipient is an organisation.
• Maximum length per project is 1,500 characters including spaces.
• Describe the progress and/or key achievements of the project and how the project is related to the funding being applied for.
• Read more about drafting the report.
• Also see the How-to guides for the online services.

Appendices

• Appendices must be PDF files.

Obligatory appendices:

• Complete list of publications by the applicant. Read the guidelines on the structure of the list of publications.

• Letter of collaboration. Read more about the letter.

Case-specific appendices:

• JSPS Fellowship applications: JSPS application form (filled in)

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to supplement or view your application.
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field. If the person has an account in the online services (SARA), they can be selected from the list.
• 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.

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 deadline. Resaving will replace the earlier version.
• If you want to supplement the application after the deadline, please get in touch with the Academy’s contact persons listed in the call text.

The review of mobility applications will focus on the following aspects, for example:

• How does the applicant justify why and for what purposes the funding is applied for?
• How does the application address the objective of the funding as regards promoting the international interaction of Finnish researchers and increasing the internationalisation of Finnish research environments?
• What is the quality, impact and renewal potential of the research cooperation described in the application?

The fundamental principles of the review are transparency, integrity, equity, competence and diversity. Read more about responsible researcher evaluation.

In the review of the applications, focus will be placed on the following:

• scientific quality of project
• applicant’s scientific merits
• added value of research cooperation
• increasing international collaboration
• participation of early-career researchers.

Read the rating scale and the review questions that will be used in the review: review form and review guidelines. The review guidelines and forms are only available in English.

The research councils will make the funding decisions in early 2022.

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. There you can also read the review report on your application.

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the funding terms and conditions. Check the decision and read the funding terms and conditions. If necessary, update the popular project description.

The grant is considered to have been received when you send a request for payment (PDF) to the Academy.

Ulla Ellmén, Science Adviser (Japan, Taiwan), tel. +358 295 335 011

Siru Oksa, Science Adviser (Russia), tel. +358 295 335 125

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

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