Special funding for research into crisis preparedness and security of supply

This call for applications is aimed at funding scientific research at international level that will generate research knowledge for developing crisis preparedness and security of supply. The funding will support forward-looking and socially high-impact research that explores the strengthening of crisis preparedness for potential major national and international crises for which Finland should be able to prepare. The research may address one or more issues relevant to the theme of crisis preparedness and/or security of supply.

This special funding will promote a wide range of high-quality research with both scientific and societal impact. The aim is to:

• increase understanding of complex crises affecting society and how such crises can be anticipated and resolved
• promote diverse research on themes that are important for crisis preparedness and security of supply, and thus promote resilience, which supports, among other things, social stability and trust, political decision-making, the national economy, the integrity and production capacity of production value chains, the functioning of critical organisations, or social and psychological security in the face of crises and in minimising their impacts
• produce research data on issues related to the planning of crisis preparedness and security of supply and its knowledge base, tools, structures, agreements, management, decision-making and implementation as well as on issues related to the roles and cooperation of different sectors of society, both from a national and international perspective
• otherwise promote solutions to the challenges related to the call’s theme.

Large crises affect society, its various actors and citizens in many ways, and it is necessary to prepare for them by means of crisis preparedness and security of supply. In an interconnected, highly networked society, it is often difficult to maintain and develop preparedness in crisis situations. Successful crisis management and implementation of solutions emphasises the significance of close cooperation between different sectors, and with authorities, businesses and citizens – locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. The development of crisis preparedness and security of supply must take into account a number of complementary perspectives, such as policy, economy, business, the environment, technologies, cyber and other security, health and wellbeing, the legal system and people’s behaviour, or other themes of importance to the theme.

This call will not provide funding for research into vaccine and pharmaceutical development aimed at preventing adverse health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or supporting the treatment of COVID-19 cases.

The funding may be applied for by individual research teams or consortia composed of two or more research teams. The consortium parties may represent one or several research organisations. An applicant may submit only one application (incl. consortium applications as PI or as subproject PI).

A consortium application is an application built around a joint research plan, where each party to the consortium applies for funding. 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. Read the guidelines for consortium applications.

In addition to a doctoral degree, the principal investigator (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 described in the application.

Special terms and restrictions

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

If the applicant has ongoing Academy funding, they must draw up an interim report in the online services. Read the guidelines on drafting the interim report. Submitting an application to this call does not prevent you from applying for Academy Project Funding, for example, in the September 2020 call. In accordance with the Finnish Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, a research project cannot receive simultaneous funding for the same purpose. If an applicant applies for funding from both the present call and another Academy call that is open for application in September, the applicant shall submit different applications with different research plans to the calls.

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 funding period can start retroactively on 21 August 2020. The funding periods ends on 30 November 2023.

Academy research funding is granted to Finnish sites of research (usually higher education institutions or research institutes), unless there are special reasons for not doing so. 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.

The 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.

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

• research team salaries
• PI’s salary costs (under certain limitations)
• salaries of researchers returning to Finland
• essential implementation costs
• travel expenses
• collaboration and mobility in Finland
• international collaboration and mobility
• preparation of international projects
• publishing costs (e.g. costs of open-access publishing).

Research team salaries

As a rule, staff hired with Academy 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. 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 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 the application, applicants must agree with the administration at their 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. You must check with your 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.

Draft the cost estimate as follows: 10% of the total project costs in 2020, 35% in 2021, 40% in 2022 and 15% in 2023. The total cost estimate of consortia must follow the same annual instalments for the funding.

All research costs must be justified in the free-text field in the online services under ‘Funding for the project’.

For justified reasons, research-related costs can be accepted retroactively as of 21 August 2020. A prerequisite for granting a discretionary government grant is that there is a need for the grant. In this funding opportunity, exceptionally, the costs incurred (i.e. retroactively) prior to the funding decision may be accepted if the recipient is able to show that the later part of the project would not be realised in full or would be realised clearly more slowly or narrowly without the government grant.

