Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

Recommendations:
1.  Increase international recruitment at all levels: PhD students, postdoctoral 
students and faculty staff.
2.  Increase international mobility during PhD studies.
3.  Increase the national mobility of PhDs.
2.4  Infrastructure
Overall, the quality of the research infrastructure in terms of experimental equipment 
is very good, in some cases outstanding. However, local variations and differences 
exist by necessity, due to the continuous replacement of equipment. For a few units, 
the experimental infrastructure was not of an international standard, affecting the 
quality of the research conducted.
In general, the panel would encourage increased collaboration on the use of large 
experimental facilities that cannot be duplicated at many research units. Except for 
local collaborations arising from geographical proximity, the panel found very few 
examples of collaboration on large and expensive infrastructure, which would be 
valuable for the research of different research groups. Ensuring collaboration on and 
access to infrastructures of a national character is important in order to define a cost-
effective research system that allows for high-quality research at the different Finnish 
universities. The panel recommends that a long-term plan be developed in order to 
maintain the high quality of the research infrastructures.
In terms of technical support, the different units seem in general to have sufficient 
access to high-quality technical staff, either within the units themselves, or as part of 
departmental or faculty-level technical support units.
In terms of administrative infrastructure, the landscape is much more varied. 
Whereas some units seem to have sufficient administrative support, in others much 
administrative work ends up with the professor of the unit. Part of the reason for these 
differences can probably be traced to the small amount of administrative support in 
general, often consisting of 1–2 persons who therefore have to have a very broad 
competence in budgeting, project management and teaching administration. Many 
groups complained of the increasing burden of bureaucracy, demanding time that 
would be better spent on research. The panel is of the opinion that for the smaller units, 
larger administrative units supporting several research groups may, if they remain service-
oriented, be a more efficient way of providing necessary administrative support.

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