Academy Research Fellowship
Can I apply for an Academy Research Fellowship if I currently have an Academy Research Fellowship?
No, if you currently have a five-year Academy Research Fellowship, you cannot apply. If you have a four-year post (the new-form Academy Research Fellow funding), you can apply for a new Academy Research Fellowship as long as your funding periods do not overlap and you meet the other eligibility criteria.
How much does parental leave extend the eligibility when applying for an Academy Research Fellowship?
Family leave extends the eligibility to apply for an Academy Research Fellowship. The easiest way to calculate your eligibility is to add the number of days of parental leave to the date of your degree. The resulting date should fall between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2024. Please note that only leaves taken after the doctoral degree count towards the extension. If you have been on partial family leave, the family leave period will extend your eligibility correspondingly. For example, six months of 50% family leave extends eligibility by three months. The eligibility calculator allows you to assess your eligibility in the Academy Research Fellowship call.
Can tenure-track professors or lecturers (tenured teachers) apply for Academy Research Fellowship funding?
You can apply for an Academy Research Fellowship if you not yet hold a permanent and senior research position and if you meet all other eligibility criteria. Senior-level positions are, for instance, professor, assistant/associate professor, research director and comparable posts. If you have a fixed-term position in a university’s tenure-track system, for example, you can apply for an Academy Research Fellowship.
How much funding can I be granted?
The maximum amount granted for an Academy Research Fellowship is 700,000 euros. The cost estimate must be realistic and carefully justified in terms of the implementation of the research project and the objectives of the funding scheme.
Whose salary costs can be included in the cost estimate for an Academy Research Fellowship?
Academy Research Fellows may be granted funding for their own salaries and for the salary costs of the research groups they lead.
The total cost estimate need not include the applicant’s own salary if the salary is arranged in some other way and the applicant is able to commit to the research work described in the research plan.
What is the salary of an Academy Research Fellow?
Regardless of the source of the salary, the salary of an Academy Research Fellow is determined based on the terms of the pay system at the site of research. If funding is being sought for an Academy Research Fellow’s own salary, the applicant and the site of research must ensure that the budgeted salary is in line with the site’s pay system.
Can I apply for an Academy Research Fellowship to more than one site of research?
The funding is granted to a single site, but you may have an employment relationship to more than one organisation. The site of research, i.e. the recipient of the funding, must ensure that the combined proportions of the different sites make up a full-time employment and salary.
Can the Academy Research Fellow work abroad for part of the term?
RCF funding is awarded to a Finnish research organisation, which will manage the funding throughout the funding period. The Academy Research Fellow must have a close connection to Finland throughout the funding period. The researcher shall primarily work in Finland. However, during the funding period, they can work for periods of varying lengths at a foreign university, for instance. The Academy Research Fellow will lead and supervise research according to the research plan also while work is being performed abroad.
Have the ‘Merits and increasing competencies’ and CV templates changed from the previous call?
This call does not have a separate CV template for Academy Research Fellowship applicants. The template is the same as for Academy Project applicants. Your main outputs shall be listed in the ‘Merits and increasing competencies’ appendix, for which the template has been revised. Be sure to use the latest templates in your application.
What’s the difference between an Academy Research Fellowship and an Academy Project
The objective of the Academy Research Fellowship funding is to advance the researcher’s career development and competence and to produce high-quality, innovative and ambitious research. The review of the scientific quality of the application is influenced by the applicant's competence, expected achievements and potential and the quality of the proposed research plan. The review takes into account the applicant’s scientific merits since obtaining the doctoral degree and their career stage, including any career breaks.
The aim of the Academy Project funding scheme is to produce high-quality and high-impact research, facilitate groundbreaking research initiatives and strengthen high-level expertise. In the Academy Project scheme, the focus of the review is on the scientific quality of the research, the level of ambition and novelty value of the research plan, the impact of the project, the credibility of the implementation, the risk management, the innovativeness of the approaches, and the team’s competence and potential to conduct demanding and uncertain research.
