How do I apply if I have an international work group? Can I apply for the grant for projects other than research projects? We gathered some of the most frequently asked questions and answered them.
On 16 June, we held an online information session regarding the upcoming Nessling Foundation grant call. You can view a recording of the event here. Before the event, we collected questions about the grant call from the participants and compiled them in this article along with their answers.
Tip! If you are wondering whether your project is a good candidate for Nessling Foundation funding, we recommend looking over the projects we have financed previously. You can filter the list by project type or search term.
Applications for our grant call are open from 16 August to 17 September 2021. Join the Nessling Foundation in building an ecologically sustainable future!
We are applying for funding for a study carried out in Nigeria. Is it possible to receive funding for a collaborative effort like this?
The projects do not need to involve Finland alone because the phenomenon-based approach is often global by nature. However, the results of the projects that receive funding must be applicable to decision making in Finnish society and support Finland’s environmental goals.
How do I apply if I have an international work group?
The research grant is only granted to individuals. We do not give grants to groups. The project may, of course, involve a work group. In this case, the application should describe the roles of each member and specify which role is applying for the grant.
What factors should be taken into account in the application if the study deals with global themes?
The application needs to take into account that the project findings must be applicable to decision making in Finnish society or otherwise support Finland’s environmental goals.
If I am working in one area of a multidisciplinary project, should I focus more on describing my own research or the entire project in the application?
We recommended that you describe what the entirety of the project is related to, but the application should, first and foremost, explain where the money is to be used.
Can I apply for the grant for projects other than research projects?
The project may concern any activity in which research knowledge is applied to practice, such as art. Please visit https://nessling.fi/grants-2/funded-projects/?lang=en for examples (by clicking on the “Aim” column you can filter the results and only show, for example, projects implementing research knowledge).
The project must involve collaboration between the parties who generate and utilise the knowledge as well as participatory procedures.
Within what time period must the projects applying for a grant take place?
The project must commence in 2022. The grant may be used for a maximum of two years longer than the planned overall duration of the project. For example, the grant may be distributed – for a special reason and with regard to breaks – over a maximum of three years for projects taking place over one year and six years for projects taking place over four years.
Can I apply for the grant for a book project that explores in plain language how every one of us may fight climate change and loss of biodiversity in our immediate environment?
The implementation project must include collaboration between researchers and operators. If the book project in question includes collaboration with researchers and you can explain how the book project will activate people to take action, you may apply for a grant.
I finished my doctoral dissertation in March 2016. May I apply for the two-year postdoctoral grant?
People who finished their doctoral dissertations on 1 January 2016 or later may apply for the two-year postdoctoral grant.
May the postdoctoral grant be applied for by a small work group, such as two people who have a clear division of work around the same topic?
Two postdoctoral researchers from different disciplines may apply for a grant for the same project using separate applications. However, the applications must explain the connection and whether the funding is dependent on receiving the other grant.
In the application instructions it says that “educational environment” is one of the main funding criteria for research projects. It is not clear to me what educational environment means. Could you please elaborate on that? Thanks!
With educational environment in this context we mean the environment you are conducting your doctoral thesis in: your institution, possible research group, your thesis supervisor etc. Supervisors will receive an email requesting them to send a letter of recommendation. The recommendation of doctoral thesis supervisors is mandatory and the recommendation must be submitted by the latest two weeks after the application deadline.
Can a researcher from the business and industrial management scope apply?
Yes, of course. Environmental challenges are multidisciplinary phenomena, which means that no scientific field can be excluded from our search for solutions. Rather, we encourage researchers to engage in forms of collaboration that break the boundaries of science!
