Academy of Finland introduces new call timelines, moves autumn call to January – changes also to review process

The Academy of Finland is preparing significant changes to its call schedules and to the review of applications. The next application round for Academy Project Funding, Academy Research Fellowships and Clinical Researcher Funding will open in December 2023, not in September. The deadline for applications is in January 2024, and the funding decisions will be made in spring 2024. The Academy is also introducing a change that concerns review panels: as of the January 2024 call, applicants will choose the most relevant panel for their application.

With these changes, the Academy is aiming for quicker application processing times. The Academy has also received requests from applicants to ease the start of the academic year at universities.

The changed call schedules will not affect the timing of Academy funding periods. The Academy will expedite its decision-making process so that funding decisions for 2024 will be made in early summer of the same year, and so that the new funding periods can start on 1 September 2024. The aim is to make the change permanent: applications for Academy Project Funding, Academy Research Fellowships and Clinical Researcher Funding will be invited in December–January.

The changed call schedule will be taken into account in determining the eligibility of Academy Research Fellowship applicants. To be eligible in the January 2024 Academy Research Fellowship call, applicants must have received their first doctoral degree certificate between 30 September 2016 and 31 January 2022.

Applicants choose the most relevant review panel

Starting with the call to be opened in December 2023, the review of applications will be based on a procedure where the applicant chooses the most relevant panel for their application. The selection is made among panels announced in advance by the Academy. The possibility to choose the panel means that applicants will have more influence on the review process, and it will also increase the transparency of the review. To help applicants choose the panels, the Academy will make the panel titles and the descriptions of the panels’ research fields and topics available in advance. The new panel compositions will be prepared in spring 2023.

As part of the preparation, applicants and other stakeholders will get an opportunity to participate in a consultation in May. More details about the consultation will be communicated through various Academy channels during the spring.

The panel titles and descriptions will be published in September 2023 at the latest. The call text, including the application guidelines and the details on the review criteria and the review procedure, is scheduled for release in early November 2023.

All additional information on the upcoming calls and the instructions about the changes will be published on the Academy’s website at www.aka.fi/en. Please direct all questions about the changes to the Academy via the helpdesk at www.aka.fi/feedback (Division of Research Funding Development).