2025 Water4All Joint Transnational Call 3 – Water for Circular Economy, invited applicants only

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.

Water4All’s 2024 Joint Transnational Call (JTC) ‘Water for Circular Economy’ was launched in the framework of the European partnership Water4All and supports research and innovation projects to improve water security in the long term.

Water4All’s 2024 JTC aims to deliver new solutions to develop new circular feedstocks and value chains, increase water resource efficiency, improve water allocation and optimise water use in water-dependent sectors. It also focuses on the barriers to the adoption of proposed solutions and the deployment of outputs, and on the impact in inland and coastal water environments.

This call is for invited applicants only, that is, Finnish partners in international project consortia recommended for funding in the Water4All 2024 Joint Transnational Call ‘Water for Circular Economy’. The RCF has been in contact with the researchers in question before opening the call and has provided them with instructions on how to submit their applications.

The principal investigator (PI) of the application 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.

Special terms and restrictions

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

We will not consider (process) your application if you have participated in the planning of the call to an extent likely to give you a comparative advantage over other applicants.

We will not consider (process) a funding application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.

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 not submitted a report on a completed or ongoing RCF-funded project by the set deadline, we may decide not to 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: Eligibility.

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

The RCF Board decides the factors underpinning the RCF's funding decisions.

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.

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
• Abstract (same as in the second-round application of the international project consortium)
• Collaborators: list of collaborators.
• Mobility: list of research visits
• Affiliation with research infrastructures, Centres of Excellence and Finnish Flagships
• Research ethics
• Project’s funding and commitment by site of research
• Salary costs of principal investigator
• Public project description

Appendices

• International project consortium’s joint application, with appendices, submitted to second round of Water4All 2024 JTC

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.

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 funding period may start between 1 January and 31 March 2026. The funding period shall end 36 months after the start date. The RCF has separately instructed applicants recommended for funding to submit a cost estimate with the application to this call for invited applicants.

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.

You can apply for 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.

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.

As a rule, funding is not granted for the salary of the project PI. The PI’s salary costs may only under certain limitations and on justifiable grounds (see below) 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.

Under ‘Salaries’ on the tab ‘Funding for the project’, choose the purpose for which funding for the PI’s salary is sought. Justify the salary on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’.

You can apply for funding to cover the PI’s salary costs for the following purposes:

For project management

• 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 for project management.

For carrying out research

• The RCF 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 RCF’s standard terms for funding.
• The funding cannot be used for this purpose unless it is mentioned in the special conditions accompanying the funding decision.

If the PI does not have an employment relationship

• If the PI does not have an employment relationship with, for example, a university or research institute 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 is also responsible for ensuring that the applicant has not been found guilty of research misconduct in the last 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).

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 20 October 2025 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 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.

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.

A subcommittee appointed by the RCF Board will make the funding decisions in November 2025.

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.

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, international calls’).
• Technical issues with the online services? Contact us via the helpdesk (select ‘Online services and other technical questions’).
• Our telephone number (switchboard) is +358 295 335 000.