Competitive funding to strengthen university research profiles (Profi 9), call for invited applicants
- In this call, applications are invited from Finnish universities that were selected in the first call stage. Each university can submit as many applications as specified in the first-stage decision. Consortium applications will not be accepted.
- The Profi 9 call has a total budget of 50 million euros, which will be granted for measures supporting the research-related profiling of Finnish universities. The fixed-term funding is aimed at recruiting new talents to Finland in research career stages 3 and 4.
- The call supports universities in strengthening earlier profiling choices by recruiting high-level researchers from outside Finland, for example from the United States.
- The call’s first funding decisions will be made in January 2026 for applications submitted by 26 November 2025. For applications submitted by 13 May 2026, the decisions will be made in June 2026.
The aim of the funding to strengthen university research profiles (Profi) is to support and speed up the strategic profiling of Finnish universities in order to improve the quality of research. Profi 9 funding will support research profiling by enabling the recruitment of international researchers in those profiling areas that universities have developed based on decisions taken by the RCF (in previous calls Profi 1–Profi 8).
In the Profi 9 call, universities apply for funding to cover the salary and other expenses of the researchers (career stages 3–4) who are transferring to Finland to work in the universities’ profiling areas.
Before you fill in your application in the online services (SARA), carefully read the call text and the funding terms and conditions.
Read the full call text on this page.
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 funding to strengthen university research profiles (Profi) is to support and speed up the strategic profiling of Finnish universities in order to improve the quality of research. The funding is fixed-term and may be granted to support profiling areas chosen by Finnish universities based on their strategy. The funding aims to boost the development of these areas.
Profi 9 funding will strengthen university research profiles by supporting the recruitment of researchers from abroad, for example from the United States, to Finnish universities. The funding is intended for the recruitment of researchers into posts at career stages 3 or 4 in the recruiting university’s profiling area. The funding can cover both salary costs and other expenses. Researchers can be placed into profiling areas that the universities have developed based on decisions taken by the RCF in previous Profi calls (Profi 1–Profi 8).
The funding can be applied for by Finnish universities invited to the second call stage. Each university can submit as many applications as specified in the first-stage decision. Consortium applications will not be accepted.
The application is started by a person authorised by the university. The completed application is submitted by the person via the Research Council of Finland’s online services. The same person submits all applications from the same university. 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.
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) 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.
Funding will not be granted if the recruited person is a principal investigator in an ongoing project funded by the RCF.
Funding will not be granted for the recruitment of researchers from 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.
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. Read more: Eligibility.
The RCF Board decides the criteria for the RCF's funding decisions.
The university applies for funding for recruitments that have been confirmed, according to the reserves made by the RCF after the first call stage. The university applies for funding with one application per recruited person. The application must be based on a specific person known at the time of application. It cannot be based on an open recruitment or a recruitment to be determined at a later date.
The application shall include a precise budget based on the employment contract concluded or to be concluded with the recruited person and other eligible expenses. The maximum funding for the five-year funding period comes to 2.5 million euros.
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 submit it in English.
When the call opens
- The authorised person signs up or logs in to our online services and checks or completes their personal details. An 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 data
- Personal details of the person responsible for the application
- Site of research
- Details on the site of research: university and department or other unit where the researcher will be placed
- Website of site of research
- Public project description
- Keywords in English and Finnish/Swedish
- Project’s funding and commitment by site of research. See section ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’ in the call text.
Appendices to be appended on dedicated tabs:
- Obligatory appendix: CV for recruited researcher
Other appendices
- Obligatory appendix: Full list of publications by recruited researcher
- Obligatory appendix: Basic details on recruited researcher, description of expected impact. The appendix must not exceed two pages. It will be used for funding monitoring and reporting purposes. Name the appendix as follows: university_surnameofrecruited.pdf. It should contain the following information:
- researcher’s full name, nationality, most recent employer and country of employment, target university, target institution or unit, and the profiling area(s) on which the researcher’s work will focus.
- Brief description of the expected impact of the planned research work on strengthening the profiling area(s) and of impact monitoring during the funding period.
Submitting the application in the online services
The application can be submitted when all necessary information have been filled in or attached. A red warning triangle tells you that there is an error or information missing.
Another person may be given an authorisation to edit or view the application on the tab ‘Authorisation’.
Submit the application in good time. You can supplement and edit the application and change appendices until the call deadline.
The Profi 9 call has a total budget of 50 million euros, which will be granted for measures supporting the research-related profiling of Finnish universities. The funding to be distributed through this call depends on Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds in the 2026 state budget.
