Grant Application Guidelines

Individuals, working groups, and organizations can apply for grants for the year 2025. Research groups can apply for a three-year period from 2025 to 2027. The thematic special project for the period is “Innovation, Commercialization and Growth,” a key development area for enhancing Finland’s competitiveness.

Focus Area

The grant focus areas confirmed by the Delegation of the Liikesivistysrahaston Kannatusyhdistys ry support the long-term growth of Finland’s economy, entrepreneurship, and business. The focus area is optional, and the applicant can also designate his/her own emphasis. The focus area will be registered according to the applicant’s choice.

👉 Read more about the focus areas

Thematic Call 2024: Innovation, Commercialization and Growth 

Liikesivistysrahasto’s thematic special project for 2024-2026 focuses on a key development area for enhancing Finland’s competitiveness. The aim is to support high-quality business research, particularly related to the commercialization of business innovations and services, as well as their successful scaling in international markets. The applicant responds to questions regarding the special project on the application form. Otherwise, the application will be evaluated based on general criteria.

👉 Read more about the thematic special project

Research Group Applications

The Foundation for Economic Education encourages research groups to carry out pioneering research, and to collect and acquire new data and databases. The aim is to integrate research into innovation ecosystems. Research groups led by a Principal Investigator (PI) can apply for a three-year grant.

👉 Read more from the research group application instructions

Special Fund Applications

In the special fund application call, applicants can target their application to a designated purpose fund or pool of their choice. Grants from these funds are allocated according to the criteria set by donors for specific fields of research or educational applicant groups.

👉 Read more from the special fund application instructions

Application Attachments

Attachments that complement the information in the application forms are an essential part of the application and its content. The following three attachments are mandatory for all applicants:

• Project description (1 page, A4): Concisely outline the project’s topic, expected results, significance for research, and benefits to Finnish business (or other societal relevance), along with a cost estimate.
• Research and funding plan: For research grants, the plan should follow general research plan structures. For targeted grants, the plan should include a detailed project description (e.g., an abstract of a conference presentation), significance, objectives, and expected benefits. The funding section must adhere to the information provided in the application forms and specify how the grant will be used in the project. The annual grant for research work is intended to cover the researcher’s living expenses during the grant period.
• Applicant’s CV: Individual applicant or the person responsible for a work group / Research group’s PI (including CVs of all group members in one document) / Person responsible for anorganization’s or a partnership’s project.

Supervisor’s Statement

A statement from the supervising professor is particularly important for doctoral researchers and early-stage postdoctoral researchers. The supervisor submits the statement in the electronic reference system by 31 August 2024, at 24:00 (UTC +3). The statement can be in Finnish or English.

Grant Purpose

Individuals and research groups can apply for working grants for doctoral research or post-doctoral research. In addition to research grant, a separate application can be submitted for one conference trip. The research group is a separate purpose, where the grant includes doctoral and postdoctoral researchers working within the group.

In addition to conference trips, targeted (cost) grants include research visits or study trips, as well as organizing conferences or seminars. Especially organizations can apply for target grants to organize conferences. Applicants can also specify other use of the grant. We encourage the establishment of international research consortia/networks, especially through international collaboration among researchers and research groups.

Duration of the Grant Period

Grants are awarded for projects to be carried out in 2025 as working grants or targeted grants. The duration of personal working grants ranges from 4 to 12 months. Research group grants are for a three-year period from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027. The Principal Investigator (PI) of a research group will specify the planned working periods of the members for the three-year period, ranging from 12 to 36 months.

Targeted grants, including conference trips, conference and seminar organization, and research visits or other study trips, can commence from October 1, 2024.

Grant Size

The 12-month full-time working grants in the 2024 application round are:

• Doctoral research: €26,000
• Post-doctoral research: €30,000
• Doctoral and post-doctoral researchers can also apply for one conference or travel grant with a separate application.
• Three-year research group grant: €150,000–300,000 (€50,000–150,000 per year). The application is submitted by the research group’s PI.

Working grants include statutory Myel pension insurance and other work-related expenses. Other costs are itemized on the form and in the research and funding plan. The amount of the grant awarded depends on the purpose, the duration of the period applied for, possible employment or study leaves, and other funding sources indicated in the project’s funding plan.

Other Application  Criteria

• The project plan for a research group may include the acquisition of data (e.g., statistics, market/industry analyses). In other grants, data acquisition is typically part of the work itself (qualitative methods).
• If applying for a project for which the Foundation for Economic Education has already awarded a grant in the previous round, an interim report must be submitted as an attachment to the application (see the “Application Attachments” section).
• Virtual Conferences: While we encourage traditional conference organization for the purpose of conference or seminar funding, applying for grants for virtual or hybrid arrangements (participation both physically and online) may be necessary with appropriate justifications.

Application Process and Grant Decisions

The evaluation of applications by the scientific experts and regional committees of the Foundation for Economic Education is carried out in stages during the autumn of the application year. The Foundation for Economic Education decides on the grants based on the proposal prepared by the Scholarship Committee in November, after which a list of grants is published on the Foundation’s website by the end of the month. A notification of the awarded grants will also be sent to the major regional newspapers. Recipients will receive a grant confirmation in email. The Foundation for Economic Education does not provide individual feedback on grant decisions.

Researcher Blog

It is important to communicate to a broader audience what is achieved with the grants awarded by the Foundation for Economic Education. Upon request, researchers should write about their projects on the Fund’s blog. The blog enhances the visibility of the project within the broad network of business studies. Authors are asked to provide a short introduction of themselves and their research along with a photo with their first blog post. Illustrations related to the text can be included by sending them along with the post.

Contact and additional information: apurahat(at)lsr.fi