Research Council of Finland (RCF)–NSF joint call 2024: artificial intelligence and/or wireless communication technologies

The overall goal of the partnership between the Research Council of Finland and the NSF is to enable and facilitate research collaboration between US and Finnish researchers. This collaboration expects to generate valuable discoveries and innovations that may lead to enhancements in multiple areas of science and technology. The partnership achieves its goals through research projects in which the funding agencies fund the elements of research undertaken by researchers based in their respective nations. For more details on the collaboration, see NSF’s Dear Colleague Letter on the partnership (note that some of the information in the DCL from 2020  may be outdated).

The NSF and the RCF collaborate via a Lead Agency Opportunity, in which the NSF acts as the Lead Agency. In this approach, proposers from both countries will collaborate to write a single proposal. It is the responsibility of the US proposer to submit the proposal to the appropriate NSF programme for review. Researchers from Finland participating in the joint research project will apply for funding separately from the Research Council of Finland in accordance with the guidelines and procedures provided in this call text.

In Finland, the partnership and the joint call is guided by Flagship Programme Subcommittee at the Research Council of Finland. Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of core research programmes in the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the RCF’s Finnish Research Flagships in which Finland has widespread demonstrated expertise, that is, artificial intelligence (AI) and wireless communication technologies.

The aim of this joint call is to support research collaboration in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and/or wireless communication technologies. In case the proposed project is only targeting the AI theme, the project must advance AI technologies, algorithms or methods. Such projects can include case studies on real-world problems, but projects using AI (e.g. machine learning) only as a tool will not be supported. However, the aforementioned restriction does not apply to research projects that are related to wireless communication technologies or to combination of AI and wireless communication technologies.

How the programme works – study in detail before application preparation

Proposers from both countries will collaborate to write a single proposal. It is the responsibility of the US proposer to submit the proposal to the appropriate NSF programme for review. In this joint call, applicants from Finland can participate in the NSF funding opportunity ‘CISE Core Small competition’ via proposals submitted to the NSF between 2 January and 31 March 2024. For more details, see NSF’s Dear Colleague Letter on the partnership (note that some of the information in the DCL may be outdated). Intention to submit must be submitted to the RCF on 4 March 2024 at the latest (see below for details).

Proposers should comply with the proposal preparation requirements outlined in NSF’s Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and submit the proposal through NSF’s FastLane system or Grants.gov and include any additional documents required by the NSF programme.

It is required that the researchers from Finland participating in the joint research project apply for funding separately from the RCF in accordance with the guidelines and procedures provided in this call text.

The steps in the application procedure for researchers from Finland are as follows:

1. Intention to Submit is emailed to the RCF at flagship@aka.fi
2. RCF assesses the eligibility of the project
3. If assessed eligible, the RCF issues Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding letter to the applicant
4. US proposer submits the proposal including the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter to the appropriate NSF programme for review
5. The proposal is reviewed in accordance with the standard NSF review criteria
6. If the project is selected for funding by the NSF, the RCF first invites the applicant from Finland to submit an application to the RCF and then decides whether it will support the Finnish sub-project.

The steps are described in detail below.

1. Notification of intention to submit

In order to be considered for funding by the RCF, applicants who are eligible (see ‘Who can apply’) must have identified a US collaborator who is willing to develop a joint grant application. The Finnish principal investigator (PI) must send a mandatory ‘Intention to Submit’ form to the RCF using the template provided (see below). The document must be submitted to the RCF at least four weeks before the proposal is planned to be submitted to the NSF.

In this joint call, the last possible day to submit a ‘Intention to Submit’ to the RCF is 4 March 2024.

The information required is summarised below and the ‘Intention to Submit’ form can be accessed here. Please submit the form to flagship@aka.fi.

1. Contact details of the PIs from both countries
2. NSF target programme/call (pre-filled to the form) and planned proposal submission date and funding period
3. Proposed topic, keywords, collaboration and link to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research
4. Description of how the proposed project contributes to the goals of the Flagship programme
5. Costs to be requested from the Research Council of Finland and indicative total budget figure to be requested from the NSF

1. Free-form commitment by site of research in which the site commits to administering and funding the project must be included as the last page of the letter. 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.

