Apply now from the Academy of Finland: FIRI, SRC and programme funding

The April Call of the Academy of Finland is open until 25.4.2018. The exception is the research infrastructure call, which closes on 22.5. Note that the Aalto’s internal deadline for all FIRI applications is on 3.4. In addition, there is a supplementary call for Strategic Research Council.
 

In April 2018, the following funding can be applied for:

1. FIRI 2018 call for research infrastructures
2. Strategic Research Council (SRC) programme call “Keys to Sustainable Growth”, the call for letters of intent
3. Media and Society (MediaSoc) programme, the call for letters of intent
4. Mineral Resources and Material Substitution (MISU) programme call
5. ICT 2023: Beyond 5G Systems programme call
6. Funding to National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate fellows for research in Finland

1. FIRI 2018 call for research infrastructures

• Aalto has an internal procedure before the proposals can be submitted to the Academy. The same procedure concerns proposals coordinated by Aalto as well as joint proposals of several organizations without Aalto being the responsible party. The Aalto internal deadline is on April 3, 2018. If you are preparing a FIRI proposal, please contact the research liaison officer or grant writer of your school.
• More information about the Aalto internal procedure here.
• The call is intended both for roadmap infrastructures (Call 1) and new openings (Call 2).
• The funding is primarily allocated to investment costs at the construction phase and to significant upgrading of existing infrastructures.
• The infrastructures that will be funded have national relevance, broad range of users, openness in the use of the infrastructure, co-operate with other universities, technological and other advancement of the infrastructure etc. Local infrastructures or the acquisition of single equipment will not be funded.
• The Academy is prepared to fund research infrastructures with a total of EUR 20 million in this call.

2. Supplementary Strategic Research Council call “Keys to Sustainable Growth”, letters of intent

• The programme is part of the Finnish Government’s strategic research theme for 2018, Reform or Wither – Resources and Solutions, which calls for research into the best ways of supporting change and reform in society and creating favourable conditions for such renewal.
• The idea is to find research consortia that present new combinations of expertise and non-traditional forms of collaboration between disciplines. The applicants should present a concrete objective and a vision in support of sustainable societal growth, a research-based plan to implement them, and an impactful interaction plan.
• In the SRC call, a consortium can apply for funding if it includes minimum three subprojects, it consists of a minimum two organisations and it involves at least three fields of science.
• The funding is granted according to full cost model and the Academy´s funding share is 100 %.
• The funding period is five (3+2) years.
• The budget for the first funding period is 14.5 million euros. The SRC will most likely provide funding to 3–5 consortia in total.
   

3. Media and Society (MediaSoc) programme, the call for letters of intent

• The programme’s multidisciplinary approach will aim to identify, analyse and explain relevant social concepts, phenomena and trends, and to open up horizons for new solutions and choices in present-day society.
• The programme has two interconnected and intersecting research themes:
  • Theme 1: The relationship between media and society
  • Theme 2: Technology in media transition
• Individual projects may apply for a maximum of 500,000 euros and consortia a maximum of 1 million euros.
• The programme memorandum here.
   

4. Mineral Resources and Material Substitution (MISU) programme call for international projects

• The aim is to support long-term international research collaboration in the field of mineral resources with a view to promoting the creation and strengthening of collaborative research networks.
• Applications are invited from the following research topics:
  • Chemical and physical processes for beneficiation of complex minerals
  • Mine site waste management
  • Utilising geophysical and geochemical methods in mine site planning (excl. prospecting)
• Each project may apply for no more than 350,000 euros in Academy funding. The Academy is prepared to fund up to four projects with a total amount of 1 million euros.
• The programme memorandum here

5. ICT 2023: Beyond 5G Systems programme call

• The programme will fund the basic research and new openings beyond 5G systems. The aim is to further improve Finland’s scientific expertise in computer science and to promote the extensive application of ICT.
• The possible research themes can be e.g.: Autonomous everything; Digitalisation; Enhancing human capabilities with ICT; Life science informatics; Materials informatics; Networked control systems; Network security and privacy; New computational paradigms; Programmable world and advanced software techniques
• The Academy’s preliminary budget for this call is a total of 5 million euros.
• The programme memorandum here
   

6. Funding to National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate fellows for research in Finland

• Funding to be applied for from the Academy for the graduate research fellows approved by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for coming to work in Finland.
• Graduate Research Fellows needs to be hosted by the Academy funded projects.