2026 Funding for clinical research

At the core of the Research Council of Finland’s activities is to provide funding for excellent scientific research. The research we fund is also expected to have high scientific and societal impact and follow the principles of responsible science.

The aim of the RCF’s clinical research funding is to strengthen clinical research and promote clinical research careers. The clinical research project to be funded is built around a scientifically high-quality and ambitious research plan, implemented by a consortium of three or more research teams. The aim is also to improve the preconditions for clinical research after the transition phases of the restructuring of the social and healthcare service system.

The projects shall generate new research knowledge to support social welfare and healthcare, disease treatment, diagnostics, prevention, or business activity. Consequently, research projects are expected to generate significant and broad societal impact, as well as to seamlessly bring research results into practice. In order to strengthen their societal impact, the projects must engage in close and ambitious cooperation with key actors in the utilisation of research results at different stages of the project lifecycle.

The funding will encourage researchers working in wellbeing services counties to collaborate with researchers at universities, research institutes and universities of applied sciences. Therefore, applications are invited from consortia consisting of three or more teams, and the site of research of the consortium PI must be a wellbeing services county (incl. City of Helsinki and HUS Group). Other subprojects in the consortium may be carried out at other organisations, but consortia are encouraged to include researchers from different organisations. The consortium should bring clear added value to the implementation of the research project and increase collaboration.

The funding aims to facilitate clinical research expertise across a wide range of specialties by supporting clinical research careers and encouraging early-career researchers engaged in part-time clinical work to become principal investigators. This means that the consortium PI or at least one consortium subproject PI must be engaged in clinical patient work in addition to part-time research (20–50% of working hours). They must be a medical doctor or some other healthcare professional. It must be possible to allocate the part-time research work flexibly to the funding period, taking into account both the clinical patient work and the research objectives.

The funding can be applied for to hire research teams, cover research costs incurred in the project, manage the research project and cover the recipient’s own salary for part-time clinical patient work. A maximum of 1.7 million euros can be awarded to a single consortium over four years. Funded projects may be asked to submit a monitoring report during the project. The method and deadline for submitting the report and the contents of the report will be specified separately.

Applications are invited from consortia composed of three or more teams, not from individual research teams. The site of research of the consortium’s principal investigator must be a wellbeing services county (incl. City of Helsinki and HUS Group). The other subprojects of the consortium can be carried out at any organisation. The consortium parties may represent one or more organisations, but consortia are encouraged to include researchers from different organisations. The aim is to increase collaboration between researchers working in wellbeing services counties and researchers at universities, research institutes and universities of applied sciences.

The consortium PI or at least one consortium subproject PI must be engaged in clinical patient work in addition to part-time research (20–50% of working hours). They must be a physician or some other healthcare professional with a doctoral degree. The aim is to facilitate clinical research expertise across a wide range of specialties by encouraging physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in clinical practice to engage in part-time research. In addition, the aim is to encourage early-career researchers engaged in part-time clinical work to become principal investigators. It must be possible to allocate the part-time research work flexibly to the funding period, taking into account both the clinical patient work and the research objectives.

A consortium application is an application built around a joint research plan, where each party to the consortium applies for funding. The RCF treats a 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 consortium PI and subproject PIs of the clinical research must also have other significant scientific merits. An exception to this is a PI who works part-time in clinical patient care, who must be a physician or some other healthcare professional with a doctoral degree. In addition, the applicant (incl. consortium subproject) must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. This connection must be evident from the application.

The PI of the application (incl. consortium subproject) cannot be changed while the application is being processed (after the call has closed but before the decision). The only exception to this is if the PI dies.

Restrictions

In the present call, we will consider (process) only one application per applicant (also applies to consortium subproject). If you submit more than one application (incl. consortium subproject), only the first application to be submitted will be considered (processed).

Physicians or healthcare professionals engaged in part-time clinical patient work are not eligible for funding as consortium or subproject PI if they work as full-time researchers at universities (career stages I–IV).

Other ongoing RCF funding

If you are the consortium or subproject PI of an ongoing project that has received RCF funding for clinical research, we will not consider (process) a new application for the same funding from you.

Funding will not be granted if the applicant engaged in clinical patient work who is applying for salary funding for part-time research already has RCF funding for a research post as Clinical Researcher that ends after 31 December 2026. In this case, we will not consider (process) the consortium’s application.

