Frequently Asked Questions

WHO CAN APPLY for grants?

WHICH GRANT should I apply for?

Question: I am a Master of Health Sciences graduate. Can Encouragement Grants be awarded to people with other medicine-related degrees, not just medical doctors and students?

  • Finnish Medical Foundation Grants are only available to medical doctors, dentists, and students of medicine or dentistry.

Question: I have applied for an Eka Grant. Can I also apply for an Encouragement Grant or a four-month Research Grant?

  • No. At each application round, only one grant may be applied for. The Kauppila Fund Grants are an exception and may be applied for in addition to other grants.

Question: Can I apply for one of the Foundation’s grants if I have previously applied for and been awarded a grant from the Postdoc Pool? The Pool grant only covers part of the costs, and I would like to apply for a Foundation grant as well, if possible.

  • The Foundation does not award further grants simultaneously with a Postdoc Pool grant.

Question: The Encouragement Grant is available to “young” researchers working on a doctoral thesis – what does “young” mean? Is there an age limit, or does it refer to being early in your research career?

  • Young researcher means early career researcher and does not refer to age.

Question: Should grant applications completed online also be printed and sent out to the Finnish Medical Foundation?

  • Grants are not sent via mail. All applications are sent in through the online service.

EKA GRANTS

Question: Should the application specify how the money is to be spent?

  • Eka Grants and Encouragement Grants do not require a breakdown of grant usage.

Question: If you apply for an Eka Grant, can it be transferred into e.g. an Encouragement Grant if that is a “better fit”?

  • No transfers will be made. Applicants must know which grant they are applying for. If you have no publications, apply for an Eka Grant; if you’ve been published, apply for an Encouragement Grant.

Question: Should Eka Grant applications include literary references?

  • Literary references are not necessary.

Question: Should the thesis subject be submitted before applying for an Eka Grant?

  • Submitting is not mandatory.

Question: If the public defence of a thesis takes place during the application period, can and should Eka or Encouragement Grants be applied for?

  • Applying is not possible, as the thesis will have been finished before May 31.

ENCOURAGEMENT GRANTS

Question:  I am applying for an Encouragement Grant for working on a doctoral thesis. Should the application include information about a specific research project or the research plan for the entire thesis?

  • Include a research plan for the project you hope to be funded. If you want funding for the thesis, include the thesis research plan; if you seek funding for a smaller project, include the research plan for that project.

RESEARCH GRANTS

Question: Can the research plan be in English?

  • The research plan may be submitted in English, while the rest of the application should be in Finnish. It is advisable to include a brief summary of the research plan in Finnish.

Question: I have been awarded an eight-month Research Grant, which I am currently using on a 50% basis, spending half the week on clinical work and half on research. Can I apply for the grant term to be cancelled if I’m unable to spend the awarded grant in its entirety? Should I suspend the research, I would naturally return the unused portion of the grant.

  • There are no rules for cancelling a grant term before it ends, due to the general principle that grants are awarded based on applications and that receiving the grant is subject to completing the research described in the application.

Question: Can Research Grants be used on drug or laboratory costs?

  • Yes, as long as the length of the research period corresponds to the awarded grant.

Question: I have understood that 25% of working hours may be spent on other paid work during the research period. Does this apply to the whole four-month period or each month separately?

  • Research Grant guidelines state that a maximum of 25% of working hours may be spent on other paid work during the research period. The purpose is to ensure that applicants can concentrate full-time on research work. The Foundation wishes that any additional work should be divided evenly across the research period.
  • Since 2021, the Research Grant may, at the applicant’s request, also be paid to a research institution for onward payment to the recipient as a salary. The Foundation aims to make conducting research with the support of funding as flexible as possible. A requirement for receiving funding paid as a salary is full-time research work during the grant period defined by the applicant. Applicants are required to provide a letter of support from the hospital.

RETURNING RESEARCHER GRANTS

Question: Can I apply for Returning Researcher Grants afterwards?

  • No – the applicant must still be abroad when the application process is started.

RESEARCH GROUP FOUNDER’S GRANT

Question: In the Research Group Founder Grant application form, the basic information section has a space for the total costs of the project. I am only applying to cover the wages during an 18-month project, with no other costs. Should I insert the annual wage for each year without additional costs, or should this section already include a total of all costs stated by the university, including incidental costs, etc.?

  • Please include all costs, making a note of the incidental costs.

Question: Research Group Founder’s Grants are available to early career researchers. By separate request from the applicant, the grant may also be used to cover the wages of another researcher working on the project. The project leader already has an established research career and works primarily on research, not on clinical work. Does this matter if the grant is intended to pay for the wages of additional research staff?

  • A requirement for receiving the Research Group Founder’s Grant is that the applicant must conduct at least 50% of their working time in full-time research during the year (a total of 18 months over three years). The grant may be used for the applicant’s own salary, the costs of the research group, and the salaries of personnel working in the group. The PI must personally work at least 50% of their time in the project, but their salary may be funded from other sources.

Question: The guidelines state that the research plan may be a maximum of 10 pages. Should the publication list, CV, cost estimate, and funding plan be included within these 10 pages?

  • The research plan including appendices may be a maximum of 10 pages. In addition, the application must include a CV and publication list, which together may be a maximum of 5 pages. If the research plan is written in English, it is advisable to include a short summary in Finnish.

PAYMENT

Question: When exactly are the funds paid out?

  • Payment date is when the Foundation makes a payment to the account provided by the grant recipient.
  • The first possible payment date for grants awarded by the Medical Foundation is January of the year following the application year. Some of the Encouragement Grants are awarded by Duodecim, and these grants are paid already in the application year, in November.

ABANDONED RESEARCH

Question: What if the research is abandoned?

  • If the research is abandoned, we will evaluate the situation on a case-by-case basis. In such cases we will request a report of how the grant was used and what it accomplished.

MULTIPLE GRANTS IN A SINGLE APPLICATION?

Question: Can I apply for multiple grants in a single application?

  • In a single application round, you may apply for only one type of grant.

  • An exception to this is the grants from the Leena and Olavi Kauppila Fund, which may be applied for in addition to another grant. If you apply for two different grants, a separate application must be submitted for each.

  • If you have already started filling in an application and wish to change it to apply for a different type of grant, you must first delete the application you have already started.

  • Tip: Some questions include a capital “i” icon. By clicking it, you can find help or tips for answering the question.
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