The information in the form will be used for planning purposes and for an eligibility assessment by the RCF (see below).

2. Eligibility assessment

The RCF aims to perform the eligibility assessments at the latest at the turn of the month for the notifications received during the past month. For notifications received in early March, the eligibility assessments will be performed within two weeks of their arrival at the RCF.

The RCF will assess the information in the Intention to Submit letter to:

• verify the eligibility of the Finnish applicant(s)
• confirm that the topic links to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research
• determine if there is evidence of significant participation by partners from both countries
• determine if the project advances the goals of the Flagship programme
• pre-approve the budget for the Finnish subproject
• verify the site of research is willing to commit to administering and funding the project

The RCF will confirm via email within a few days of the eligibility assessment whether the project has been deemed eligible. The confirmation email will be accompanied by a ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter for inclusion in the full proposal submission to the NSF if, and only if, the project has been deemed eligible (see below).

It is important to note that only proposals assessed eligible and having received the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter from the RCF will be considered to receive funding from the RCF.

3. Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding

The ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter issued by the RCF for eligible projects will outline the maximum level of budget commitment subject to NSF selecting the proposal for funding following established NSF grant review/selection processes. The RCF will issue a single ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter to the RCF applicant(s), who is responsible for ensuring its inclusion in the final proposal submission to the NSF by the US PI.

If, after issuance of the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter, the applicant decides not to submit their final proposal to NSF, the applicant is requested to notify the RCF.

4. Submission of final proposal to NSF

In order to be considered for funding by the RCF, the final proposal needs to be submitted to the NSF between 2 January and 31 March 2024 (U.S Eastern Time Zone). It is the responsibility of the US proposer to submit the proposal including the ‘Confirmation of Eligibility for Funding’ letter to the appropriate NSF programme for review. Proposers should comply with the proposal preparation requirements outlined in the NSF’s PAPPG and submit the proposal through the NSF’s FastLane system or Grants.gov and include any additional documents required by the NSF programme. The proposal should indicate that it is to be considered under the partnership between the Research Council of Finland and the NSF by prefacing the title with ‘NSF-RCF:’.

5. NSF review

The collaborative RCF-NSF projects will be reviewed in accordance with the standard NSF merit review criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposed effort, along with any additional solicitation-specific review criteria. In general, proposal review is completed within six months of submission.

More details on NSF peer review and review criteria are available online.

6. Selections

If a collaborative RCF-NSF project is selected for funding by the NSF, the RCF aims to provide funding for the Finnish component of the project. If the NSF does not select a RCF-NSF project for funding, the RCF will not fund the Finnish subproject alone.

If the overall funding applied by the PIs from Finland in the projects recommended for funding by the NSF exceeds the available funding, the RCF will select the projects it will provide funding for. The selections will be made only after NSF has provided its recommendations on each RCF-NSF application submitted to the NSF within this joint call. Note that in case of individual projects there may be a period of a few months between NSF recommendation and RCF’s selection.

The selections will be made based on:

• availability of RCF budget authority
• results of the NSF review and recommendation by the NSF for projects to be funded. Note that the PIs from Finland are invited to submit review reports(s) on their proposal to the RCF at this stage.
• negotiations between the NSF and the RCF of projects to be selected
• assessment of how well the project is expected to advance the goals of the Flagship programme (based on information in the ‘Intention to Submit’ form)
• maximizing diversity of the program in terms of research topics in the fields of AI and/or wireless communication technologies
• Research Council of Finland’s criteria for research funding decisions and other policies that guide the RCF’s activities (e.g. prioritising applicants in the gender minority in the case of projects of equal merit).

Alternative to making selections and if possible, for both the RCF and NSF, issuing awards may be delayed and the funding decisions may be rolled over to the subsequent funding cycle in a synchronised and coordinated fashion between the RCF and the NSF. This option will be investigated jointly between the RCF and the NSF to avoid situations in which the NSF funds the US component of the project and the RCF does not fund the Finnish component. It is important to note that this possibility does not guarantee that such situations can be avoided.