If the funding period of your current funding has been extended due to pregnancy, parental or childcare leave, military or non-military service or long-term illness, your eligibility will be determined by the original end date of the funding period.

Other conditions for and obstacles to the granting of funding

The conditions for and obstacles to the granting of funding apply to each subproject’s applicant (consortium PI or subproject PI). If a prerequisite for granting funding is missing or there is an obstacle to the granting, the RCF will not consider (process) the entire consortium’s application.

We will not consider (process) an application by 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 consider (process) your application if you have been found guilty of a serious violation of research integrity in the previous three years.

RCF funding will not be granted to a recipient located in Russia or Belarus. In RCF-funded projects, cooperation with individual Russian or Belarusian researchers and research teams can only be carried out if the instructions of the site of research, the sanctions against Russia and Belarus, the export control provisions, the travel recommendations of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs or other guidelines by authorities do not prevent it. Funding shall be granted and used in a way that respects the equal treatment of researchers, regardless of nationality.

If you have failed to submit a final report on a completed or ongoing RCF-funded project by the set deadline, we will not consider (process) your application.

Your application will not be considered (processed) if you or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements set for the call, if the application does not belong to the call, or if there some other respect are no conditions for processing the case. A scientific council or another decision-making body may decide 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 us not to process or review an application.

We will not consider (process) your application if you are a member of the RCF Board or scientific councils or the Strategic Research Council.

A positive funding decision can only be made if the conditions set by the RCF for funding are met. In addition to the eligibility criteria, another condition that must be met in order for the funding to be awarded is that the consortium application has identified and assessed the risks related to research security and, where necessary, presented an adequate risk management plan.

The consortium must also describe in the research plan how good scientific practice will be followed in the implementation of the project, how gender equality and nondiscrimination will be promoted in the implementation of the project, and how the RCF’s guidelines on open access to research results and on the responsible management of research data will be followed in the project.

The RCF Board decides the principles for RCF funding decisions. The present call is governed by the principles adopted on 18 September 2025.

You must immediately notify us if you receive funding from other sources for the same purpose after you have submitted your application to us.

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 that you to submit it in English to facilitate the international review.

Before the call opens

Check your eligibility

• Read the section Who can apply? to see whether you meet the eligibility criteria.

Plan the contents of your application

• Start drafting your research plan and CV.
• Draft the above appendices on our templates (see ‘Application parts in the online services’). Read the instructions on using the templates. You have access to the templates even before the call opens.
• Read the review guidelines and review form. Write your research plan in such a way that reviewers can easily find the answer to the review questions.
• Contact your collaborators. Request letters of collaboration from national and international collaborators that are relevant to the implementation of the project. The letters must be appended to the application before the call deadline.

Plan the funding of your project

• Draft the budget in line with the guidelines of your organisation. Read more about the amount of funding and the terms and conditions in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.
• Contact your organisation’s support services now if you have any budget-related questions.
• Also read our standard terms for funding. If you are granted funding, you are also bound by the terms. The present call is governed by the standard terms adopted on 22 September 2025.

When the call opens

• Sign up or log in to our online services. Check and update your personal details. Your up-to-date email address is important when we are in contact with you.
• Instructions on how to fill in the application form are available in the online services.
• If you are applying as part of a consortium, read the consortium application guidelines before you start drafting the application.

Application parts in the online services

The different parts of the application are listed below. A comprehensive A–Z index of application guidelines is available on our website. Instructions for filling in the application form are also on the tabs of the form.

• Personal details
• General description: topic, keywords and scientific disciplines of the project, details on the site of research
• Consortium parties: In the consortium application, the consortium PI names the subproject PIs.
• Abstract
• Public project description
• Project’s funding and commitment by site of research. The commitment must be given within 14 days of the call’s closing date, or the application may be inadmissible. See section ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’ in the call text.
• Salary costs of principal investigator
• Collaborators: list of collaborators. The collaboration should be described in the research plan.
• Mobility: list of research visits
• Affiliation with research infrastructures, Centres of Excellence and Finnish Flagships
• Short data management plan
• Research ethics
• Progress report on all RCF-funded projects that have not yet submitted final reports
• Most relevant publications and other outputs: Each consortium party (consortium PI and subproject PIs) shall indicate up to ten most project-relevant publications and up to ten most relevant other research outputs, with justifications. Detailed instructions are available on the application form.
• Description of clinical work and working time arrangements when the PI is a physician or other healthcare professional who also performs clinical patient work on a part-time basis. It must be possible to allocate the part-time research work (20–50% of working hours) flexibly to the funding period, taking into account both the clinical patient work and the research objectives.

