2026 Water4All 2025 Joint Transnational Call – Water and Health, invitation-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.

The Water4All 2025 Joint Transnational Call (JTC) “Water and Health”, launched as part of the European Partnership Water4All, supports research and innovation projects to improve water security in the long term. The aim of the Water4All 2025 JTC is to promote research and innovation related to the linkages between water and health. The call focuses on, among other things, water quality and contaminants, health risk monitoring and evaluation, and innovative water treatment solutions.

Applications may be submitted by Finnish partners of international project consortia that have been recommended for funding through the Water4All 2025 Joint Transnational Call (JTC) “Water and Health”. The RCF has contacted the researchers in question before opening the invitation-only call and has provided instructions on how to submit the application.

Each participating project or consortium subproject will submit its own application.

The 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.

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) 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. RCF 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 according to RCF guidelines and by the set deadline, we may decide not to consider (process) your application.

An application will not be considered (processed) if the applicant or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements set for the call, or if there are otherwise 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.

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 principles for RCF funding decisions. The present call is governed by the principles adopted on 16 April 2025.

When the call opens

• Sign up or log in to the online services. Check and update your personal details. Your up-to-date email address is important when we are in contact with you.
• The online services contain instructions for filling in the form.

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
• Project's funding and commitment by site of research.
• Salary costs of principal investigator
• Collaborators: List of collaborators
• Mobility: list of researcher visits
• Affiliation with research infrastructures, Centres of Excellence and Finnish Flagships
• Research ethics
• Public project description

The following appendices have templates that you must use in your application:

• The research security assessment is a mandatory appendix. Use the template provided. Subprojects within the same consortium submit a joint appendix. Submit the appendix in PDF format. Read more about research security.

Other appendices

• Joint application by international project consortium submitted to second round of Water4All 2025 JTC with attachments (compiled PDF)

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 starting date of the funding period must be no later than 31 March 2027, and the duration of the project must be 36 months. The RCF has separately instructed candidates recommended for funding to bring a cost estimate to the application in this call.

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 funding contribution of the site of research. 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, enter the following information:

• cost estimate, including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure The annual instalment costs must be spread equally (e.g. 70%/30%) over all funding years.
• 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
• necessary costs arising from implementation of research
• travel expenses
• cooperation and mobility in Finland
• international cooperation 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, study, or other assignments may also be carried out in the form of outsourced services, the duration of which, as a general rule, shall not exceed six months.

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 researchers working full-time 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. For the salary costs to be eligible, the PI’s tasks must be clearly specified and justified. Under ‘Salaries’ on the tab ‘Funding for the project’, choose the purpose for which funding for the PI’s salary is sought. The salary is justified on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’.

Funding for the PI’s salary costs can be applied for for the following purposes:

To manage the project

• The salary costs must not be significant in relation to the project’s total costs. For example, a three-year research project may include a maximum of 4.5 months of the PI effective working hours for project management.

To carry out research

• The RCF may grant funding for the PI’s salary for no more than a year for well-justified, research-related 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 (see terms adopted on 22 Oct 2024).
• Funding may be paid for this purpose only if it is specified in the specific conditions of the funding decision.

If the PI does not have an employment relationship

• If the PI does not have an employment relationship with, for example, the 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

Mobility aid can be applied for as research costs related to the implementation of the plan. The aid is applied for in accordance with the practices of the site of research. To obtain further information, 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, a research institute or some other research organisation.

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 and material are regarded as overheads for the project’s site of research. They may only exceptionally and for justified reasons be accepted as research costs to be covered with 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 research funding, the site of research is responsible for ensuring that necessary statements and permits from ethics committees will be obtained as appropriate. The site of research shall also make sure that the applicant has not been found guilty of any violation of research integrity during the previous three years.

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

When the site of research is a university or research institute, as a rule, the funding is applied for VAT included. Consult the financial administration at the site of research for more information. RCF funding may 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 deadline is non-negotiable. We will not consider (process) an application that has not been submitted by deadline. The deadline for applications is 28 October 2026 at 23.59 Finnish time. Applications submitted in paper form must arrive at the RCF by 28 October 2026 at 16.15.

Call guidance (see section ‘Contacts’) will be available until 16.15 (Finnish time) on the closing date of the call. If you run into problems in the online services that prevent you from submitting the application, please contact the RCF Registrar's Office by email (kirjaamo@aka.fi) before the deadline. In this case, the RCF will decide on a case-by-case basis how the application will be considered. Start drafting the application early enough so that you have time to contact us in case any issues arise.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to submit the application before the deadline expires. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application contains all mandatory information and appendices and that they comply with the requirements set out in the instructions.

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

The RCF is committed to following regulations on data protection and openness. Except for research plans, plans of intent, abstracts and progress reports, which are primarily kept secret, the application and its appendices are public documents. For example, the CV is a public document and as such must not include any non-disclosable information. Other parts of the application may also contain non-disclosable information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

Applications and decisions also contain personal data, so their processing is also subject to data protection legislation, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation and Finnish Data Protection Act. The applicant is responsible for the disclosure of any personal data contained in the application and, where appropriate, for requesting the consent of the parties concerned.

The GDPR-compliant privacy notice concerning the informing of data subjects is available on our website under Data protection.

A subcommittee appointed by the RCF Board will make the funding decisions in November 2026.

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 funding decision and its justifications. In the online services, you will also find the review report (or reports) on the application, which may include the panel ranking (given to the most successful applications).

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the standard terms for funding. They contain instructions for accepting the funding.

• 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.