Open Calls

The platform for contests and applications organized by the Academy is located at https://ta-konkursid.ee

  • Call for the candidates for the 2026 National Research Awards. The proposals should be submitted electronically in the Academy of Sciences Competitions e-environment by 10 December 2025.

For more information and contact: Terje Tuisk, terje.tuisk@akadeemia.ee

The Estonian Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, announces a call for applications to support research visits within the framework of research cooperation projects in the years 2026–2027. The general aim of the call is to support cooperation between Estonian and Bulgarian researchers.

The deadline for submitting applications is September 30, 2025.

Project partners
In Estonia, applications are welcome from researchers of all disciplines and research fields who work in positively evaluated research institutions here and wish to continue existing or start new cooperation with cooperation partners in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian partner must be from the institutes affiliated with Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Financial support
Through this scheme academies support mutual visits of researchers.
The host academy books and covers the visiting researcher's accommodation expenses during the visit and pays the per diem according to the host academy's tariffs.
NB! Within this scheme, the visa and international travel costs of Estonian researchers are not covered, nor are the costs of conducting research. Conditions may be different in Bulgaria, it depends on the organization.

Submission of applications
In Estonia, the application must be submitted together with the mandatory annexes (including a project description and a declaration signed by both partners) in the e-application portal of the Estonian Academy of Sciences at ta-konkursid.ee.
NB! An identical application must be submitted by the Bulgarian partner to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences based to their conditions. The deadline for applications in Bulgaria is also September 30, 2025. More information in Bulgaria: Alexandra Dimitrova, e-mail a.dimitrova@cu.bas.bg, phone +359 2 979 52 36

Schedule of the Call

  • before submitting the application – contact with the institution (researchers) with whom you wish to cooperate and together prepare the content of the project;
  • September 30, 2025 – deadline for submission of applications in both Estonia and Bulgaria
  • October–November – Evaluation of the proposals in Estonia and Bulgaria
  • December – the Council of the Foreign Exchange Foundation of Estonia Academy of Sciences and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences together make the final decision on the approval of applications. Hopefully the results will be known before Christmas and will be communicated to applicants as soon as possible.

Additional information and contact: Terje Tuisk, terje.tuisk@akadeemia.ee

National Research Awards are granted to Estonian researchers and research teams for outstanding results in research and development.

The proposals should be submitted electronically in the Academy of Sciences Competitions e-environment by 10 December 2025.

AWARD CATEGORIES

  1. Lifetime achievement award for long-term excellence in research and development (up to 1 awards, 65 000 euros).
  2. Annual awards to highlight the best research or research cycles completed and published within the last four years (2022–2025, up to 8 awards, á 20 000 euros) in the following fields:
    1) Natural Sciences
    2) Engineering and technology
    3) Medical and health sciences
    4) Agricultural and veterinary sciences
    5) Social Sciences
    6) Humanities and the arts
    See Frascati Manual fields of research
  3. Award for a Scientific Discovery impacting the paradigm and world view of the respective scientific field or pioneering a new field of science, or an invention or research and development based on a scientific discovery that has led to an innovative product with a significant socio-economic impact (up to 1 award, 50 000 euros).

Candidates for the award can be nominated by the:

  • Academic councils of the research and development institutions, universities and evaluated universities of applied sciences
  • Members of the Estonian Academy of Sciences
  • Council of Estonian Young Academy,
  • Estonian Employers’ Confederation, Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Estonian Service Industry Association.

When nominating the research teams the scientific contribution of all members of the team must be clearly determined in the proposal.

Researchers and research teams who have previously been granted the annual award can be re-nominated for the annual award not before than ten years after the award was given.

Parts of the research cycle that has received the annual award can not be re-used as part of research cycles to be nominated for the annual award in subsequent years.

Additional information: akadeemia.ee/en/national-research-awards/

MATERIALS AND DATA TO BE SUBMITTED

  1. Personal and contact data of the candidate/candidates, link to ETIS profile
  2. For the candidate or in the case of team for the team leader Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar number of Publications and citations, h-index (if possible without self-citations), number of granted patents and patent applications. For the team members data of Google Scholar. For candidates of Annual Awards all of the above for the period 2022–2025.
  3. In the case of team the proposal for the division of the prize amount between the members of the working group in the event of a prize being awarded
  4. Data of the person who nominates the candidate
  5. Files
    • Proposal (up to 3 pages)
    • Decision of the organization's governing body
    • CV-s of the candidates (up to 3 pages)
    • List of publications, and/or publications and other materials.

For more details we recommend you familiarize yourself with the application form well in advance before submitting the application. Most of the documents in the category Award for a Scientific Discovery have to be submitted in English.

Contact: Terje Tuisk, terje.tuisk@akadeemia.ee

Key Documents (in Estonian):
Regulation of the Estonian National Research Awards: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/123092025003