Special funding for research into COVID-19 vaccines and pharmaceutical development

In this call for applications on COVID-19-related vaccine research and pharmaceutical development, projects shall be based on a scientifically high-quality and ambitious research plan that is implemented by a high-level research team or a consortium of research teams within a Finnish research organisation. The aim of the projects shall be to prevent adverse health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or to support the treatment of COVID-19 cases. The pharmaceutical research may cover both the development of new medicines and the study of the efficacy of medicines authorised for other uses in the treatment of COVID-19.

The funding will promote high-quality research that has both scientific and other impact. The aim is to support internationally high-quality scientific research, possible scientific breakthroughs and potentially significant impacts on safeguarding human health. In principle, the projects we fund under this call must benefit Finnish research in the field, society, patients and international collaboration.

Another important objective of the call is to strengthen expertise related to vaccine and drug development processes in Finland through active and multidisciplinary research, and to develop treatment practices for patients with coronavirus infection.

The funding will provide a wide range of support for research that is relevant, current and feasible in terms of the theme.

Funding will be granted for vaccine and drug development research related to one or several of the following themes:

• promoting the treatment of patients with COVID-19
• preventing more severe forms of COVID-19
• developing vaccines or medicines for COVID-19
• analysing the efficacy, safety and impact of vaccines and medicines for COVID-19
• preventing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In the review of applications, attention will be paid to both the scientific quality of research and the societal impact of the project. Cooperation with primary healthcare, specialised care and relevant authorities is considered an important part of the research projects to be funded, and the utilisation of primary healthcare expertise and clinical patient work are considered an added value. We recommend that the research projects contact the medical authorities as early as possible.

The funding granted under this call is also intended to promote the use of research knowledge in the prevention of health problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and in the mitigation of the adverse health effects of the pandemic. Another goal is to promote the wider use of research-based knowledge and expertise in society. We therefore require that the research materials, publications and other outputs produced with the funding be made openly available to other researchers and society, taking into account that data and material may, for justified reasons, come in varying degrees of openness, ranging from fully open to strictly confidential.

The funding can be applied for by individual research teams or consortia composed of two or several research teams. The consortium parties may represent one or several research organisations. An applicant may submit only one application (incl. consortium applications as PI or as subproject PI).

A consortium application is an application built around a joint research plan, where each party to the consortium applies for funding. The Academy treats the consortium application as a single application, although the funding is granted to each subproject separately. Consortium compositions cannot be changed after the call deadline. Read the guidelines for consortium applications.

In addition to a doctoral degree, the principal investigator (PI) of the proposed project must also have other significant scientific merits. Usually the PI is a researcher at the professor or docent (adjunct professor) level. In addition, the applicant must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. This connection must be described in the application.

Special terms and restrictions

The funding is primarily intended towards the salaries of researchers who work full-time on the project and for other project costs. The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs. Read more about the PI’s salary in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.

If the applicant has ongoing Academy funding, they must draw up an interim report in the online services. Read the general guidelines on interim reports.

Members of the Board, research councils and the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland will not be granted Academy funding during their terms.

Funding cannot be granted to a person who has participated in the planning of the call to an extent likely to give them a comparative advantage over other applicants.

We will not process an application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.

The funding period can start retroactively on 1 January 2020 and end on 31 December 2022.

Academy research funding is granted to Finnish sites of research (usually universities or research institutes), unless there are special reasons for not doing so. The PI of the funded project must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. The funded researchers may, however, spend time working abroad during their funding period.

The application must contain a funding plan drafted in line with the full cost model, including the funding to be applied for from the Academy (up to 70% of the total project costs). Read more about the full cost model.

You can apply for Academy funding to cover, for example, the following direct research costs:

• research team salaries
• PI’s salary costs (under certain limitations)
• salaries of researchers returning to Finland
• essential implementation costs
• travel expenses
• collaboration and mobility in Finland
• international collaboration and mobility
• preparation of international projects
• publishing costs (e.g. costs of open-access publishing).

Funding may be granted for economic activity only if it can be granted in keeping with the EU’s state aid rules in the form of de minimis aid.

Organisations other than research organisations must show that the recipient clearly separates between economic and other activities, and sets apart their costs, funding and income in order to prevent the funding from spilling over to economic activity.

