Fulbright Finland Travel Grants for Research Collaboration

Are you:

Planning a short-term research visit to the U.S.?
Interested in and willing to advance collaboration between your Finnish home institution and a U.S. partner as well as to share information about Finnish-U.S. Fulbright grant opportunities in order to advance that collaboration?

If you answered "yes" on both counts, read further, because this might be a grant for you.

Purpose of the Grant Program

The Fulbright Finland Travel Grants for Research Collaboration are short-term travel grants for researchers from Finland to travel to the United States for a minimum of one week and a maximum of three months. The travel grant supports visits which advance research in the applicant’s field as well as initiating or advancing institutional and research collaboration between Finland and the U.S. Applicants should also be prepared to share information about Fulbright Finland opportunities at their home and host institutions.

While applicants from all fields are eligible please note that Fulbright Finland especially encourages proposals tackling current and/or global challenges, and applications are sought especially from the following three priority areas:

The Arctic
Entrepreneurship
Education

The proposal for the visit should include all of the following three goals:

Initiating and/or advancing collaboration between the Finnish home and U.S. host institution and cooperation between Finland and the U.S. in the specific research area
Sharing information about Finnish-U.S. Fulbright grant opportunities both while in the United States as well as at the home institution in Finland
Advancing the applicant’s own research goals

Examples of activities for the visit may include making contacts, launching collaboration projects, negotiating contracts, attending conventions and conferences, and conducting research. Please note that the grant is not awarded solely for attending a conference. Teaching is possible as well (teaching cannot be the primary purpose of the grant), but candidates need to be aware that for teaching purposes a visa is required and it is the grantees’ own responsibility to obtain a visa. The goals of the visit must be realistic in view of the proposed length of the visit.

Background of the Program

Fulbright Finland has received feedback from Finnish higher education institutions that administrators, students, teachers and researchers on the departmental level at Finnish HEIs are not yet adequately familiar with Fulbright opportunities. On the departmental level there is not enough familiarity with the programs available for U.S. academia to visit Finnish universities or opportunities provided for Finnish scholars and researchers to visit U.S. institutions, and for this reason the institutions may miss out on important opportunities. Fulbright Finland has also received feedback from Finnish university departments that there is a significant need for short-term travel grants for research collaboration with partners in the U.S. The Fulbright Finland Travel Grants for Research Collaboration was founded specifically based on the feedback from the field. It is, in essence, a combined response to these two needs. The first call for applications was made in April 2015.

Benefits

The grant is meant for travel expenses (e.g. transatlantic flights and accommodation costs). The exact grant amount is determined on the basis of the application and the total grant can range up to 4000 euros. Please note that the applicant should be prepared to cover all other costs for the visit by other means.

Selected grantees also participate in the Fulbright Finland pre-departure orientation and receive support services provided by the Fulbright Finland Foundation in Helsinki.

Selected grantees become part of the Fulbright Finland alumni network and can benefit from the support provided by Finnish and U.S. alumni.

Eligibility

Researchers in Finland, including doctoral students, are eligible to apply. Applicants do not need to be Finnish citizens. Applications from doctoral students and young postdoctoral scholars are particularly encouraged. Grantees must travel to the United States within the same calendar year the grant has been awarded, and the first possible departure date is after the Fulbright Finland Pre-Departure Orientation in May.

Grantees with Finnish citizenship should be able to travel to the U.S. under the visa waiver program if the purpose and content of the visit are as described below. Citizens of countries that are not part of the visa waiver program need a Business (B1) visa.

Recipients of this Travel Grant are eligible to apply for another Fulbright Finland grant one year after the date of completion of the travel grant. Respectively, recipients of a Fulbright grant from the Fulbright Finland Foundation can apply for a Fulbright Finland Travel Grant for Research only after at least one full year after the completion of the Fulbright grant.

How to Apply?

Please send the completed application form as well as the required supplements to Fulbright Finland, office(at)fulbright.fi, in one file by the application deadline.

Application form (pdf)

Please note that all the documents attached to your application need to be converted to a basic PDF file (no advanced file formats such as PDF Portfolios).

Required supplements:

Curriculum Vitae
U.S. host institution invitation (email invitation is sufficient)
Home university recommendation
- In addition to evaluating your professional work, the recommendation should describe the potential for collaboration between the home and host institution and the suitability of the applicant for the role of being an ambassador of Finland, his/her host institution, and the Fulbright Finland program.

The recommendation can be, for example, from the Dean of the Faculty, Head of Department, or other as appropriate (doctoral students should have their supervisor’s recommendation).

Timeline
Application deadline	March 3, 2019
Interviews in Helsinki	April 10, 2019
Selection results published	In late April 2019
Compulsory Fulbright Finland Pre-Departure Orientation for the selected grantees going to the U.S.	May 14, 2019 (full day)

Application period for visits in 2019 has ended!

The grantees are required to submit a final report and results to Fulbright Finland within 14 days upon the completion of the visit. Fulbright Finland will also send a follow-up inquiry one year after the visit on continuing home and host institution collaboration and Fulbright Finland information sharing at the Finnish home institution.