Appendices to be appended on dedicated tabs:

• The research plan is a mandatory appendix. Use the template provided.
• The CV is a mandatory appendix. Use the template provided.

Other appendices

• The research security assessment is a mandatory appendix. Use the template provided. Read more about research security.
• The full list of publications is a mandatory appendix.
• If necessary, append a letter of collaboration.

Submitting the application in the online services

You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information. A red warning triangle tells you that there is an error or information missing.

The joint consortium application is submitted by the consortium PI. They can submit the consortium application only after all subprojects have tagged their applications as complete.

You can authorise a person to edit or view the application on the tab ‘Authorisation’.

Submit your application in good time. You can supplement and edit the application and change appendices until the call deadline.

The four-year funding period starts on 1 January 2027.

The maximum funding for a four-year consortium project comes to 1.7 million euros. The call’s total funding budget has been set at 25 million euros.

The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds in the 2026 and 2027 state budgets.

The funding is granted to a Finnish site of research (usually a university or research institute) through which the funding is paid.

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.

Funding plan

As a rule, research funding granted by the RCF is co-funding. The RCF’s contribution to the funding is up to 70% of the total costs, and the site of research (host organisation) will cover at least 30% of the total costs. Before submitting the application, you must agree with the administration at your organisation on the contribution of the site of research to the funding of the project. You must check with your organisation whether the funding planned as the own funding contribution suits this purpose.

On the tab ‘Funding for the project’, provide the following information:

• cost estimate, including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure
  • the annual instalment costs are spread equally (e.g. 70%/30%) over all funding years
• all funding granted for the project as well as funding that will be provided by the site of research if the project is launched.

Only costs that pass through the books of the site of the research must be included in the total costs.

Pay particular attention to ensuring that the cost estimate is realistic and justified for the implementation of the research project. Justify the most significant research costs by type of expenditure in the free-text field.

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

• research team salaries
• PI’s salary costs (under certain limitations); If the PI is a physician or other healthcare professional and they perform clinical patient work on a part-time basis alongside their research, they can apply for funding covering 20–50% for their part-time salary.
• salaries of researchers returning to Finland
• essential implementation costs
• travel expenses
• collaboration and mobility in Finland
• international collaboration and mobility
• preparation of international projects.

RCF funding cannot be used for economic activity. Read more: Economic operator.

Only for compelling reasons can government grants be awarded to cover salary costs in cases where the applicant has obstacles related to illegal employment, as referred to in section 7(2) of the Finnish Act on Discretionary Government Grants.

Research team salaries

As a rule, staff hired with RCF 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, studies or other assignments (max. duration six months) may also be carried out in the form of outsourced services.

Instructions on job titles at different stages of the research career

Salary costs of principal investigator

RCF funding for research projects is primarily intended for the salaries of full-time researchers working on the projects and for other research costs. An exception is a PI engaged in part-time clinical patient work, who must include funding for their own part-time salary (20–50%).

As a rule, funding is not granted for the salaries of PIs who are not engaged in clinical patient work on a part-time basis. The PI’s salary costs may only under certain limitations and on justifiable grounds be incorporated into the total project costs. In order for the salary costs to be eligible, the PI’s tasks must be clearly specified and motivated. Justify the salary on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’.

The salary costs of PIs other than those engaged in part-time clinical patient work must not be significant in relation to the project’s total costs. A four-year research project must not include more than six months (equivalent to 1.5 months/year) of the PI’s working hours for project management, doctoral thesis supervision and research work. The maximum amount of working time to be included is proportional to the duration of the project or subproject.

If the PI is a physician or other healthcare professional and they perform clinical patient work on a part-time basis alongside their research, they should include funding covering 20–50% for their own part-time salary.

If the project includes salary costs for the PI, use the ‘Principal investigator’ category in the ‘Salaries’ section of the ‘Funding for the project’ tab in the RCF online services.

If the PI does not have an employment relationship

• If the PI does not have an employment relationship with their site of research for the duration of the funding period, they must explain how their salary will be covered during the funding period.
• Retired researchers can be granted funding on the same grounds as other researchers.

Mobility aid

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. To obtain further information, you should contact the personnel and financial administration of the site of research.

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

What is required from the site of research?