Discretionary government transfers cannot overlap. Academy funding based on different funding decisions may not be used for the same purpose at the same time. Funding may, however, be continued with another funding decision.

The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds to the Academy.

Research team salaries

As a rule, staff hired with Academy research funding must have an employment relationship. We recommend that they be hired for a period of employment no shorter than the funding period, unless a shorter contract is necessary for special reasons dictated by the implementation of the research project. Short-term research, study or other assignments may also be carried out in the form of outsourced services, if it is determined to be necessary for the project.

What is required from the site of research?

We require that the site of research (e.g. university) provides the research project with all necessary basic facilities. These are determined based on the nature of the research and are the same as those available to other research staff at the site: office and laboratory premises, equipment (incl. computer equipment), and telecommunications, telephone, mailing, copying and library services. When accepting the funding, the site of research is responsible for ensuring that necessary statements and permits from ethics committees have been obtained before the start of the project. The site of research also commits to ensuring that the data management plan can be implemented at the site of research, and that the measures to be taken comply with good data management practice. Read more in the guidelines on the commitment by site of research.

The application must also include the overheads percentage, indirect employee costs and coefficient for effective working hours of the site of research. The site of research will see to that this information is kept up to date in the online services.

When the site of research is a university or a research institute, as a rule, the funding must be applied for VAT included. Consult the financial administration at the site of research for more information. The Academy’s funding may also cover VAT costs, but only on certain conditions (see Value added tax and read more in the funding terms and conditions).

Funding plan

In the application, provide a cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure. Also include a funding plan that shows all funding granted for the project as well as funding that will be provided by the site of research if the project is launched. Before submitting your application, you must agree with the administration at your own organisation on the contribution of the site of research to the funding of the project. Only costs that pass through the books of the site of the research must be included in the total costs. Applicants must check with their own organisation whether the funding planned as the own funding contribution suits this purpose. The funding applied for from the Academy must not exceed 70% of the total project costs. The cost estimate must be realistic.

Applicants must draft their cost estimates as follows: 30% of the total project costs in 2020, 40% in 2021 and 30% in 2022.

All research costs must be justified in the free-text field in the online services under ‘Project funding’.

PI’s salary costs

Academy funding for research projects (Academy Projects, Targeted Projects and Academy Programme Projects) is primarily intended for the salaries of full-time researchers working on the projects and for other research costs.

As a rule, funding is not granted for the salary of the research project PI. The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs. The PI’s salary is entered under ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services.

Including PI’s salary (for project management) in total project costs

The PI’s salary costs may be incorporated into the total project costs in accordance with what is stated under the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services. In order for the salary costs to be eligible, the PI’s tasks must be clearly specified.

The salary costs must not be significant in relation to the project’s total costs. For example, a four-year research project must not include more than six months of the PI’s effective working hours. This is equivalent to approximately 1.5 months a year.

Applying for funding for PI’s salary (for research)

The Academy may grant funding for the PI’s salary for no more than a year for well-justified reasons, such as working abroad, returning to Finland or transferring to another research organisation or a company in Finland. Possible business collaboration must fulfil the terms set out in the Academy’s funding terms and conditions.

A condition is that the research-related reasons and the PI’s tasks must be clearly presented on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services. The funding cannot be used for this purpose unless it is mentioned in the conditions accompanying the funding decision.

Granting salary funding to PI with no employment relationship

If the PI does not have an employment relationship with, for example, a university or research institute, they must explain how their salary will be covered during the funding period under the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services.

Retired researchers can be granted funding on the same grounds as other researchers.

Mobility aid in research projects

Mobility aid is applied for as research costs related to the implementation of the research plan. The aid is applied for in accordance with the practices of the site of research.

In the online services, the aid is applied for on the tab ‘Funding for the project’ under ‘Travel costs’. The mobility aid must be justified. Read more about the mobility aid in the funding terms and conditions.