If the project is selected for funding by the NSF, the RCF first invites the applicant from Finland to submit an application to the RCF via an invitation-only call and then decides following the criteria above whether it will support the Finnish sub-project. When preparing the proposal to be submitted to the RCF, the guidelines provided in this call text and possible further instructions provided by the RCF should be followed.

Applicants are recommended to contact the RCF early on to check national eligibility requirements.

The funding from the RCF can be applied for by individual research teams or consortia composed of two or more research teams from Finnish research organisations. The consortium parties may represent one or several research organisations.

A consortium application is an application built around a joint research plan, where each party to the consortium applies for funding. The Research Council of Finland 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 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. These criteria also apply to subproject PIs in consortia. In addition, the applicant must have a close connection with Finland to support the implementation of a multi-year project. This connection must be evident from the application.

The PI of the application cannot be changed while the application is being processed at the RCF (after the call has closed but before the decision). The only exception to this is if the PI deceases.

Special terms and restrictions

To be eligible for consideration by the RCF, each proposal must have a minimum of one applicant from Finland and the US, and significant research participation by both countries. The collaborative projects must add significant added value that is not achievable by the PI working alone, and the topics proposed must link to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research.

A PI requesting funding from the RCF can have only one active Research Council of Finland-NSF partnership proposal. A proposal is considered active from its submission until the date of the RCF’s funding decision.

If the applicant has ongoing funding from previous Research Council of Finland – NSF joint calls, the applicant is not eligible to apply for funding from the present call.

If the application includes cooperation with Russia or Belarus, you must take into account the RCF’s policies on the matter.

Members of the Board, research councils and the Strategic Research Council of the Research Council of Finland will not be granted RCF 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.

Project duration is expected to be up to 36 months. The funding period must be within the funding period identified in the NSF programme call to which the full proposal is submitted for. The recommended project start date is 1 January 2025.

The RCF is prepared to fund the Finnish components of the collaborative FI-US projects selected from joint calls between the RCF and the NSF and National Institutes of Health (NIH) with a maximum of 8 million euros in total in 2024.

The site of research is a Finnish organisation (usually a university or research institute) via which the funding is paid. The maximum funding granted for a three-year project is 500,000 euros.

Funding from the RCF 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 salary of the research project’s PI on the RCF website.

The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds to RCF in its budget for 2024.  In case of delays in the processing of the applications resulting in the need to commit the RCF’s budget for 2024 to this call, the funding to be distributed will depend on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds to the RCF in its budget for 2024.

If the project is selected for funding by the NSF, the RCF invites the applicant from Finland to submit an application to the RCF via an invitation-only call following the guidelines provided in this call text and possible further instructions provided by the RCF. The application must contain a funding plan drafted in line with the full cost model, including the funding to be applied for from the RCF (up to 70% of the total project costs). Read more about the full cost model.

In general, the funding comes under the conditions and restrictions applicable to RCF Projects. For more details, see the latest version of the funding terms.

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

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.

What is required from the site of research?

We require that the site of research (i.e. the applicant’s host organisation, e.g. a university, research institute or other research organisation) 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 costs of ensuring immediate open access to peer-reviewed articles are included in the overheads of the site of research and are thus part of the basic facilities provided by the site. 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. Read more in the guidelines on the commitment by the 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. 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. The RCF’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).

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

Funding plan (for proposals submitted to the RCF after NSF recommendations)

In the application (applies to the PIs of the Finnish sub-projects recommended for funding by the NSF, for more details see section ‘Background and objectives’, 6. Selections), 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 the application, applicants must agree with the administration at their 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. You must check with your own organisation whether the funding planned as the own funding contribution suits this purpose. The funding applied for from the RCF must not exceed 70% of the total project costs. The cost estimate must be realistic.

The PI’s salary costs may, under certain limitations, be incorporated into the total project costs. Read more about the salary of the research project’s PI on the RCF website.

All research costs must be justified in the free-text field in the online services under ‘Funding for the project’.