For justified reasons and to start the project, the site of research may apply for an advance, which comes to up to 40% of the project’s funding. The advance must be applied for by 14 December 2020. The need for an advance shall be justified from the perspective of the financial and other situation of the funding recipient. Payment of the advance may be justified where the start-up or implementation of the project within the timeframe and scope referred to in the government grant decision requires the beneficiary to have access to the funding within a faster timeframe than through the normal payment procedure.

The first funding instalment has been brought forward, and the related payment request must be submitted to the Academy no later than 14 December 2020. The last payment request must be delivered to us by 13 December 2023.

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.

As a rule, funding is not granted for the salary of the project PI. However, the PI’s salary costs 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.

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

The PI’s salary costs 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.

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, such as working abroad, returning to Finland or transferring 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.

A condition is that 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 conditions accompanying the funding decision.

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 explain how their salary will be covered during the funding period on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services.

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

Mobility aid in research projects

The mobility aid is applied for as research costs related to the implementation of the research plan. The aid is applied for in accordance with the practices of the site of research.

In the online services, the aid is applied for on the tab ‘Funding for the project’ under ‘Travel costs’. The mobility aid must be justified. Read more about the mobility aid in the funding terms and conditions.

How to submit and supplement the application

The non-negotiable call deadline also applies to consortia. The deadline for applications is 15 September 2020 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. 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. 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.

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 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.

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

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). 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

Most relevant publications

• No more than ten of your own most relevant publications for the project; no more than 20 publications 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)

Collaborators

• Project collaborators, itemised by collaborator (name, organisation, country)
• Describe the collaborators’ project-relevant key merits and provide justifications for choosing them in section 3.2 of the research plan.
• 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.
• The research ethics description is entered under section 4.1 of the research plan.
• 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’.
• Draft the cost estimate as follows: 10% of the total project costs in 2020, 35% in 2021, 40% in 2022 and 15% in 2023.
• The site of research maintains the following percentages: effective working hours, indirect employee costs, overheads percentage and VAT.
• Enter the funding period. The funding period can start retroactively on 21 August 2020 at the earliest. The funding period must end on 30 November 2023.
• 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.
• 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.

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.
• 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 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 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.

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.

Research plan

• Maximum length 12 pages, 15 pages for consortium projects
• See the guidelines on the structure of the research plan.
• Please note that the research plan cannot be submitted as a separate appendix.
• See the how-to guides for the online services.

CV

• CV following the template, no more than two pages

Appendices

• Appendices must be PDF files.

Obligatory appendices

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

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

Interim report

• If you are applying for funding and have ongoing Academy funding, you must draw up an interim report in the online services on each ongoing project (incl. consortium subproject) before the call deadline. Read the guidelines on drafting the interim report.
  • Also see the How-to guides for the online services.

Academy of Finland funding is granted based on peer review. The review of the applications will focus on the scientific quality of the research and the societal impact of the project. The review will also pay attention to how the plan responds to the call’s objectives and to ensuring that the applicants have a sufficient range of expertise to implement the plan. Either a panel review report or at least two reviews by individual experts will be issued on the applications.

Review criteria:

• how the project implements the objectives of the call (see ‘Background and objectives’)
• scientific quality, innovativeness and novelty value of the research as well as its impact within the scientific community
• feasibility of the research plan
• competence of applicant/research team in terms of project implementation
• quality of research environment and collaborative networks
• added value of collaboration between consortium parties

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

A subcommittee appointed the Board of the Academy of Finland will make the funding decisions in November 2020. The funding decisions will be made based on international peer review and the call’s objectives. The subcommittee will examine the objectives of the call with a view to funding projects that match the call in a wide variety of ways.

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. The online services is also where you can read the expert reviews issued on the application.

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.

Before you accept the funding, update the project description (if necessary) and attach the full 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.