Returning researcher grant - Estonian Research Council

What do we support?
What is the objective of the grant?
What is the grant amount?
How long is the grant period?
What are the requirements for the applicant?
Specific requirements for enterprises
When may a grant be applied for?
What are applications evaluated on?
Guidelines for grant applications 2023
Evaluation guidelines 2023
Application form template 2023
Frequently asked questions
Documents and results
Additional resources
Contact

The call for applications is open from 2 January to 2 February 2023 at 17:00 (Estonian time). NB! Please check the deadlines of the host institution as well!

What do we support?

We support the return to Estonia of researchers – Estonian citizens or current/former Estonian residents – who have been working outside Estonia. The prerequisites are postdoctoral fellowship or an equivalent level of research completed abroad.

What is the objective of the grant?

The grant is provided with the aim of balancing and encouraging brain circulation through returning researcher grants.

The Estonian state attaches importance both to international researchers coming to Estonia to work and to the return of Estonian researchers who have gone abroad to work, to facilitate the application of knowledge and experience acquired abroad in Estonia. In addition to balancing emigration, we contribute to ensuring the future growth of researchers and engineers.

What is the amount of the grant?

The grant amount for the 2023 call is 72 000 €/per year, regardless of the field of research.

The salary fund and mobility allowance include any taxes laid down in Estonian legislation.

How long is the grant period?

The minimum grant period is 12 months, and the maximum period is 24 months.

Implementation of the returning researcher project should commence before December 1, 2023. The grant period will commence on the date specified in the grant agreement.

What are the requirements for the applicant?

The final recipients include R&D institutions, companies and higher education institutions hiring researchers who have completed postdoctoral research abroad or carried out research at a comparable level abroad. The researcher’s place of work must have been outside Estonia during the last two years. Two years must be completed before the beginning of the period of support requested by the returning researcher.

The returning researcher must work full-time for the host institution during the project and with the place of work in Estonia.

Specific requirements for enterprises

Private enterprises can apply for the grants just like public research organisations, but private enterprises must comply with the state aid rules and provide additional information on this matter. Support given for private enterprises is preferably de minimis state aid, but if the applicant has already received support above the de minimis state aid limit, the support will be given according to the General Block Exemption rules. You can find more information here: http://www.fin.ee/riigiabi. Private enterprises must upload the following form to the applications on the tab „additional information“: State aid form (in Estonian)

When may a grant be applied for?

The next call for applications will be opened from January 2 until February 2, 2023. We will publish the application instructions and form on the day of the announcement of the call at the latest.

Applications can be submitted via the Estonian Research Portal ETIS. To fill in the application in ETIS one needs to create a personal account. This can be done by contacting the host institution. Application is successfully submitted only after the host institution has confirmed it.

What are applications evaluated on?

An application meeting the requirements is evaluated by the Estonian Research Council involving independent experts. The principles for the evaluation of applications are set out in the evaluation guidelines.

The evaluation results will be available by the end of June, 2023.

The decision on granting or not granting an application will be sent to the returning researcher and the host institution via ETIS.

In the case that an application has received an affirmative funding decision, we will conclude a tripartite grant agreement between ETAG, the host institution and the returning researcher.