FAQ about SRC funding
When applying for funding, carefully read the call text and the funding terms and conditions.
What is the structure of an SRC consortium?
The consortia funded by the Strategic Research Council – SRC consortia – are structurally different from consortia funded by the Research Council of Finland under the Academy Project and Academy Programme funding schemes. The consortium’s research and interaction activities are distributed appropriately between work packages (WPs). It is recommended that the interaction activities be presented as a dedicated WP.
Each consortium must have a PI, WP leaders and an interaction coordinator. In the full application, each subproject must have a named subproject PI at the site of research, who is responsible for the subproject’s use of funding and for submitting the application. All subprojects need not have a WP leader.
What is a work package?
The consortium’s research and interaction activities are distributed appropriately between work packages (WPs). The work package is responsible for implementing a dedicated part of the research and interaction activities. The members of a work package can be hired in different sites of research. Each work package must have a leader.
What is the role of the subproject in the SRC consortium model?
A subproject is the research team that consists of the staff working at the same site of research. An organisation (e.g. a university) may include several sites of research (e.g. departments) and thus also several subprojects. From our perspective, ‘subproject’ is an administrative term, since each subproject gets its own funding decision. The question whether two research teams from different departments of a single university are regarded as separate subprojects depends usually on the financial administration, that is, on whether they have the same overhead coefficients. Each subproject must be designated a PI. This PI is at the site of research responsible for submitting the subproject’s funding application and for the use of funding during the project.
Who can apply?
SRC calls are intended only for applications by research consortia. The consortium must be based on true collaboration where the work packages are distributed equally and appropriately between the parties. The funding is awarded to the subprojects.
Criteria for the consortia:
- They must contain at least three subprojects (often equivalent to research teams).
- At least three different organisations must be involved.
- They must represent at least three different scientific disciplines.
The PI of the consortium and the WP leader must be a researcher with a doctoral degree and at least at the docent level. Leaders of WPs devoted to interaction activities must be qualified in their own field, but they are not required to have a doctoral degree.
A subproject PI must be competent to lead the subproject. As a rule, they should hold a doctoral degree. An exception is a subproject led by the interaction coordinator.
The same person may be the PI for one SRC consortium only.
Directors of the Research Council of Finland’s Centres of Excellence may apply for SRC funding, but not as consortium PIs.
Always check the call text for possible restrictions.
How is a letter of intent different from a full application?
The SRC call has two stages. First, applicants submit a call for letters of intent (LOI). Based on the first stage, the SRC invites selected applicants to submit full applications.
The LOI submitted at the first stage of SRC calls is drafted by the consortium PI as an individual application, not as a consortium application. Consortium PIs must check the eligibility of each WP leader and that they are participating in only one application.
The research and interaction plan (LOI) as well as the CVs and lists of publications of the consortium PI and WP leaders are appended to the application. More information on drafting the application for the first stage is available in the call text.
The full application submitted at the second call stage is submitted as a consortium application. All subproject applications and appendices are combined under the consortium PI’s application. The consortium application can be submitted only after all subprojects have completed their applications (i.e. tagged them as ‘complete’). More information on drafting the full application is available in the call text.
How long are the funding periods?
The SRC grants funding for long-term research projects. In practice, this means that the funding is granted for 3–6 years. Typically, the funding is granted in two three-year periods (3 + 3) for six years.
What costs are eligible?
The funding granted by the SRC covers all costs incurred, following the full cost model. Host organisations need not contribute to the costs with their own funding. Read more about the full cost model.
Unlike the Research Council of Finland’s other funding for research projects, the SRC’s funding for consortium projects does allow applicants to apply for funding for PIs for the entire duration of the project. Costs of interaction and impact activities are included in the funding.
Can business companies apply for SRC funding?
Yes, they can. 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.
Before the start of funding, the consortium must agree on any IPRs that may arise. IPRs may be transferred to a third party at market price. Read more about IPR rights in the Research Council of Finland’s standard terms.
How is the societal relevance of the application reviewed?
The review questions can be found in the call text, and the review forms and guidelines can be found under Guidelines and forms for reviewers.
Who decides the themes and the funding?
This depends on the decision. The Finnish Government decided to establish the Strategic Research Council (SRC) instrument. Each year, the Government decides the strategic research themes based on proposals by the SRC. Here ends the decision-making authority of the Government. The SRC makes the decisions about the programmes and the funding. In its decision-making, the SRC makes use of the results from independent review panels for scientific quality and societal relevance. The panels consist of both Finnish and international experts. The experts are chosen based on their expertise in the field, not based on their organisations. Officials from ministries or politicians do not participate in the funding decisions.
How are the reviewers briefed?
Research Council of Finland officials brief all reviewers about the objectives, programmes, review process and review questions concerning SRC funding. The independent reviewers review and rate the applications. The SRC makes the funding decisions.
Will the panel review report be available?
Applicants will receive the review report/reports after the decisions have been made.
Can a project also hire researchers without a doctoral degree?
One of the basic pillars of SRC funding is high-quality scientific research. Also, an SRC consortium is reviewed as a whole. That is why the SRC urges teams to hire researchers at the postdoctoral level. The teams may hire staff according to the requirements of the research – and this includes researchers working on their dissertations.
