Evaluation and decisions

The processing of applications is based on peer review. The evaluators are specialists in research and art, and they change each year. The yearly funding decisions are announced in early December.

How are applications reviewed and grant decisions made in Kone Foundation’s general grant call? (open PDF in a new tab)

Review

The processing of applications is based on peer review. The evaluators are specialists in research and art, and they change each year. The yearly funding decisions are announced in early December.

Kone Foundation typically assigns one evaluator per application. We believe this results in the selection of more artistically and scientifically compelling projects than when reviewed by several evaluators – a process that often requires compromise. In order to guarantee a diversity of perspectives, new peer reviewers are typically assigned each year. The Foundation’s grant specialists are also involved in assessing the feasibility of applicants’ plans.

We do not publish the names of the evaluators, as we wish to allow and encourage the anonymous evaluators to have freedom in making their funding suggestions.

Decisions

The Kone Foundation Board of Trustees will make the funding decisions in late November or early December. The list of grantees will be published on our website in December. The grantees will be notified by email, and their names will be included in the Foundation’s annual report.

Criteria

The Kone Foundation Board of Trustees does not state the reasons for individual funding decisions. Among the criteria used in the reviewing process are the following:

  • The funding decisions are guided by the central values defined in the Foundation’s strategy
  • The application, the attached CVs, and the other relevant documents are used to evaluate the capacities of the applicant(s) to carry out the project successfully
  • In evaluating the work plan, the reviewers focus on scholarly and/or artistic excellence and feasibility
  • With its decisions, the Foundation aims to promote the multifaceted development of Finnish research and the arts.

Protection of privacy

All applications are handled confidentially. Persons involved in processing and evaluating the applications do not publicly discuss any applicant’s characteristics or personal circumstances or any information relating to an applicant’s economic situation.

Information on Kone Foundation’s research grant applicant and recipient register and on implementing one’s right of access can be found online in Kone Foundation’s Privacy Policy Statement.