Guidelines for grantees

General instructions

• The research grant can only be used for costs indicated in the application. Any changes to the intended use should be agreed in writing with the Cancer Foundation.
• We will send the official grant letters to the grantees a few days after the grant decisions have been made.
• If you have questions about the Cancer Foundation’s grants, please contact us at [email protected].

Payment of grants

All grants are paid to the bank accounts of the universities or research organisations concerned. Only dissertation grants and travel grants are paid to the grantee’s own bank account.

In the grant letter, you will receive instructions on how to provide the Cancer Foundation with your necessary personal details, personal identity code, bank account information and payment reference. You should also indicate whether you are affiliated with or a related party to the Cancer Foundation.

Research grants are paid in equal instalments: the first instalment in January and subsequent instalments automatically every six months (June and January). On research grants exceeding 10 000 euros, sites of research may charge overhead costs corresponding to 15%. Dissertation and travel grants are paid in a single instalment.

If you do not provide the necessary payment information within one year of the funding decision, the grant will be returned to the Cancer Foundation, unless otherwise agreed.

Notifying the Tax Administration

In line with the Finnish Tax Administration’s decision, the Cancer Foundation will notify the Tax Administration of all grants equal to or exceeding 1 000 euros and provide details on the grantees. In order to make this notification we need your personal identity code.

The notification sent by the Cancer Foundation only concerns the grantee. It is the responsibility of the research team to file a tax return on grants awarded to members of the team from the Cancer Foundation grant. For more information, visit www.vero.fi/en.

Social security and notification obligation

The insurance obligation under Finnish law applies to all persons covered by the Finnish social security system who have received a Finnish personal grant for at least four months of scientific work in Finland (working grant) amounting to at least 4,605 euros in four months (in 2025).

The Cancer Foundation will submit the necessary grantee notification to the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (Mela, which also handles the affairs of grant recipients). As the grantee, you must contact Mela to take out any necessary insurances. It is the responsibility of the research team to notify grants awarded to members of the team from the Cancer Foundation grant. For more information, visit www.mela.fi/en.

Reporting

There are two ways to report on the results obtained with the grant:

1. When applying for a new grant, you must report on the results obtained with previous grants and on the progress of the research in the relevant section of the application form.
2. You must report on your results annually in Researchfish, based on a request sent by the Cancer Foundation. The first report is requested approximately one year after the first instalment has been paid. The Cancer Foundation uses the Researchfish system to monitor the results and impact of research it has supported through grants.

If you have been awarded a dissertation grant, you must send us information on the date of the public examination of the dissertation and, where possible, a permanent link to the online version of the doctoral thesis. No other reporting or accounts are required.

Final settlement

You can deliver the final accounts concerning the use of the grant to the Cancer Foundation immediately after the end of the grant period but no later than 14 months after it has ended.

If there is unused grant money at the end of the funding period, you may use the money one calendar year after the end of the period. If there is still money left over after one year, the Cancer Foundation may for justified reasons extend your grant period based on a written application addressed to the Foundation.

Provide the final settlement on the Cancer Foundation’s form (see bottom of page). In the form, you must specify how the grant has been used. The original documents or financial reports appended to the final settlement shall cover the entire grant that was paid.

In the settlement, you confirm with your signature that the grant was used appropriately and according to the budget. If necessary, we may request additional information.

We may require that the grant be returned if you fail to provide a final settlement. Failure to account for the use of an awarded grant within the given deadlines may prevent you from being awarded grants in the future.

The obligation to provide a final settlement does not apply to dissertation grants, as they are personal grants.

Travel grants

Travel grants awarded by the Cancer Foundation may not be used for daily allowances (per diem). The travel grants are paid in a single instalment based on hotel bills, conference fees or equivalent original receipts. Make sure that the original documents display the currency. Please send your travel claim form no later than six months after travelling. The Cancer Foundation will only reimburse expenses incurred during the period specified in the call text.

Please include all travel expenses in the invoice, even if the final sum exceeds the granted amount. Also indicate on the invoice if any other institution pays for part of your expenses. The Cancer Foundation will not reimburse costs that have already been reimbursed by another institution, but we may also pay the travel grant into the account of a research organisation.

If the grant will not cover all travel expenses, we can, on request, provide a breakdown of the costs reimbursed by the Cancer Foundation.

Communication guidelines

When referring to the grant in your communications, we hope that you will take into account the following:

The grant has been awarded by Cancer Foundation Finland sr (in Finnish ‘Syöpäsäätiö sr’, in Swedish ‘Cancerstiftelsen sr’).

We also encourage you to notify any interesting research findings to the Cancer Foundation’s Communications Department at [email protected].