Research group application instructions

The Foundation for Economic Education encourages research groups to carry out pioneering research and to compile and acquire new materials and databases. The aim is to integrate research into innovation ecosystems. The three-year research group grant can be applied for by groups of individuals led by a Principal Investigator (PI). Please note the following research group application criteria:

The application is submitted by and the person responsible for it is the PI (Principal Investigator) of the research group

• The PI is employed by a domestic university or other host organization, in which case the PI himself does not work on the project with the research group grant (cost shares are possible for the PI).
• The PI names all the researcher members and defines their working months and the corresponding grant contributions.
• The researcher members working on the grant can be from different organizations but in the project, they join the group’s host organization.

The three-year grant to be applied for is EUR 150,000─EUR 300,000 (EUR 50,000─EUR 150,000 / year)

• The size of the researcher member’s grant share follows the annual grant level for post doc and PhD research as announced by the Foundation for Economic Education (PhD research EUR 26,000 and Post doctoral research EUR 30,000).
• The application budget breaks down the working shares of all researcher members and the common expenses of the research group.
• The shares of the research group members are divided in the grant payment as personal grants to the researchers.
• The group’s shared expenses are paid to the host organization. Note, that no percentual overhead is used.

The research group’s three-year grant application is submitted by the research / working group’s application form

• The application must state any supplementary salary funding of the group members as well as other tasks and time allocations during the grant period.
• The community or cooperation network cannot apply for a research group grant.
• The Foundation for Economic Education can also award shorter grant periods from the applications.

Pay special attention to the application attachments!

• The one-page (A4) project brochure summarizes the research topic, the desired results, their significance for the research in one’s own discipline, and the benefit to the Finnish business and the society. It is recommended to present the main points of the cost budget.
• The research and funding plan is 5–8 pages long. The plan includes free-form sections on communication and publications as well as international networks, e.g., building a research consortium/network and the roles of senior researchers.
  • Foreign research group members are encouraged to inquire about additional funding opportunities from their respective country’s grant foundations as part of the project led by the Principal Investigator (PI). The research and funding plan should specify from which research funding sources foreign researchers will receive or intend to apply for supplementary funding.
• The CVs of the PI and the group members are submitted as one attached file.