The funding is granted to a Finnish university through which the project’s funding is paid.
The funding period will start on 1 January 2026 at the earliest and no later than 1 January 2027. The funding is fixed-term. Funding will be granted for a five-year period.
The maximum allocation for one five-year funding period comes to 2.5 million euros. The funding is intended to cover the salary costs of the researcher recruited from abroad and other expenses related to their research work. The researcher must work full-time at the applicant university and be placed at career stage 3 or 4 in the university’s profiling area.
The recruited researcher and any research team will be based at a Finnish university and will work mainly in Finland. The funding period will not begin until the researcher starts working in Finland.
However, if the cost estimate includes expenses incurred by the recruited researcher or their family moving to Finland, the funding period may be made to begin to cover the date of the move or the date on which the related expenses were incurred.
At the time of recruitment, the researcher must have been working abroad on a non-temporary basis. The researcher’s research work must be focused on the profiling areas that the universities have developed based on decisions taken by the RCF in previous Profi calls (Profi 1–8).
In addition to the recruited researcher’s own salary, the total costs may include the salaries of a research team and other research costs (“starter package”). In addition, the RCF’s funding can be used to reimburse the recruited researcher or their family for costs of moving to Finland, provided that the practices of the site of research do not prevent this.
Funding plan
The funding is granted under the full cost model and it is co-funding. In this call, the RCF’s contribution to the funding is up to 85% of the total costs, and the site of research (applicant organisation) will cover at least 15% of the costs. Discretionary government grants cannot overlap. The funding of an initiated profiling area or measure may, however, be continued with a new Profi funding decision. The funding is granted for the profiling measures specified in the application. The RCF will not make advance payments on the funding.
- The budget shall be drafted according to the organisation’s guidelines. 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’.
- Also read our funding terms and conditions. If funding is granted for the application, the applicant undertakes to comply with the terms and conditions.
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 funding contributions (RCF up to 85%, site of research up to 15% of total costs), spread equally 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. Justify the most significant research costs by type of expenditure in the free-text field.
On an annual basis, the funding should be used in accordance with the cost estimate in the decision. If the annual instalments deviate significantly from the decision’s cost estimate during the funding period, notify this deviation without delay in the RCF’s online services. Applications for an extension of the funding period can be made in accordance with the criteria set out in the RCF funding terms and conditions.
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. In this call, the funding is determined according to the coefficients of the institution or unit where the recruited researcher is employed, if such coefficients have been defined.
When the site of research is a university, 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 also cover VAT costs, but only on certain conditions (see Value added tax and read more in our funding terms and conditions).
The RCF’s funding may be used to cover, for example, the following direct research costs:
- salary costs of researcher recruited to Finland
- research team salaries
- other direct research implementation costs
- travel expenses (incl. expenses for moving to Finland in line with practices of site of research)
- costs of integration into Finland and the Finnish research environment
- collaboration and mobility in Finland
- international collaboration and mobility.
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, research team staff hired with RCF research funding and supervised by the recruited researcher 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.
Mobility aid
The mobility aid can be 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 expenses’. The mobility aid must be justified. Read more about the mobility aid in the funding terms and conditions.
What is required from the site of research?
The site of research is a Finnish university.
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 undertakes to see to that the project complies with good data management practice.
The site of research is responsible for ensuring that the recruited researcher has not been found guilty of a research integrity violation during the previous three years.
The site of research also undertakes to ensure that research security and the risks associated with it are taken into account appropriately in the recruitment, in the research and cooperation carried out in the project, and in the utilisation of the research results.
Read more in the guidelines for sites of research.
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 first deadline for applications is 26 November 2025 at 16.15 Finnish time. Applications submitted by this date will be processed first. The call will continue immediately after this, and the second deadline for applications is 13 May 2026 at 16.15 Finnish time. Applications started before 26 November 2025 can be continued after 26 November 2025 if they have not been submitted.
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. 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 the application has not been supplemented 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
As a rule, 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.
In the second call stage, applications will not be reviewed. Applications that meet the requirements specified in the call text will be taken forward for decisions.
Based on the reserves defined after the first call stage, the RCF General Subcommittee will make the second-stage funding decisions on those applications that meet the conditions set out in the call. The funding will be granted to the universities and not to the individual researchers themselves.
The funding decisions will be taken in January 2026 for full applications submitted by 26 November 2025 and in June 2026 for applications submitted after that date.
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.
