Academy Project Funding

Can I apply for Academy Project Funding in the 2027 winter call if I have ongoing RCF funding?

Your application will be processed if your current RCF funding ends no later than 31 December 2027.

Other cases:

If you are the PI of an ongoing Academy Project (funding period ends 1 Jan 2028 or later), your new Academy Project application will not be processed. This also applies to an application by a consortium subproject.
If you are a consortium subproject PI in an ongoing Academy Project (funding period ends 1 Jan 2028 or later), your new Academy Project application will not be processed. This also applies to an application by a consortium subproject.
Your application may also be processed if your current funding period has been extended due to family leave, military/civilian service or long-term illness, and the project ends after 31 December 2027 due to the extension.
If you have funding for an Academy Professorship (funding period ends 1 Jan 2028 or later), you cannot apply for Academy Project Funding.
If you have funding for an Academy Research Fellowship (funding period ends 1 Jan 2028 or later), you cannot apply for Academy Project Funding.
If you are a director, deputy director or research team leader of an ongoing RCF-funded Centre of Excellence (Coe programme funding ends 1 Jan 2028 or later), you cannot apply for Academy Project Funding.
If you have ongoing RCF funding (ends 1 Jan 2028 or later) other than the RCF funding listed above (e.g. Academy Programme funding, targeted Academy Project Funding, funding for international joint projects, Finnish Flagship funding, mobility funding), you can apply for Academy Project Funding.

Can I apply for Academy Project Funding if I am a director, deputy director or team leader of an RCF-funded Centre of Excellence in the 2022–2029 or 2026–2033 CoE programme?

No, your Academy Project application will not be processed if you are the director, deputy director or team leader of a Centre of Excellence included in the 2022–2029 or 2026–2033 CoE programme.

Do I need to have the title of docent to apply for Academy Project Funding?

No, you do not need to have the title of docent, although applicants usually have qualifications at the professor or docent level. Applicants must have substantial merits of scientific work after obtaining the doctoral degree, such as a good publication record and experience in leading a research team.

How much funding can I be granted?

The maximum funding is 1 million euros for a four-year Academy Project, up to 1.5 million euros in total for a four-year consortium project and up to 1 million euros for a four-year consortium subproject. If the Academy Project’s funding period is shorter than four years, the maximum funding amounts will decrease according to the length of the funding period. For instance, a three-year project can be granted up to 750,000 euros. The maximum funding amounts are the same for all RCF scientific councils. Pay particular attention to ensuring that the cost estimate is realistic and justified for the implementation of the research project.

Can I get more funding if my project includes doctoral training?

No, the maximum funding is the same regardless of whether the project involves doctoral training. However, we are earmarking funds from our 2027 research funding budget to boost doctoral training within Academy Projects. The funding will further strengthen researcher training in RCF-funded research projects, and applicants are encouraged to include doctoral candidates in their project research teams. The inclusion of doctoral education in a project is one of the criteria used, for example, when deciding between two projects judged to be of equal scientific quality.

How do I apply for funding for a doctoral candidate’s salary on the tab ‘Funding for the project’?

To apply for funding for a doctoral candidate’s salary, go to the tab ‘Funding for the project’ and to ‘Salaries’; see the category ‘Postgraduate student’. Also make sure that the tasks and roles of the project’s doctoral candidates and the promotion of their research careers are clearly described in the research plan. The recruitment of doctoral candidates must be justified in terms of the research plan.

Can the project’s funding be used to pay the PI’s salary?

Yes, with some limitations. See the call text and the standard terms for funding.

How do I apply for funding for the salary of an Academy Project PI?

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. NB: The PI’s salary costs may only under certain limitations and on justifiable grounds be incorporated into the total project costs. For the salary costs to be eligible, the PI’s tasks must be clearly specified and justified.

The salary costs must not be significant in relation to the project’s total costs. For example, a four-year research project may include up to six months of the PI’s working hours, which altogether includes project management, doctoral thesis supervision and research work. Justified, research-related reasons must be provided for the PI’s salary for research, on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’.

Read more in the Academy Project call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’, ‘Salary costs of principal investigator’.

The funding period of a subproject in an Academy Project consortium extends beyond 31 December 2027 due to an extension. Are the other consortium parties eligible to apply for funding in the winter call?

Yes, they are. The extension of the funding period of a subproject does not affect the eligibility of other consortium parties.

Will the review results from the Academy Project call in autumn 2026 affect the eligibility to apply for Academy Project funding in autumn 2027?

Yes. To ensure a sufficient application success rate and to maintain the quality of the review process, a reapplication restriction will be introduced in the Academy Project call. In future, the Academy Project call will be open every two years to all applicants who meet the general eligibility criteria. When applying for the funding for the first time, applicants may apply in any given year, but after that, they must wait one year before applying again. However, the reapplication restriction does not apply to applicants who received an overall panel rating of 5 (excellent) or 6 (outstanding) in the previous round yet did not receive funding.

In practice, therefore, the review results from the autumn 2026 Academy Project call (i.e. the 2027 winter call), will determine the eligibility to apply again in autumn 2027 (i.e. the 2028 winter call). If, as the PI of an Academy project application (incl. PI of consortium subproject) in the 2027 Academy Project call, you receive an overall rating of ≤ 4 from the review panel or an overall rating of ≤ 4 in both individual expert reviews, you will not be eligible to apply in the 2028 Academy Project call (which opens in autumn 2027). The reapplication restriction applies only to the project PI (incl. PI of consortium subproject).

The review results of other calls organised by the RCF (e.g. thematic calls or SRC calls) will not affect the eligibility to apply for Academy Project funding in autumn 2027.