University of Oulu
INFOTECH OULU

Infotech Oulu Calls for Research Groups

Infotech Oulu

Infotech Oulu (http://www.infotech.oulu.fi), an umbrella organization for information technology research, was founded in 1996 at the University of Oulu. Its principal goal is to create an environment for the development of world-class research groups by advancing long-term research, researcher training, and international research collaboration. Infotech Oulu offers doctoral education through its graduate school, arranging advanced courses, research seminars and workshops. Currently, the total number of staff is almost 500 persons in the research groups, including about 230 students of the Infotech Oulu Graduate School. Each Infotech Oulu research group will have an agreement for four years. The term for the present groups ends at the end of the year 2009.

Principles

Infotech Oulu is seeking research groups for the term January 1, 2010 thru December 31, 2013. The research groups to be chosen should carry out well-focused research of high international quality, and the group leader should be highly recognized in his/her field and have high quality scientific publications especially during the last five years and substantial outside funding for the project. Infotech will be preserved as a wide-area umbrella organization. Currently, the main research fields of Infotech Oulu are electronics, communications engineering, and computer science and information engineering. The selected groups can also be from other research areas of information technology possibly not covered by the current fields.

Application procedure

The applications should include

  • Research plan (max 12 pages; use the same guidelines as used by the Academy of Finland in the preparation of your plan)
  • Curriculum vitae (max 4 pages) of the director/leader and one associate director/leader of the group (follow the guidelines of the Academy of Finland when preparing these
  • List of publications of the research group from 2004 onwards, excluding such publications of incoming visiting researchers, that have no other authors from the group
  • At most ten recent publications of the group which are related to the presented research plan.

The evaluation form and other material can be found in http://www.infotech.oulu.fi/evaluation.

The applications (1 original and 6 copies) should be sent by June 15, 2009, to Dr. Leila Risteli, Office of the Registrar, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland. Further information will be given by Dr. Leila Risteli, the Director of Research and Innovation Services of the University (leila.risteli(at)oulu.fi).

Selection procedure

An independent international scientific evaluation committee nominated by the Rector of the University of Oulu will evaluate the applications, using criteria similar to those of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering of the Academy of Finland. These criteria include scientific merit and position in the research field, novelty and feasibility of the research plan, training of researchers, and the significance and impact of the planned research. The selection procedure also includes interviews of selected applicant groups by the evaluation committee. These will take place in the fall 2009.

The final decisions will be made by the Governing Board of Infotech Oulu according to the suggestion of the evaluation committee.

Further guidelines

The number of research groups to be selected is assumed to be about the same as currently (six full members and three associate members), depending on the funding available from the university. Infotech Oulu can give an associate member status to those applicants who perform well enough in the application but cannot be granted full Infotech funding. It is also possible to apply for the associate member status only. The graduate students belonging to the groups with such a status are eligible for graduate student fellowships of the Infotech Oulu Graduate School.

The presence of joint groups within Infotech Oulu (i.e., groups formed by researchers or subgroups from the university and VTT or from different units of the university) is seen as positive, provided that such groups demonstrate real collaboration, such as joint projects and publications, and are organized and managed as a group. The applications of joint groups should show that the research to be proposed is a common effort. The roles and members of each subgroup should also be presented.

 

 

 

Oulu, March 11, 2009

 

 

Professor Jorma Lammasniemi, Chairman of the Governing Board of Infotech Oulu