Academy Research Fellowships 2025, all research fields

At the core of the Research Council of Finland’s activities is to provide funding for excellent scientific research. The research we fund is also expected to have high scientific and societal impact and follow the principles of responsible science.

An Academy Research Fellow is a talented early-career researcher. The Academy Research Fellowship supports early-career researchers on fast career tracks. The funding supports the researchers so that they can increase their competencies and make significant career progress towards more demanding research positions and achieve an established position in the national and international research community.

An Academy Research Fellow produces high-quality, high-impact research that stimulates scientific renewal.

An Academy Research Fellowship provides researchers with a good and diverse opportunity to work independently on their research and to contribute to developing the research in their field.

As an Academy Research Fellow, you are encouraged to engage in international research collaboration and mobility across international and sectoral borders, for example, so that you will work abroad for part of the funding period. Foreign researchers who already work or who will work in the Finnish scientific community may also apply for the funding.

The objective of the funding scheme is to promote high-quality, high-impact science with capacity for renewal as well as to support researchers in increasing their competencies and making career progress.

Researchers need a wide range of experience from working in different research and work environments to be able to increase their competencies. By working in different kinds of research groups or in other research-related positions, researchers can further strengthen their personal networks and improve their chances of securing competitive research positions or other senior expert tasks. For today’s researchers, it is also important to be able to acquire new methodological skills and adopt new means of communicating with people with different backgrounds.

In the present call, applications are invited from individual researchers whose first doctoral degree certificate is dated between 1 January 2018 and 31 January 2023.

Applicants who have completed their doctoral degree longer ago than the period mentioned above can be considered only for special reasons (pregnancy, family or childcare leave, military service or nonmilitary service, or long-term illness). The special reasons will be taken into account for the period following the doctoral degree.

If you plead these special reasons, justify them in the application under ‘Personal data’. Edit your details and degrees and the section ‘Additional information’. Indicate the start and end dates of career breaks. If these reasons are confidential, get in touch with us via the helpdesk.

Merits and increased competencies of Academy Research Fellows

Past and planned mobility, research collaborations, the international dimension of the research plan and other competencies and qualifications achieved by the applicant are important considerations in the review.

In the application, you must describe your merits to date and how you will increase your competencies both during and after the funding period. These can be demonstrated, for example, by the establishment of a research team and other academic leadership experience, planned or implemented co-publication, sharing of data, supervision and teaching experience, various expert tasks, application for co-financing, and national and international cooperation and mobility. Also clarify how the research idea differs from your doctoral dissertation.

The description of your increasing competencies and your career plans is provided on the tab ‘Merits and increased competencies’ in the online services. See the guidelines and structure: Merits and increased competencies.

Special terms and restrictions

In the winter call, we will consider (process) only one application per applicant if the application concerns Academy Project Funding (incl. a consortium subproject), an Academy Professorship, an Academy Research Fellowship or Clinical Researcher Funding. If you submit more than one application for any of these funding opportunities or apply for funding from more than one of them, we will only consider (process) the first application to arrive.

If, during the application process, you are offered a permanent senior researcher position, please inform us without delay. The Academy Research Fellowship is intended for a researcher who does not yet hold a permanent and senior research position. 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.

Other ongoing RCF funding

If you currently have RCF Postdoctoral Researcher Funding, we will not consider (process) an Academy Research Fellowship application from you. You may apply for an Academy Research Fellowship no earlier than in the last year of your post, provided that the funding periods will not overlap.

If you have or have had a five-year Academy Research Fellowship, we will not consider (process) a new Fellowship application from you.

Other special terms

You must immediately notify us if you receive funding from other sources for the same purpose after you have submitted your application to us.

We will not consider (process) an application by 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 consider (process) a funding application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.

If the application includes cooperation with Russia or Belarus, you must take into account our policies.

If you have not submitted a final report on a completed or ongoing RCF-funded project by the set deadline, we may decide not to consider (process) your application.

An application will not be considered (processed) if the applicant or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements set for the call, or if there are otherwise no conditions for processing the case.

A scientific council or another decision-making body may decide not to fund an application based on science policy objectives, or if it is apparent for some other reason that the applicant cannot receive funding with the submitted application. Read more about the circumstances that may cause us not to consider (process) an application.