How to submit and supplement the application

In this call, applicants from Finland can participate in the NSF funding opportunity ‘CISE Core Small competition’ via proposals submitted to the NSF between 2 January and 31 March 2024. The Finnish PI(s) must send a mandatory ‘Intention to Submit’ form to the RCF at least four weeks before the proposal is planned to be submitted to the NSF.

In this joint call, the last possible day to submit a ‘Intention to Submit’ to the RCF is 4 March 2024.

The PIs of the Finnish subprojects recommended for funding by the NSF will be invited to submit applications to the RCF following the guidelines provided in this call text and possible further instructions provided by the RCF. For more details, study how the programme works in the section ‘Background and objectives’.

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 supplemented information insofar as it is possible in view of the review and decision-making process.

We may ask you to supplement the application. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, we may decide not to process it. You must make sure that your 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 RCF 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.

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 process your application.

An application will not be processed if the applicant or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements, or if the application otherwise does not qualify for processing. A decision-making body may decide not to process and 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 process an application.

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 confidential information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities. The Research Council of Finland is 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 statement concerning the research funding process is available on the RCF website under Data protection.

In order to be considered for funding by the RCF, applicants must follow the guidelines and procedure described in the section ‘Background and objectives’.

The PIs of the Finnish sub-projects recommended for funding by the NSF will be invited to submit proposals to the RCF via an invitation-only call following the guidelines provided in this call text and possible further instructions provided by the RCF.

The following guidelines apply only to the PIs of the Finnish sub-projects recommended for funding by the NSF.

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

CV

• Maximum length three pages
• CV following the template

Consortium parties (if applicable)

• Note that the US collaborator is not listed as a consortium party here, but on the 'Collaborators' tab
• 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 description of the collaboration and how the proposed work links to AI and/or wireless communication technologies research.
• See guidelines on the abstract.

Most relevant publications and other key outputs

• The PI/consortium PI enters up to ten of their own/the consortium’s own most important project-relevant publications and up to ten of their own/the consortium’s own research outputs, with justifications.
• You can retrieve publication details from the VIRTA publication information service. Also see our how-to guide for the online services.
• There are separate fields for selected publications and other research outputs. If the desired output type is not listed, select ‘Other, what?’ and enter the name of the output.
• Details on publications may also be entered manually. Obligatory information: author(s), title, year of publication, name of series/journal, type of publication (the type will not show in the PDF version of the application).
• The information is used to assess the competence of the applicant or consortium to carry out the project.

Mobility

• Describe planned national and international mobility within the project, itemised by person.
• See more information on mobility.

Collaborators

• Project collaborators, itemised by collaborator (name, organisation, country). Note that the US collaborator should be listed here.

• We recommend that applicants append a letter of collaboration to the application only from possible non-US collaborators. Read more about the letter.

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. Learn 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

• Preliminary ethical review for project and/or animal testing permit (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.
• Guilty of illegal employment within the meaning referred to in section 7(2) of the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (yes/no)
• See the ethical guidelines.

Funding for the project

• The project’s funding follows the full cost model. The RCF’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’.
• The site of research maintains the following percentages: effective working hours, indirect employee costs, overheads percentage and VAT. The information is provided as percentages.
• Enter the funding period.
• 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 RCF has been submitted.
• Justify the funding to be applied for. The cost estimate must be realistic.
• Only under certain limitations and on justifiable grounds may the project PI’s salary for project management and/or research included in the application. The justifications are entered on the tab ‘Salary of principal investigator’ in the online services. Read more in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.
• 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’.
• The commitment of the site of research is a requirement for the granting of funding. 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 the 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 for the entire funding period.
• Read more 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.
• We will use the project description in our communications on the funded research project. It is important that the public description is written for a general audience. The project description is also stored at research.fi, a service that makes available information on research conducted in Finland.
• Read the guidelines on the public project description.