The site of research is a Finnish research organisation such as a university or a research institute. We require that the site of research 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.

The costs of ensuring immediate open access to peer-reviewed articles are included in the overheads of the site of research. The costs associated with storing and sharing research data are regarded as overheads for the project’s site of research. Only exceptionally and for justified reasons can they be accepted as research costs to be covered by RCF research funding. 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. After a positive funding decision, the site of research will also approve the data management plan of the project.

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 shall also make sure that the applicant has not been found guilty of any serious violation of research integrity during the previous three years.

The application must include the overheads percentage, indirect employee costs and coefficient for effective working hours of the site of research. The site of research maintains these in the online services under the site’s details. The information is provided as percentages.

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. RCF funding may also cover VAT costs, but only on certain conditions (see Value added tax and read more in our standard terms for funding).

Read more in the guidelines for sites of research.

How to submit and supplement the application

The non-negotiable call deadline also applies to consortia. We will not consider (process) an application that has not been submitted by deadline. The deadline for applications is 29 April 2026 at 16.15 Finnish time.

The joint consortium application is submitted by the consortium PI. The PI can submit the consortium application only after all subproject PIs have tagged their applications as complete. While the call is open, the consortium PI may return the consortium’s subproject application to ‘incomplete’ status for supplementation.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the content of the application appendices is correct.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. For example, you can change the appendices to the application. If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, immediately get in touch with us via our helpdesk, so that the application can be reopened for supplementation. Once the review process has started, supplementations can no longer be taken into account. Typically, the review of an application starts 1–2 weeks after the call has closed.

We may ask you to supplement the application. In that case, you will receive a supplementation request by email. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, or if the application is substantially incomplete even after a request for supplementary information, we may declare it inadmissible (i.e. it will not be processed). Make sure that your email address is 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 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 progress 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 secret information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

We are committed to following regulations on data protection. The applicant is responsible for the disclosure of the personal data contained in the application and, where appropriate, for requesting the consent of the parties concerned.

The GDPR-compliant privacy notice concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection.

RCF funding is granted based on peer review. We mainly use foreign experts as reviewers, and they make up the review panels.

The review of applications follows a two-stage process. In the first stage, experts are asked to give at least two individual reviews on the application. If at least one expert has given an overall rating of 5 or 6, the application will proceed to be reviewed by a panel. Applications that receive an overall rating of 5 or 6 from the review panel will be ranked. The applications will be reviewed by an international panel of reviewers in autumn 2026.

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

Review factors

Criteria affecting the review of the scientific quality of the application:

• project's suitability for special objectives of call (incl. strengthening clinical research, increasing cooperation, supporting clinical research careers, and societal impact)
• quality, novelty and innovativeness of plan (incl. scientific impact)
• feasibility of application, incl. aspects of responsible science (research ethics, equality and nondiscrimination, open science and sustainable development)
• career development opportunities, qualifications and expected achievements of part-time clinical researcher
• expertise, research personnel and collaboration, including aspects of responsible science (incl. consortium’s added value for research and increased collaboration).

In addition, the review panels and individual reviewers may, to support decision-making, draw attention to factors such as the societal effects and impact of the project.

The research security appendix will not be peer-reviewed.

See the review questions and guidelines on our website. The review guidelines and forms and the review principles are only available in English.

The present call is governed by the principles for RCF funding decisions adopted by the RCF Board on 18 September 2025. The body making the funding decisions takes into account the entirety of the applications to be decided upon in the call in relation to the objectives of the call, and the funding promotes a wide variety of scientific research. The decisions are based on the review reports and the rankings made by the panels. If there are applications of equal merit, priority shall be given to the application that the decision-making body considers best advances the dismantling of gender stereotypes, promotes diversity in research and the scientific community as well as supports sustainable development.

A subcommittee appointed by the RCF Board will make the funding decisions in two sets: in late 2026 and early 2027.

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. In the online services, you will also have access to the review report(s), which may include the panel ranking (panels rank the best applications).

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the standard terms for funding. They include instructions on how to receive the funding (section 1.2).

• Contact us primarily via the helpdesk (select ‘Application guidance, non-thematic calls’).
• Technical issues with the online services? Contact us via the helpdesk (select ‘Online services and other technical questions’). Also see our how-to guides for the online services.
• Our telephone number (switchboard) is +358 295 335 000.
• A webinar about the call will be organised on 11 March 2026.