We will not consider (process) an application if the applicant is a member of the RCF Board or scientific councils or the Strategic Research Council.

The RCF Board decides the criteria for the RCF's funding decisions. Also see the policies of our scientific councils before you submit the application.

The application consists of a form completed in the online services and its 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.

Before the call opens

Check your eligibility

• Read the section Who can apply? to see whether you meet the eligibility criteria.

Plan the contents of your application

• Start drafting your research plan and CV.
• If applying for an Academy Research Fellowship, you will also write a Merits and increased competencies
• Draft the above appendices on our templates (see ‘Application parts in the online services’). Read the instructions on using the templates. You have access to the templates even before the call opens.
• Read the review guidelines and review form. Write your research plan in such a way that reviewers can easily find the answer to the review questions.
• In the winter call, applicants must select a review panel for their application. Take time to familiarise yourself with the panel structure and selection guidelines.
• Contact your collaborators. Request letters of collaboration from national and international collaborators that are relevant to the implementation of the project. The letters must be appended to the application before the call deadline.

Plan the funding of your project

• Draft the budget in line with the guidelines of your organisation. Read more about the amount of funding and the terms and conditions in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.
• Contact your organisation’s support services now if you have any budget-related questions.
• Also read our funding terms and conditions. If you are granted funding, you are also bound by the terms and conditions.

When the call opens

• Sign up or log in to our online services. Check and update your personal details. Your up-to-date email address is important when we are in contact with you.
• Instructions on how to fill in the application form are available in the online services.

Application parts in the online services

The different parts of the application are listed below. A comprehensive A–Z index of application guidelines is available on our website. Instructions for filling in the application form are also on the tabs of the form.

• Personal details
• General information: topic, keywords and scientific disciplines of the project, details on the site of research
• Scientific council and review panel
• Abstract
• Public project description
• Project’s funding and commitment by site of research. See section ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’ in the call text.
• Collaborators: list of collaborators. The collaboration should be described in the research plan.
• Mobility: list of research visits
• Affiliation with research infrastructures, Centres of Excellence and Finnish Flagships
• Short data management plan
• Research ethics
• Progress report on all RCF-funded projects that have not yet submitted final reports

Appendices to be appended on dedicated tabs

You must use our templates for the following appendices:

• Research plan
• CV for Academy Research Fellowship applicant
• Merits and increased competencies of Academy Research Fellowship applicant

Other appendices

• The full list of publications is an obligatory appendix to the application.
• The doctoral degree certificate is an obligatory appendix.
• If necessary, append a letter of collaboration.

Submitting the application in the online services

You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information. A red warning triangle tells you that there is an error or information missing.

You can authorise a person to edit or view the application on the tab ‘Authorisation’.

Submit your application in good time. You can supplement and edit the application and change appendices until the call deadline.

Academy Research Fellowship funding is granted for four years. The funding period is 1 September 2025–31 August 2029. The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds in the 2025 state budget.

The funding is granted to a Finnish site of research (usually a university or research institute) through which the funding is paid.

The PI of the funded project must have a close connection with Finland during the whole funding period. The researchers hired with the funding 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.

Funding plan

As a rule, research funding granted by the Research Council of Finland is co-funding. The RCF’s contribution to the funding is up to 70 per cent of the total costs, and the applicant’s site of research (host organisation) will cover at least 30 per cent of the total costs. Before submitting the application, you must agree with the administration at your organisation on the contribution of the site of research to the funding of the project. You must check with your organisation whether the funding planned as the own funding contribution suits this purpose.

On the tab ‘Funding for the project’, provide the following information:

• cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure
• the annual instalment costs are spread equally (e.g. 70%/30%) over all funding years
• all funding granted for the project as well as funding that will be provided by the site of research if the project is launched.

Only costs that pass through the books of the site of the research must be included in the total costs.

Pay particular attention to ensuring that the cost estimate is realistic and justified for the implementation of the research project. Justify the most significant research costs by type of expenditure in the free-text field.

When drafting the cost estimate, consider the funding policies of the RCF’s scientific councils.