How to submit and supplement the application

The non-negotiable call deadline also applies to consortia. The deadline for applications is 2 June 2020 at 16.15 Finnish time.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information. The joint consortium application is submitted by the consortium PI. The PI can submit the consortium application only after all subprojects have tagged their applications as complete.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. You can make changes to a submitted application (e.g. change appendices), but you must make them before the deadline. If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, immediately get in touch with the call’s contact person, so that they can reopen the application for you. Make sure to re-submit the application after you have supplemented it. We will consider the additions insofar as it is possible in view of the review and decision-making process. We may ask applicants to supplement their applications. If the applicant has not supplemented the application by the given deadline, we may decide not to process the application. Applicants must make sure that their contact details (email address) are up to date.

How the application becomes pending

According to section 17 of the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act and section 8 of the Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector, the sender is responsible for the application arriving by the set deadline. An application becomes pending at the Academy when the online application and the obligatory appendices have been submitted in the online services. The system will confirm a successful submission by sending an email to the address provided by the applicant.

Publicity and data protection

Except for the research plan, plan of intent, abstract and interim report, which are primarily confidential, the application and its appendices are public documents. For example, the CV is a public document and as such must not include any confidential information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities. The Academy is committed to following regulations on data protection. The GDPR-compliant privacy statement concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection.

The application consists of forms completed in the online services and PDF appendices. As an applicant, you have the right to submit your application in Finnish or Swedish, but we ask that you to submit it in English to facilitate the international review.

Most of the links below take you to the A–Z index of application guidelines on our website.

The online application contains the following parts

Personal data

• Personal details
• Degrees (most recent one first); parental leaves etc. may be filled in under ‘Additional information’
• Titles of docent and professorships

Consortium parties (if applicable)

• Details on each party (name, email address, organisation and country)
• Read the guidelines for consortium applications.

General information

• Details on the site of research
• Title of research project in English and Finnish/Swedish
• Research fields (at least one, no more than five). See the research field classification.
• Keywords in English and Finnish/Swedish

Abstract

• Maximum length 2,500 characters including spaces
• Brief overview of scientific and societal objectives, research methods and data as well as expected research results and impact
• Read more about the Abstract.

Most relevant publications

• No more than ten of the most relevant publications for the project; no more than 20 publications for consortium projects
• You can retrieve publication details from the VIRTA publication information service. Also see our how-to guide for the online services.
• Details on publications may also be entered manually. Obligatory information: author(s), title, year of publication, name of series/journal, type of publication (will not show in the PDF version of the application)

Collaborators

• Project collaborators, itemised by collaborator (name, organisation, country, brief justification)
• From the viewpoint of the call, it is important that the project takes into account collaboration with authorities.
• Describe the collaborators’ merits relevant to the project and the justifications for choosing them in section 3.2 of the research plan.
• If necessary, append a letter of commitment. See the guidelines on the letter of commitment.

Affiliations

• Research infrastructures: Indicate what kinds of equipment, resources or data reserves provided by national or international research infrastructures the project plans to use.  The menu includes infrastructures included in Finland’s national roadmap and/or ESFRI’s roadmap. Other possible infrastructures are entered in a free-text field. Read more about research infrastructures.
• Centres of Excellence in Research: Read more about Centres of Excellence.
• Finnish Flagships: Read more about the Finnish Flagship Programme.

Research ethics

• Ethical permit for project (yes/no)
• Found guilty of research misconduct (yes/no). We will not process a funding application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.
• The research ethics description is entered under section 4.1 of the research plan.
• See the ethical guidelines.

Funding for the project

• The project’s funding follows the full cost model. The Academy’s funding contribution to the research costs comes to no more than 70%.
• Before you can fill in the cost estimate, you must first select the site of research on the tab ‘General information’.
• Applicants must draft their cost estimates as follows: 30% of the total project costs in 2020, 40% in 2021 and 30% in 2022.
• The site of research maintains the following percentages: effective working hours, indirect employee costs, overheads percentage and VAT.
• Enter the funding period. The funding period can start retroactively on 1 January 2020 at the earliest. The funding period must end on 31 December 2022.
• Enter salaries and other costs.
• Enter other funding sources and their funding contributions. You must immediately notify us if you receive funding from other sources for the same purpose after your application to the Academy has been submitted.
• Justify the funding to be applied for. The cost estimate must be realistic.
• The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs: for project management and/or research. The justifications are entered on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services.
• Consult the administration at your site of research when filling in budget details. Read more about the funding in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.
• Commitment by site of research. Make sure you have a commitment from your site of research (usually a university or research institute) to supporting the project. Read more in the guidelines on the commitment by site of research.

