Structure of research plan – Key Areas of Green and Digital Transition 2021

This structure of the research plan applies to applications for special funding for research on ‘key areas of green and digital transition’.

Fill in the research plan in the Academy’s online services on the tab ‘Research plan’. Read the call text carefully before you start writing the plan. Also, familiarise yourself with the review guidelines and review form. Please note that the research plan cannot be submitted as a separate PDF appendix.

The maximum length of the research plan is 15 pages. The font is Source Sans Pro (font size 12 pt, line spacing 1.15 and margins 20 mm). All bibliographic references must be added directly into the text, for example as follows: (Author(s) Year or [number]). You cannot use footnotes. The list of references (no more than 2 pages) does not count towards the length of the plan.

Fill in the sections of the plan where applicable and according the practices of your own discipline.

1.  Aim and objectives

1.1 Significance of research project in relation to current knowledge, research-based starting points:

  • How the project and the methods used are linked to previous international and/or national research (state of the art)
  • Research premise, aims and objectives

1.2 Research questions and/or hypotheses

1.3 Expected research results and their anticipated scientific impact, potential for scientific breakthroughs and for promoting scientific renewal:

  • Research impact within the scientific community
  • Project’s novelty or added value for science

1.4 Special objective of call (concerns Academy Programmes and other thematic calls):

  • Justifications for how the project will address the call objectives and questions:
  • How the project promotes solutions related to carbon neutrality and adaptation to climate change as well as related digital technologies; how the project contributes to strengthening existing competence clusters in the thematic area (e.g. Finnish research flagships) and/or to promoting competence development outside the clusters. Competence clusters are characterised by strong research expertise and impact generation, and active collaborations with partners utilising research outputs and with other actors.
  • Brief description (max. 1 page) of how the projects complies with the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ principle (DNSH), and a free-form commitment to comply with the principle. The DNSH principles states that projects must not cause significant harm to the six environmental objectives defined in the EU Taxonomy Regulation:
    • climate change mitigation
    • climate change adaption
    • the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
    • the transition to a circular economy
    • pollution prevention and control
    • the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.

The actions must not cause significant harm during or after the project. Projects promoting the use of fossil fuels will not be funded. Learn more about the DNSH principle in this Commission Notice (PDF) and on the website of the Finnish Ministry of Finance (in Finnish).

2. Implementation

2.1 Work plan and schedule:

  • Detailed description of the research to be performed, starting from objectives, scientific references and preliminary data (if available)
  • Description of measures that will contribute to strengthening a competence cluster and/or to promoting competence development outside the cluster
  • Description of various tasks, their implementation and interconnections
  • If necessary, description of the responsibilities and management related to these tasks
  • Schedule for project implementation, incl. tasks and work packages, distribution of personnel resources, and project milestones and deliverables

2.2 Research data and material, methods, and research environment:

  • Research data to be used, justifications and information on data collection or acquisition, data analyses and use of data, taking into account issues such as intellectual property rights
  • Research methods and how they will contribute to answering the research questions or confirming the hypotheses, or how they will support the chosen approach
  • Description of local, national and/or international research environment or competence cluster including research infrastructures. Enter the infrastructures to be used also on the tab ‘Affiliations’ in the online services.

2.3 Risk assessment and alternative implementation strategies:

  • Critical points for success, probability of risks, means by which risks can be managed, and alternative implementation strategies

2.4 Added value of consortium (concerns consortium applications):

  • Description of the value that working as a consortium will add compared to traditional forms of research collaboration
  • Read more in the consortium application guidelines.

3. Research team and collaborators

3.1 Project personnel and their project-relevant key merits:

  • Tasks, roles and key merits of the project PI and the project’s researchers
  • Names and/or level of education of the project’s researchers (if known)
  • Project’s links to previous research by the PI or the research team, or to some other research
  • Description of how researcher training will be organised and research careers promoted

3.2 Collaborators and their project-relevant key merits:

  • National and international collaborators of key significance to project implementation as well as their merits
  • Justifications for the collaborators and how the collaboration will strengthen the competence cluster and/or to promoting competence development outside the cluster

4. Responsible science

4.1 Research ethics:

  • Information on ethical issues (e.g. ethical governance procedures, informed consent, anonymity of subjects and withdrawal from research) that concern the chosen topic, methods and data
  • Information on research permits granted or pending
  • Read more in the ethical guidelines.

4.2 Equality and nondiscrimination:

4.3 Open science:

  • Publication plan that supports open access (Academy-funded projects are required to commit to open access publishing)
  • Read more in the open science guidelines.
  • Brief plan for data management: how the data will be stored during the project, how any legal and ethical issues related to data distribution will be resolved, and where the data will be made available after the end of the project. Funding recipients must submit a full data management plan. The payment of the funding is conditional on the submission of the plan.
  • Read the guidelines on the data management plan.

4.4 Sustainable development objectives:

5. Societal effects and impact

5.1 Effects and impact beyond academia:

  • Brief description of the appeal, utilisation potential and application areas of the research results beyond the scientific community and in terms of the green and digital transition
  • For instance, provide a self-assessment of the expected societal impact of the research in the long or short term. Impact beyond academia may come in many different forms depending on the research field and the project. For example, science is a source of wealth and prosperity, but it also improves our understanding of the world and enhances the level of civilisation, supports the development of good practices and informs decision-making.
  • Read more about the broader impact of research.

6. References

  • List of all of the sources used in the research plan
  • The list (no more than 2 pages) does not count towards the length of the research plan.
  • Please note that the text type, font size and line spacing of the list are the same as elsewhere in the research plan.

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