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

• your own Academy Research Fellow salary (up to 46 months/4 years)
• research team salaries
• essential implementation costs
• travel expenses
• collaboration and mobility in Finland
• international collaboration and mobility
• preparation of international projects.

Our funding cannot be used for economic activity. Read more about the eligibility of economic operators.

Only for compelling reasons can government grants be awarded to cover salary costs in cases where the applicant has obstacles related to illegal employment, as referred to in section 7(2) of the Finnish Act on Discretionary Government Transfers.

Academy Research Fellow salary

Funds can be made available towards the Academy Research Fellow’s own salary, hiring a research team and other research costs. Funding can be applied for and used flexibly based on the needs of the research.

The total cost estimate can include:

• only the applicant’s own salary
• the salary of up to two full-time researchers (incl. the applicant’s own salary) and other research costs.

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.

The Academy Research Fellowship covers four years. During the funding period, the duties of the Academy Research Fellow include an average of four months in roles and tasks other than actual research yet relevant to the professional research career. These may include teaching and supervision, administrative duties, interaction or advocacy, or other tasks related to the organisation’s core functions. This is implemented through co-funding.

Up to two months can be included in the RCF’s contribution, and the researcher’s own organisation will cover two months of the salary costs. This means that the total cost estimate for the four-year funding period may therefore include the researcher’s salary for a maximum of 46 months.

In addition, an Academy Research Fellow cannot be paid salary from another RCF-funded research project or a project funded by the Strategic Research Council.

Research team salaries

As a rule, staff hired with RCF 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, studies or other assignments (max. duration six months) may also be carried out in the form of outsourced services.

Instructions on job titles at different stages of the research career.

Mobility aid

The 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. To obtain further information, you should contact the personnel and financial administration of the site of research.

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

What is required from the site of research?

The site of research is a Finnish research organisation such as a university or a research institute.

We require that the site of research 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.

The costs of ensuring immediate open access to peer-reviewed articles are included in the overheads of the site of research. The costs associated with storing and sharing research data are regarded as overheads for the project’s site of research. Only exceptionally and for justified reasons can they be accepted as research costs to be covered by RCF research funding.

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. After a positive funding decision, the site of research will also approve the data management plan of the project.

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 is also responsible for ensuring that the applicant has not been found guilty of research misconduct in the last three years.

The application must include the overheads percentage, indirect employee costs and coefficient for effective working hours of the site of research. The site of research maintains these in the online services under the site’s details. The information is provided as percentages.

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. RCF funding may also cover VAT costs, but only on certain conditions (see Value added tax and read more in our funding terms and conditions).

The site of research undertakes to see to that the Academy Research Fellow will be able to fully commit to the research. The site also commits to employing the Academy Research Fellow full-time during the entire funding period, also during the two-month period during which they will have to perform other tasks that are important for a professional research career. The salary is determined based on the pay system of the site of research.

Read more in the guidelines for sites of research.

Research at EUI or IIASA by Academy Research Fellows

Those applying for an Academy Research Fellowship can also apply to do research at the European University Institute (EUI) as part of the Fellowship. The EUI can receive one Academy Research Fellow at a time to carry out research at the EUI for 1–2 years.

You need not append a separate invitation from the EUI to your application or contact the EUI. However, please read about EUI research before applying and contact us via the helpdesk (Application guidance, non-thematic calls) when drafting your application.

During the funding period, Academy Research Fellows can also visit the multidisciplinary International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), which focuses on global issues that require broad-based, multidisciplinary research cooperation that makes use of applied systems analysis.

If your research is linked to one of IIASA’s research programmes or projects, agree on the visit with IIASA directly. However, please read about IIASA’s research before applying and contact us via the helpdesk (Application guidance, non-thematic calls) when drafting your application.

How to submit and supplement the application

The deadline is non-negotiable. We will not consider (process) an application that has not been submitted by deadline. The deadline for applications is 8 January 2025 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 applicant is responsible for ensuring that the content of the application appendices is correct.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. For example, you can change the appendices to the application.

If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, immediately get in touch with us via our helpdesk, so that the application can be reopened for supplementation. Once the review process has started, supplementations can no longer be taken into account. Typically, the review of an application starts 1–2 weeks after the call has closed.