Progress report

• If you have ongoing RCF funding or completed projects for which no final report has yet been submitted, the projects to be reported are available on a separate tab in the online services. This does not apply to applicants acting as the responsible person in funding schemes where the funding recipient is an organisation or to applicants who are subproject PIs in consortia.
• Maximum length per project is 1,500 characters including spaces.
• Describe the progress and/or key achievements of the project and how the project is related to the funding being applied for.
• Read more about drafting the report.
• Also see the How-to guides for the online services.

Appendices

• Appendices must be PDF files.

Obligatory appendices:

• Copy of the full proposal submitted to the NSF, in NSF format. In case of a consortium application, this document is provided only by the consortium PI
• Copy of the review report(s) received from the NSF
• Complete list of publications. Read the guidelines on the structure of the list of publications.

Case-specific appendices:

• Letter of collaboration. Read more about the letter.
• We recommend that applicants append a letter of collaboration to the application only from possible non-US collaborators.

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to supplement or view your application.
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field. If the person has an account in the online services (SARA), they can be selected from the list.
• The person must have an account in the RCF’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.

Submit application

• You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary 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.
• 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, please get in touch with the RCF’s contact persons listed in the call text.

The collaborative RCF-NSF projects will be reviewed in accordance with the standard NSF merit review criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposed effort, along with any additional solicitation-specific review criteria.

More details on NSF peer review and review criteria are available online.

The PIs of the Finnish sub-projects recommended for funding by the NSF will be invited to submit proposals to the RCF via an invitation-only call following the guidelines provided in this call text and possible further instructions provided by the RCF. Copy of the review report(s) received from the NSF will be requested as part of the application.

Funding decisions at RCF will be made by the Flagship Programme Subcommittee.

If a collaborative RCF-NSF project is selected for funding by the NSF, the RCF aims to provide funding for the Finnish component of the project. If the NSF does not select a RCF-NSF project for funding, the RCF will not fund the Finnish subproject alone.

If the overall funding applied by the PIs from Finland in the projects recommended for funding by the NSF exceeds the available funding, the RCF will select the projects it will provide funding for. The selections will be made only after NSF has provided its recommendations on each RCF-NSF application submitted to the NSF. Note that in case of individual projects there may be a period of a few of months between NSF recommendation and RCF’s selection.

The selections will be made based on:

• availability of RCF budget authority
• results of the NSF review and recommendation by the NSF for projects to be funded. Note that the PIs from Finland are invited to submit review reports(s) on their proposal to the RCF at this stage.
• negotiations between the NSF and the RCF of projects to be selected
• assessment of how well the project is expected to advance the goals of the Flagship programme (based on information in the ‘Intention to Submit’ form)
• maximizing diversity of the program in terms of research topics in the fields of AI and/or wireless communication technologies
• Research Council of Finland’s criteria for research funding decisions and other policies that guide the RCF’s activities (e.g. prioritising applicants in the gender minority in the case of projects of equal merit).

Alternative to making selections and if possible, for both the RCF and NSF, issuing awards may be delayed and the funding decisions may be rolled over to the subsequent funding cycle in a synchronised and coordinated fashion between the RCF and the NSF. This option will be investigated jointly between the RCF and the NSF to avoid situations in which the NSF funds the US component of the project and the RCF does not fund the Finnish component. It is important to note that this possibility does not guarantee that such situations can be avoided.

If the project is selected for funding by the NSF, the RCF first invites the applicant from Finland to submit an application to the RCF via an invitation-only call and then decides following the criteria above whether it will support the Finnish sub-project. When preparing the proposal to be submitted to the RCF, the guidelines provided in this call text and possible further instructions provided by the RCF should be followed.

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.

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the funding terms and conditions. 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 RCF online services within eight weeks of the decision date, unless otherwise stated in the special conditions of the decision notification.

If necessary, update the popular project description before you accept the funding. It is important that the public description is written for a general audience. Make changes to the annual instalments, if necessary (see the instructions in the RCF’s funding terms and conditions), and append the full data management plan (in consortium applications only consortium PIs do this). 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. See the how-to guide: Decision notification, review reports and accepting 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.

• Risto Vilkko, Senior Science Adviser
• Oskari Miettinen, Science Adviser

Our email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi.

Feedback and questions