Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

2.7  Internationalisation
A majority of the evaluated units are publishing actively or very actively in 
international journals and are encouraging PhD students to participate in 
international congresses. Nevertheless, the international visibility of Finnish 
chemistry research is low and does not reflect all topical and geographical facets. In 
general, the amount of international exchange is too low, with little mobility among 
PhD students and postdoctoral students both leaving and coming to Finnish research 
groups. However, there is a great deal of variation between units. Some units have 
very active visitor programmes and clear strategies for sending local students abroad, 
whereas other units hardly display any international collaboration or exchange, 
except through participation in international conferences.
Activities towards recruiting international postdoctoral researchers to Finland on 
1–2 year contracts and activities aiming at sending a higher proportion of Finnish 
chemistry PhDs abroad for funded postdoctoral studies would rapidly promote 
chemistry research in Finland internationally. In a longer perspective, researchers 
returning with postdoctoral experiences and international contacts will be able to find 
new directions more efficiently and address future chemical challenges more 
productively.
The funding opportunities offered by the EU Framework Programmes seem to 
be underutilised. Considering the high international standards of some of the 
evaluated units, they should utilise the ‘People’ Specific Programme to secure 
additional funding and increased international collaboration.
A particular concern is the rather strong inbreeding tendencies observed in many 
units, in combination with the lack of clear incentives for PhD students and 
postdoctoral researchers to go abroad as part of their training. The long-term viability 
of some research groups is in jeopardy due to a lack of fresh ideas and new 
approaches entering the local research unit. This effect is further enhanced by the 
common practice of hiring local students to combined lecturer/researcher positions. 
The unit leaders need to be more actively engaged in career planning for staff 
members having completed their first postdoctoral period, to avoid too long periods 
of employment on temporary and uncertain external funding, in particular when 
there are few opportunities for obtaining permanent employment.
There are opportunities for permanent faculty members to take sabbaticals. 
Whereas some groups do take advantage of this programme, there is probably much 
more potential, and measures should be implemented to encourage an increased use 
of sabbaticals as a means of increased internationalisation. The dependency of some 
units on a single professor is in many cases preventing a more active use of sabbaticals.
The units consider the Academy Professorships awarded by the Academy of 
Finland to be highly prestigious awards confirming the high quality of the research 
being performed in the unit. Research posts as Academy Professor allow researchers 
to focus on their research for a period of up to five years, which is very beneficial for 
the recipients. In some cases, this may also provide opportunities for junior faculty 
members to take on more responsibility within the unit and to engage in independent 
research. The panel recognises the prestige of the Academy Professor funding, but 
would like to question whether the unit as a whole would not benefit more from 
using some of this funding to provide external stimulus in the form of incoming 

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visitors, in particular in view of the general low level of international collaboration in 
Finnish chemistry research.