We may ask you to supplement the application. In that case, you will receive a supplementation request by email. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, or if the application is substantially incomplete even after a request for supplementary information, we may declare it inadmissible (i.e. it will not be processed). Make sure that your email address is 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 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 you have provided.

Publicity and data protection

Except for the research plan, plan of intent, abstract and progress 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 secret information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

We are committed to following regulations on data protection. The applicant is responsible for the disclosure of the personal data contained in the application and, where appropriate, for requesting the consent of the parties concerned.

The GDPR-compliant privacy notice concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection.

RCF funding is granted based on peer review. We mainly use foreign experts as reviewers, and they make up the review panels.

The review of applications follows a two-stage process. In the first stage, experts are asked to give at least two individual reviews on the application. If at least one expert has given an overall rating of 5 or 6, the application will proceed to be reviewed by a panel. Applications that receive an overall rating of 5 or 6 from the review panel will be ranked.

The fundamental principles of the review are transparency, integrity, equity, competence and diversity. Read more about responsible researcher evaluation.

Review panels and panel selection

The applications are reviewed by pre-selected panels. Read more about the review panels. Select the panel under ‘Scientific council and review panel’ in the application form. The selection is binding. You cannot change the panel after the call deadline.

Panel selection instructions

How to select the review panel

1. Examine several panel descriptions in your field and carefully read both the scope and keywords before choosing the panel.
2. Choose one panel and one scientific council for your application. None of the panels are linked to a particular scientific council as such.
3. Submit your application to the most relevant panel. We may reallocate applications, but only if there has been an obvious typographical or other clear error in the selection. The applicant will be informed in such cases.

Note

• Any topic is welcome, regardless of whether it is explicitly stated in panel descriptions. Panels are typically multidisciplinary.
• The keywords are not an exhaustive list of the topics that will be covered in the panels. They are intended to help applicants choose the most appropriate panel.
• The panel structure does not represent any scientific classification as such. The numbering, names or descriptors of panels do not reflect any priorities.
• The panel structure has been revised after the previous winter call. Familiarise yourself with the updated structure.
• NB! Panel RC25_41 will review applications for Clinical Researcher Funding and will not be available for other applicants.

Review criteria

• scientific quality, innovativeness and novelty value of the research described in the plan as well as the impact within the scientific community
• feasibility of the plan (incl. responsible science)
• competence of applicant/research team in terms of project implementation, possible researcher training
• quality of research environment and collaboration networks (incl. researcher mobility)
• suitability of the proposed research in terms of the possible special objectives of the funding scheme (incl. societal impact)

In the review of applications for Academy Research Fellowships, special attention will be paid to the applicant’s increasing competencies and ability to stimulate scientific renewal.

The academic competence and qualifications of the applicant will be evaluated with special reference to their postdoctoral research and scientific collaborations in relation to their career stage. In the application, the applicant can demonstrate their competence by describing, for example, their experience of different research environments, their ability to build up collaborative networks, previous national or international mobility, existing or planned joint projects or more independent publishing than in previous career stages. The review will also focus on the applicant’s increasing competence and expected qualification for the most demanding research tasks. Read more in the guidelines on merits and increasing competencies.

See the review questions and guidelines on our website. The review guidelines and forms and the review principles are only available in English.

The funding decisions are based on the review reports and panel rankings. Additionally, the decisions are prepared considering the RCF’s criteria for funding decisions and other guiding policies. Read about how funding decisions are made.

The policies of each scientific council will be updated on our website before the call opens. Read the scientific council's policies before submitting your application.

The scientific councils will make the funding decisions in June 2025.

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.

In the online services, you will also have access to the review report(s), which may include the panel ranking (panels rank the best applications).

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the funding terms and conditions. They include instructions on how to receive the funding (section 1.2).

• Contact us primarily via the helpdesk (select ‘Application guidance, non-thematic calls’).
• Technical issues with the online services? Contact us via the helpdesk (select ‘Online services and other technical questions’).
• Our telephone number (switchboard) is +358 295 335 000.
• See the Ask & Apply webinar schedule and materials.
• Also see the winter call FAQ.