Salary of principal investigator

• Justifications, if salary costs for the PI are included in the funding plan
• The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs: for project management and/or research.
• If the PI does not have a permanent employment relationship, include a salary plan for the PI covering the entire funding period.
• Read more about the PI’s salary in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.

Public project description

• Maximum length 1,000 characters including spaces
• Popular and reader-friendly description of the research project in English and Finnish/Swedish
• The public description helps the Academy to disseminate information on the research project. The project description is also stored in the National Research Information Hub, which will make available information on research conducted in Finland.
• Read the guidelines on the public project description.

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to supplement or view your application.
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field.
• The person must have an account in the Academy’s online services (SARA).
• You cannot authorise more than one person at a time to edit a field in your application, and you cannot edit that same field while the authorisation is active.
• Do not authorise yourself.
• See technical instructions on the authorisation process in the how-to guides for the online services.

Research plan

• Maximum length 12 pages, 15 pages for consortium projects
• See the guidelines on the structure of the research plan in this call
• Please note that the research plan cannot be submitted as a separate appendix.
• See the how-to guides for the online services

Appendices

A. Individual application (not consortium application)

• Appendices must be PDF files.

Obligatory appendices

• Complete list of publications. Read the guidelines on the structure of the list of publications.
• Data management plan: Write the plan by using the DMPTuuli tool or following the Academy’s DMP guidelines. Funding recipients shall deliver the data management plan to the Academy by 31 August 2020 at 16.15 Finnish time. Append the plan under ‘Additional information’ in the decision. NB! The funding will not be paid unless the data management plan has been delivered.

Case-specific appendices

• Invitation letter for research visit. Invitation by host organisation (e.g. university or research institute), if the work or part of it will be conducted at a place other than the site of research mentioned in the application; please do not append any letters of recommendation Read the guidelines on the invitation letter.
• Letter of commitment: See the guidelines on the letter of commitment.

B. Consortium application

• Appendices must be PDF files.

Appendices of consortium PI:

Obligatory appendices:

• Complete list of publications. Read the guidelines on the structure of the list of publications.
• Data management plan: Write the plan by using the DMPTuuli tool or following the Academy’s DMP guidelines.Funding recipients shall deliver the data management plan to the Academy by 31 August 2020 at 16.15 Finnish time. Append the plan under ‘Additional information’ in the decision. NB! The funding will not be paid unless the data management plan has been delivered.

Case-specific appendices:

• Invitation letter for research visit. Invitation by host organisation (e.g. university or research institute), if the work or part of it will be conducted at a place other than the site of research mentioned in the application; please do not append any letters of recommendation Read the guidelines on the invitation letter.
• Letter of commitment: See the guidelines on the letter of commitment.

Appendices for PI of consortium subproject:

Obligatory appendices:

• Complete list of publications. Read the guidelines on the structure of the list of publications.

Case-specific appendices

• Invitation letter for research visit. Invitation by host organisation (e.g. university or research institute), if the work or part of it will be conducted at a place other than the site of research mentioned in the application; please do not append any letters of recommendation Read the guidelines on the invitation letter.
• Letter of commitment: See the guidelines on the letter of commitment.

Submit application

• You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information.
• A red warning triangle on the tab tells you that information is missing.
• You can supplement the application until the deadline. Resaving will replace the earlier version.
• If you want to supplement the application after the deadline has expired, please get in touch with the Academy’s contact persons listed in the call text.

Interim report

• If the applicant has ongoing Academy funding, they must draw up an interim report in the online services on each ongoing project (incl. consortium subproject) before the call deadline. Read the guidelines on drafting the interim report.
• Also see the How-to guides for the online services.

Academy of Finland funding is granted based on peer review. We mainly use foreign experts as reviewers. At least two individual reviews are requested for the applications.

Review criteria:

• how the project implements the scientific and relevance-related objectives of the call (see ‘Background and objectives’)
• scientific quality, innovativeness and novelty value of the research as well as its impact within the scientific community
• feasibility of the research plan
• competence  of applicant/research team in terms of project implementation
• quality of research environment and collaborative networks
• added value of collaboration between consortium parties

Read the review questions that will be used in the review: review form and review guidelines. The Academy’s review guidelines and forms are only available in English.

