Frequently asked questions

The decisions about the annual grant call are announced in December. We will send an email about the decisions to all grant applicants. In addition, the grant recipients will receive a letter of notification by mail. We will also publish the names of grant recipients on our website and in our annual report.

An applicant can apply for more than one grant. However, this must be mentioned on each application (application section “Other funding”). Please also mention if you are applying for a grant for the same purpose from elsewhere.

If several applications from the same applicant are successful in the evaluation, we will usually not award funding to more than one application. Short working grants in working groups that do not result in duplicate grant payments are possible on a case-by-case basis. If you are involved in more than one project for which funding is requested, you can clarify the possible overlap in the research/work plan. 

If you are an individual applicant and applying for working grant for several different projects, please apply for funding for these on the same application. Please describe your projects in the work plan.

The application and attachments can be in Finnish, Swedish or English.  Certificates may be in languages other than those mentioned above. 

A personal monthly grant is for individuals doing scholarly or artistic work. Such grants are paid directly to the grantees. The size of the personal monthly grant varies, depending on experience. Other expenses can include travel or materials, for example. Please note: compensation for work lasting less than a month, such as a performance fee, must be applied for under other expenses, not as a monthly grant. When applying for a grant to cover fees and salary expenses, the applicant must remember to take taxes and side costs into consideration.

Please remember to apply for a personal monthly grant and other expenses with the same application. It is also possible to apply for only a personal monthly grant or other expenses. It is important to draw up a realistic budget estimate for the other costs.

The amount of the personal monthly grant varies depending on the stage of your career. If the applicant applies for the larger monthly grant, such as grant 2 or 3, a description of the applicant’s career stage must be included in the application.

Grant classifications for the grant call 2023 onwards are:

Grant 1: early career applicants and those working on their doctoral thesis €2,700/month (€32,400/year)

Grant 2: mid-career applicants (min. 10 years of artistic work) and those working at the post-doctoral level €3,200/month (€38,400/year)

Grant 3: late career applicants (min. 20 years of artistic work) and experienced researchers (e.g., adjunct professor level, “dosentti” in the Finnish academic system) €3,800/month (€45,600/year).

Grants for individuals are mainly  not awarded for work lasting less than 6 months. Working groups or organisations have a minimum of 1 month for each individual working grant.

Grants can be applied for part-time work (25%, 50% or 75% of full grant).

Previous funding from Kone Foundation does not prevent you from receiving a new funding. However, previous funding decision does not guarantee further funding. Therefore we strongly recommend to apply for funding  for the entire duration of the project in a single application. The Foundation awards funding in the annual grant call for up to four years. After this (at the latest), funding must be applied for from somewhere else. Also, the total duration of a consecutive funding is max. four years.

Kone Foundation does not have a separate call or system for continuation applications. All applications will be evaluated based on the same criteria. The evaluator can not see the previous application or attachments.

If you are applying for funding for the same project, your work/research plan should provide a brief account of what has been accomplished during the previous Kone Foundation funding period and the project’s current status.

Funding for the project can also be applied for elsewhere than from Kone Foundation. Especially in the case of art organisations’ large applications (min. EUR 100 000), allocated to the activities of the organisation, it is recommended that the project also has other sources of funding.

Clearly indicate on the application form and, when appropriate, in the budget, for which purposes and and for what period of time the project is applying for and receiving funding from elsewhere. Please inform the Foundation if the applied funding will be confirmed before Kone Foundation’s grant decisions in December.

Kone Foundation only awards grants for researchers who have already earned their master’s degree. Grants are not awarded for studies or practical training.

Yes, grants can be awarded for people working outside Finland if there is a connection to Finland (theme or the work includes participants based in Finland). Payments can also be made to foreign bank accounts.

Yes, you can. You do not have to be in a doctoral programme to apply. Please remember to submit a copy of your master’s degree certificate and a reference to your application. The certificate can be submitted until 15 November. You can read more about attachments here.

You can apply for a grant if you send your degree certificate or permission to defend your thesis using the online application service by 15 November.

If you are an individual applicant, you may apply for a grant either for your doctoral thesis (grant level 1) or post-doc research (grant level 2). Please note: If you are applying for a post-doc research grant, the permission for the public defence of academic dissertation must be submitted through the online grant service by 15 November.

If you are part of a research group, you (or the project leader) can apply for a grant for your doctoral thesis (grant level 1) and post-doc research (grant level 2) on the same application. Please note that we start to pay grant level 2 (post-doc) after you have defended your academic dissertation or completed your degree in a doctoral school outside of Finland.

For individuals doing scholarly or artistic work, Kone Foundation only awards grants, not funding for salaries. These are paid directly to grantees.

Research assistants can be hired to do salaried work in grant projects paid through the university.

For individuals doing scholarly or artistic work, Kone Foundation awards grants. This also applies for project leaders that do artistic work / research in the project.

We understand that it is not always possible to know all the names of those who will work in the group. In that case, please tick the option “unnamed” on the application form. Also, please add the number of months the unnamed grantee will be working and their role in the project.

Yes. The budget attachment must include the overhead being applied for. Use the field “Other expenses” on the online application form. Please note that Kone Foundation typically does not award more than 15% overhead, and overhead is only paid toward other expenses, not grants.

A portfolio showcases an artist’s ability in their relevant field. A portfolio should demonstrate the applicant’s level of artistic expression, quality of artistic thinking and any other notable proficiency that the applicant finds relevant to mention. You can also compile your portfolio on your own website and include the link in your application.

The maximum length of the research proposal or work plan for individual applicants is 4 pages, including the bibliography. For group projects, the maximum length is 8 pages.

Please create a new username.

The best way for a reference to provide a letter is through the link sent directly from the online application form. If you receive a paper copy, please scan and attach it to your application as a PDF by 15 September, 16:00 (Finnish time).

As a general rule, Kone Foundation awards the amount needed to carry out the project. For justified reasons, we may award less funding or for a shorter period than the applicant has applied for. We encourage long-term work in both research and the arts.

We usually recommend that working groups and organisations applying for larger project funding in the arts (min. 150 000 euros), contact the Foundation’s application advice before submitting an application. For larger grants, this will streamline the processing of applications at the time of application period. 

Projects that combine research and art must include genuine collaboration. At least the following are possible:

• Artistic research.
• A research project that addresses questions relevant for academic research while doing artistic work related to the topic.
• A research project in which art makes visible the results of academic research.
• An art project in which researchers contribute in the knowledge creation.

If, on the other hand, an artist makes an artistic work using scientific results or a research project is documented for example using photography, the foundation does not call it a research and art project.

Read more about research and art cooperation at Kone Foundation here

Unfortunately, we do not provide reasons for individual grant decisions. The Foundation receives a large number of excellent applications each year. In recent years, Kone Foundation has received over 6,000 applications for any given year and is thus unable to provide funding for the majority of them.