For doctors starting their independent researcher careers.
Research Group Founder’s Grants are available to early career postdoc researchers who have completed their doctorate. The grants are awarded for projects with particular significance in their field of medicine or dentistry.
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 2025 the grants were between €150,000 and €200,000. 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 of the PI lost as a result of the research period and to cover research-related costs. The grant may also be used to pay the wages of another researcher involved with the project. The founder of the research group must personally work on the same project for at least 50% of their working time during the research period, although their salary may be funded from other sources.
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. Academy of Finland Academy Research Fellow wages may be used as a reference for calculating personal wages.
The Research Group Founder’s Grant is intended to fund full-time research work during the grant periods. 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. Paid part-time work may not exceed 25% of working hours during the research period.
Research Group Founder’s Grants are paid to the host organization and never directly to the grant recipient. For the grant to be awarded, a university, a hospital or equivalent research institution must manage the funds. The funds must be used according to the accounting standards of the research institution. Grants are paid in full to the research institution’s account.
The Foundation pays out the Research Group Founder’s Grants annually and requires the grant recipient to provide annual reports of research progress, including details of how working hours and funds were used compared to the research plan and cost estimate presented in the application. Reporting forms can be found in our Rimbert Grant Service.
The grant must be used within the three calendar years following the grant being awarded. The Foundation’s Board may extend this period based on a separate application. Grants that have not been taken into use during the calendar year following the grant being awarded will be cancelled. Any instalments that have not been taken into use within four full calendar years of the grant being awarded will also be cancelled. There will be no separate notice of cancellations.