Winter call 2025: review of applications and funding decisions in a nutshell

The scientific councils of the Research Council of Finland will make decisions on Academy Project funding applications addressed to them in the 2025 winter call and on the applications for the posts as Academy Research Fellow and Clinical Researcher.

• The Scientific Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering will make the decisions on 12 June 2025.
• The Scientific Council for Biosciences, Health and the Environment will make the decisions on 16 June 2025.
• The Scientific Council for Culture and Society will make the decisions on 17 June 2025.

The RCF General Subcommittee will decide on the Academy Professorships in stages. In the first stage, the Subcommittee will select the applications for panel review on 19 May 2025. The Subcommittee will then make decisions concerning the panel-reviewed applications on 29 October 2025.

Decisions on applications for the Academy Programme for Sport Science and Physical Activity will be made in late spring 2025.

The new funding periods for Academy Projects, Academy Research Fellowships, Clinical Researchers and the Academy Programme for Sport Science and Physical Activity will begin on 1 September 2025. The Academy Professorship funding period starts on 1 January 2026.

What is the winter call’s application review process like in a nutshell?

The winter call closed on 8 January 2025, and now the applications will be reviewed. At the RCF, the review of applications is based on international peer review. The applicants selected the most suitable review panel for their own applications from a total of 41 panels, which allowed them to personally influence the processing of their applications.

The RCF aims to ensure that each applicant will receive a decision on their application as soon as possible, while still making sure that the review process is of high quality, taking into account the number of applications and the RCF’s resources.

The RCF’s science advisers recruited most of the reviewers before the end of the application process, but the expertise of the panels has also been supplemented with new experts as necessary. In February, all applications are already under review and the panels meet in March. All applications that have received an excellent or outstanding rating by at least one reviewer will be reviewed in the panel meetings.

In December 2024, a webinar organised for the reviewers attracted 400 expert participants. The webinar was part of the comprehensive guidelines provided to reviewers on the implementation of a high-quality, equitable and responsible review.

Read more about guidelines for reviewers: Guidelines and forms for reviewers

What are the review timetables, and how will applicants be informed of funding decisions?

The RCF’s scientific councils will be able to review applications and statements in April-May and prepare funding decisions based on these. In addition to the results of the reviews, the councils will utilise the RCF's joint science policy guidelines and their own funding policies, especially in the case of applications found to of equal merit based on scientific assessment.

Once a decision has been made, the applicant will be notified by email. The notification on the decision and review statements from both individual reviewers and the panel – if the application progressed to a panel review – can be read in the online services (My Applications – Decisions). Each decision also contains the grounds for the decision.

Winter call review panels

The winter call’s review panels, which assess Academy Project funding applications, applications for Academy Research Fellowships and posts as Clinical Researcher, have been determined in advance. The panels may also assess applications for other funding where appropriate. In 2025, the winter call panellists will also review the applications for Academy Professorships in the first phase. If a large number of applications are submitted to one panel, these can be divided to ensure high-quality reviews.

As has been the case previously, a review statement will be requested from at least two individual reviewers for each application submitted during the winter call, before the applications progress to panel reviews. In the two-stage review process, some applications will be rejected at this stage and will not proceed to the panel.

In the panel, experts meet to discuss the applications and the scientific merits of the applicants and prepare a summary statement on the strengths and weaknesses of each application. In addition, the panels rank the applications that have fared the best in the reviews.

The procedure ensures that applicants are provided all statements and ratings issued by individual experts as feedback. In addition, the applicants discussed in the panel will also receive a summary of the panel’s discussion and a final rating. The statements will also include the names of the reviewers.

Read more about the panel structure: Panel structure for 2025 winter call (PDF)