A subcommittee set up by the Academy specifically for this call will make the funding decisions in June 2020.

You will receive an email notification after the funding decision has been made. After receiving the email, you can log in to the online services with your user ID to view the decision and its justifications. A positive funding decision will be accompanied by the terms and conditions of funding. The online services is also where you can read the expert reviews issued on the application.

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the terms and conditions of funding. Make sure to check the decision and accept the funding and its terms in the online services without delay. This must be done via the Academy’s online services within eight weeks of the decision date, unless otherwise stated in the special conditions of the decision notification.

Before you accept the funding, update the public project description (if necessary) and make changes to the annual instalments (if necessary). Once you have accepted the funding, the system will send a notification to the commitment issuer at the site of research. That person must also accept the granted funding.

• The funds can be paid only after the applicant and the representative of the site of research have accepted them. The system will then notify the funding to the finance administration of the site of research, whereupon the funds will be ready to use.
• Funding recipients shall deliver the data management plan to the Academy by 31 August 2020 at 16.15 Finnish time. Append the plan under ‘Additional information’ in the decision. NB! The funding will not be paid unless the data management plan has been delivered.

This list will be updated continuously.

Can my project be granted funding from this COVID-19 vaccine and pharmaceutical development call even if I receive funding from the Academy of Finland’s previous COVID-19 call that was open in April?

Yes. Obtaining funding from the April COVID-19 call does not mean you cannot be granted funding from the COVID-19 vaccine and pharmaceutical development call. However, the funding cannot overlap, which means that funding cannot be granted for the same purpose twice.

In the April COVID-19 call, the funding was applied for by an organisation. Does the same apply to this new COVID call?

No. In the call for research into COVID-19 vaccines and pharmaceutical development, the applicant is an individual researcher, a research team or a consortium of research teams.

To be eligible to apply for the funding for COVID-19 vaccine and pharmaceutical development, does the researcher have to have ongoing funding from the Academy?

No. In this call, there is no requirement that the research must be ongoing research funded by the Academy, but the projects to be funded must already be in progress.

Is there anything I should take into account when drawing up the budget?

Yes. You should draw up the budget so that 30% of the funds will be used in 2020, 40% in 2021 and 30% in 2022. The Academy of Finland’s budget authority for this call is for the years 2020–2022 and with these percentages, which means that the budget of the application must be divided in the same way. The funding period can start retroactively as of 1 January 2020.

Can I apply for funding in the September 2020 call if my project gets funded from the COVID-19 call for vaccine research and pharmaceutical development?

Yes, you can. You can still apply for funding in our September call even if you get funded through the COVID-19 vaccine and pharmaceutical development call. COVID-19 funding will not affect the September funding decision. However, the funding cannot overlap, which means that funding cannot be granted for the same purpose twice.

Can I apply for funding for diagnostics or testing from the COVID-19 call?

The funding is targeted at research into vaccine and pharmaceutical development – funding will not be granted to projects that do not include either. The project may of course include elements of testing or diagnostics, if they are part of the vaccine or drug development.

The call text says: “If the applicant has ongoing Academy funding, they must draw up an interim report in the online services on each ongoing project (incl. consortium subproject) before the call deadline.” What does this mean?

All applicants, both consortium PIs and other consortium parties, must submit an interim report on all ongoing projects in which the applicant is the PI or the consortium PI. If the applicant is a subproject PI in an ongoing project, it is currently not technically possible to submit an interim report. Therefore, no interim report is required in this case.

The interim report only applies to your own part of the project. PIs of ongoing consortium projects do not need to submit an interim report on behalf of other consortium parties.

Fill in the interim report in the Academy’s online services (SARA) under the original funding decision on the tab ‘Reports’.

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Log in to the online services.
2. Go to the tab ‘Reports’.
3. Select ‘Show projects to be reported’ (if reporting has not been started) OR continue filling in an incomplete report.
4. Fill in the required information.
5. Submit the report.
6. NB. Submit the interim report before you submit your application.