Funding by the Ministry of Education and Culture can be used to cover both direct and indirect costs from the projects, incurred from:
Salaries for researchers in the research group
The amount of the salaries applied for must be in proportion to the average salary level of the site of research.
Funding by the Ministry of Education and Culture can be partly used as personal grant. The grant can be used either for an individual researcher working abroad, or for an international co-researcher working in Finland. In these situations, the Academy of Finland’s practices and scope of grants are applied. If the grant is used for working continuously for at least four months in scientific research and the grant intended for work adds up to EUR 4,131 or more (in 2022) when converted into annual earned income, the recipient of the grant must notify the Farmers' Social Insurance Institution (MELA) of the grant. MELA collects pension, occupational accident and group life insurance contributions on the grant for the insured period, i.e. for the period the recipient receives the grant. Tax authorities retroactively collect contributions based on health insurance legislation. These statutory insurance contributions normally amount to around 15 per cent of the total grant.
Other expenses
At its discretion, the Ministry of Education and Culture can also fund other expenses for research projects. Other expenses do not cover the basic facilities of the research site which are paid for, at least in part, with overheads. A clear breakdown of other expenses according to type of expenditure and year must be included in the application:
- materials, supplies and other goods,
- participation in conferences and meetings (maximum of EUR 5,000 per year),
- other expenses (itemised)
The criteria for expenses incurred by attendance at conferences and meetings are an approved scientific presentation at the conference or meeting (approval must be presented when reporting the research to the Ministry of Education and Culture, central position of trust in the organising community or membership in the community bureau).
Overheads (maximum of 15 per cent of the total sum granted)
At most 15 per cent of a grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture may be spent on research project overheads intended to cover the basic requirements of projects receiving research funding. The general basic requirements are the same as those for other research staff at the institution, i.e. access to office and laboratory premises, equipment (incl. computer equipment), and telecommunications, telephone, postal, copying and library services.
The costs of making peer-reviewed articles available for open access immediately are included in the overhead costs of research sites and are therefore one of the basic requirements offered by the sites. The costs of storing and opening research materials are considered part of the overhead costs of the research site, and they can only be approved as research costs covered by research funding for exceptional and justified reasons. The research site must also ensure that the data management plan can be implemented at the site and that the measures comply with good data management practice.
The application must include details of funding received from other sources and funding by the research organisation itself.
Changes in the use of funding
No permission from the Ministry of Education and Culture is needed for minor changes in the research plan. However, permission is required if there is a change of researcher or the site of research, or a significant change in the research plan, for example. Other reasons for changes that significantly impact the execution of the research also require permission from the Ministry, and the application can be submitted in free-form text.
The expenditure types for cost estimates listed in the original application are normative, which means that departure from them is permissible, if this supports the execution of the proposed research plan. However, the recipient must contact the Ministry of Education and Culture where there are any deviations that exceed 15 per cent of cost estimates.
If the recipient of the discretionary government grant has not used the grant during the time for which the grant was awarded, the remaining funds must be reimbursed to the Ministry of Education and Culture. An extension of the expiry date may be granted only for highly compelling reasons. In that case, a well-substantiated application for extension must be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Culture no later than 30 days before the original expiry date for using the funds.
Restrictions
The Ministry of Education and Culture will fund individual research projects beginning in 2023 for a maximum period of three years and to a maximum total amount of EUR 400,000 per project.
Under the Act on Discretionary Government Grants (688/2001), a research project may not receive simultaneous funding for the same purpose from both the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Academy of Finland. If applying for funding simultaneously from the Ministry and the Academy for different sub-areas of an extensive research project, the applicant must submit separate applications to both financing organisations.
They will be processed only if they are not designed to be used to apply for funding for one and the same purpose. Moreover, the applications must include a description of the link between the study in question and the larger project. The basic principle is that basic research associated with the research entity falls with the scope of the Academy of Finland and applied research with the Ministry of Education and Culture.
If the application includes cooperation with Russia or Belarus, the applicant must take into account the Ministry of Education and Culture's guidelines on the matter.
The funding period for the research projects may begin on 01/04/2023 at the earliest. The financial resources may be used in the course of the year in which it was granted and in the successive year. The Ministry of Education and Culture will do its best to reach decisions on the discretionary government grants by March 2023 at the latest.
Those who receive a favourable funding decision are requested to submit a data management plan drawn up in line with these instructions to the Academy of Finland’s registry ([email protected]) within eight weeks of the date of the decision.
As a rule, the Ministry funds an individual research project for a maximum of three years.
Continued financial support is contingent on whether Parliament allocates sufficient funds for sports science research projects, and whether the subsidised project is proceeding according to plan and whether the research has in place a realistic plan for further research.
Government grants may only be used for the purpose for which they have been awarded.
Government grants awarded by the Ministry of Education and Culture may cover at most the share specified in the government grant decision of the total costs incurred from the activities for which the government grant was disbursed or of the actual total costs of the project. The eligible costs are determined in the government grant decision and its appendices.
Per each employee, as eligible costs will be regarded at most an amount corresponding to an annual salary of EUR 80,000 including the statutory indirect labour costs. Salaries may be paid in the form of wages or fringe benefits.
The recipients of government grants must have appropriate financial management and administration practices in place.
The recipients must submit a report on the use of the government grant to the Ministry by the date specified in the government grant decision.
Cost centre-based financial reporting is required of the discretionary government grant recipient if the government grant awarded is a special grant or a general grant intended for a specific part of the activities.
The Ministry of Education and Culture has the right to conduct audits of discretionary government grant recipients’ finances and operations that are necessary for the payment of discretionary government grants and supervision of their use (section 16 of the Act on Discretionary Government Grants).
Government grant recipients must check whether they have the duty to comply with procurement legislation and, if so, then act accordingly. A recipient other than a state authority or local authority or a religious community may also have the duty to arrange competitive tendering of their procurements in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts.
If a government grant recipient meets the attributes of an institution governed by public law (for example, if more than half of its funding comes from a public source), the government grant recipient must comply with the Public Procurement Act in all procurement processes.
If a government grant amounting to more than 50 per cent of the value of a specific procurement is awarded to the recipient, the recipient must comply with the Public Procurement Act in the procurement process.
(Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts 1397/2016).
The Ministry of Education and Culture has outlined that a grant recipient must invite tenders from more than one supplier in such procurement of goods and services whose value is below the national threshold value but exceeds EUR 20,000 exclusive of VAT.
Other terms and conditions also apply to how government grants may be used. For the full list of terms and conditions applicable to government grants, visit (in Finnish).
