For doctors starting their independent researcher careers.
Research Group Founder Grants are available to early career researchers who have completed their doctorate. The grants are awarded for projects with particular significance in the field of medicine.
The grant may be awarded for a continuous period of three years, starting from the beginning of the year following the grant being awarded. In 2018 the grants were between 175,000 and 240,000 EUR. A maximum of 10% of the grant amount may be used on general costs.
Professors, docents and other senior researchers are not eligible for these grants.
The grant is intended to make up for earnings lost as a result of the research period and to cover research-related costs. By separate request, the grant may also be used to pay the wages of another researcher involved with the project.
The applicant must present a plan of how the grant will be used, including a breakdown of wage costs and other research costs as well as the total costs and overall funding of the project.
If the grant recipient is on leave of absence during the research period, the grant may only be used to cover wages up to the amount the researcher would receive during their leave of absence. In other cases, Academy of Finland Academy Research Fellow wages may be used as a reference for calculating personal wages.
The Research Group Founder Grant is intended to fund full-time research work. The grant and annual payments are subject to the applicant working full-time on research enabled by the Foundation’s grant, in clearly defined periods normally covering six months a year and a total of 18 months over three years. Part-time research work covering at least 50% of working hours is also possible, in which case the minimum research period will be extended accordingly. The wages paid to the researcher from the grant may not exceed 5,000 EUR per month. Paid part-time work may not exceed 25% of working hours during the research period.
Research Group Founder Grants are never paid directlyto the grant recipient. For the grant to be awarded, a university or equivalentinstitution must manage the funds and the funds must be used according toprinciples or economic guidelines approved by the research institution. Grantsawarded post-2012 are paid in full to the research institution’s account.
The Foundation pays out Research Group Founder Grantsannually and requires the grant recipient to provide annual reports of research progress, including details of howworking hours and funds were used compared to the research plan and costestimate presented in the application. Reporting forms can be found in our GrantService.
The grant must be used within the three calendar yearsfollowing the grant being awarded. The Foundation’s Board may extend thisperiod based on a separate application. Grants that have not been taken intouse during the calendar year following the grant being awarded will becancelled. Any instalments that have not been taken into use within four fullcalendar years of the grant being awarded will also be cancelled. There will beno separate notice of cancellations.