Statute of the School of Humanities' Research Fund
Confirmed by the Council of the School of Humanities on 10 February 2016; supplemented by the Council of the School of Humanities on 11 May 2016; supplemented by the Council of the School of Humanities on 20 February 2024.
The aim and general provisions
1. The aim of the Research Fund of the Tallinn University School of Humanities is to provide support for the development of TÜHI branches of study, the research activities of TÜHI academic staff and PhD students, and the introduction of these activities both in Estonia and abroad.
2. The financial resources of the Fund are composed of the basic financing grant and of the TÜHI own funds allocated for this purpose upon the decision of TÜHI director. The capacity of the Fund for each fiscal year will be decided as part of the TÜHI budget.
3. The Fund will be managed jointly by TÜHI Director and the TÜHI Research Board. The accounting for the use of financing is kept jointly by the Head of Research Administration, the Director and the Administrative Head, who submit a statement concerning finances used during the fiscal year to the TÜHI council. The secretary of the Research Board is a permanent non-voting member of the board.
4. The resources of the Fund are primarily meant for the following activities:
a) assignments:
- Participation at conferences (preferably delivering a paper);
- Participation at research and development events;
- Conducting research in a library, museum or archive;
- Conducting field work;
- Preparation of Project applications;
- Individual professional development activities abroad during the sabbatical semester of teaching staff.
b) projects:
- Developing study branches and research teams;
- Developing research and development projects, including releasing time for preparing project proposals;
- Co-financing and self-financing of research and development projects;
- Organising academic events;
- Translating and editing research work of applicants;
- Co-financing the publication of research papers and articles;
- Inclusion of top scholars into teaching and/or research activities.
5. Financing from the Fund can be applied for by TÜHI employees, and PhD students who are not on academic leave. The applicants may not have any pending reports for the Fund at the time of application.
6. Employees, including junior research fellows who are eligible to receive funding according to the terms and conditions of and the procedure for applying for and payment of research and creative activity support from Tallinn University Research Fund (established by the order No 14 of the Vice-Rector for Research of 12 February 2024; henceforth TLU research and creative activity support) cannot apply for TÜHI Research Fund:
- For conferences and other assignments related to research, development and creative activity;
- For covering mobility-related costs taking place during a sabbatical leave
before the university provided support funds for research and creative activity have been repleted. For applying for financing from the TÜHI Research Fund an overview of the usage of the funds should be attached to the Research Fund application.
Processing of the applications
I. Application
7. All the applications and the additional documents should be submitted electronically to the secretary of the Research Board.
8. Applications may be submitted for forthcoming assignments and projects that will not start sooner that 14 days after the application deadline and no later than a year after the application deadline.
9. The application deadlines are generally 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December.
10. For the assignment applications, reasonably economic financing (i.e. one should prefer more affordable and practical travel solutions) may be applied for the following activities:
I Short-term assignments:
a) travel expenses;
b) accommodation expenses that should consider the nature of the assignment (for example, a three-star hotel is viable for a two day conference, but for a two week library visit the accommodation should be as inexpensive as possible);
c) payment of registration fees;
d) subsistence allowance for staying abroad (in accordance with the amounts stipulated by Tallinn University);
e) travel insurance.
II. Individual professional development activities abroad during the sabbatical semester of teaching staff:
a) travel expenses;
b) covering accommodation expenses that are most affordable in relation to the length of the stay abroad;
c) subsistence allowance for staying abroad (in accordance with the rates of the payment of the grant for the study mobility of the personnel of Erasmus+ programme);
d) travel insurance.
11. In the case of the assignment application the applicant will submit:
a) completed application form;
b) in the case of travel expense application the receipt for the tickets or the proposal as to the amount of a fee that meets the Tallinn University assignment and procurement regulations (if one an purchase the travel cheaper than the university procurement partner can provide one should submit the travel expense invoice and the price statement received from the university procurement partner) ;
c) in the case of accommodation expense application the bill for the accommodation or the proposal as to the amount of a fee that meets the Tallinn University assignment and procurement regulations (if one an purchase the accommodation cheaper than the university procurement partner can provide one should submit the accommodation expense invoice and the price statement received from the university procurement partner);
d) the letter of confirmation from the receiving institution (for example, letter stating that the conference paper has been accepted, a registration notice, personal invitation) which may be a printout of an email received by the applicant;
e) in the case of a longer assignment more than one month the signed acceptance of the Director;
f) PhD students must submit a letter from their supervisor confirming that the assignment is important for the progress of the student’s research.
12. In the case of a project application the applicant will submit:
a) completed application form;
b) in the case of external service(s) the tender(s) for reasonably economic prices in accordance with Tallinn University Procurement Rules;
c) in case of fieldwork the plan of the fieldwork to be carried out;
d) in case of preparing project applications and for co-financing, the capacity, contents, financer and other relevant information on the project;
e) PhD students must submit a letter from their supervisor confirming that the project is important for the progress of the student’s research/thesis.
13. The members of the research council are entitled to submit their own applications on the same conditions as other applicants, but cannot take part in the decision making.
III. Decision making
13. The applications will be dealt with on an individual basis, deciding the amount of financing for each project separately. The council will take into consideration the following:
a) motivated argumentation;
b) as a result of the assignment/project how the volume of the School's basic financing will increase;
c) priority is given to the applicants who:
- are starting their research activities (for example, PhD students);
- have applied for other funding simultaneously (for example, from Erasmus+, Kristjan Jaak, Cultural Endowment Fund);
- if participating at a conference will deliver a paper and prepare to publish a research publication based on it;
- have registered for a conference with an ’early bird’ fee;
- have not received financing from the Fund more than once a year.
15. Decisions are made by the Research Board members with the majority vote principle, where the quorum is two thirds of the vote-holding members of the Board; information on the financing decisions will be submitted to the Council of the School of Humanities once a year.
16. The decision (if necessary with conditions stipulated and reasons given) will be made known to the applicant by an e-mail within three working days after the decision by the Board has been made.
17. Possible complaints and claims with reasons given, and the request for reconsidering the application should be submitted, within ten days after a decision has been made, by an e-mail to the secretary of the Research Board. The complaints and claims will be processed by the Board.
IV. The payments and the use of funding given.
18. The assignments of the School's staff will be processed and payments made following the general rules and regulations of the work assignments of the university, in the capacity of the expenses made, and based on the expense documents provided.
19. The assignment financing of the PhD students will be processed as reimbursement based on the expense documents.
20. The project financing payments will be made based on the expense documents.
21. Should the financing be used for organising an event, the School should be listed among the organisers; should the financing be used for translating, editing and publishing, the School should be mentioned as a donor.
V Reporting
22. Assignment financing will be reported following the rules and regulations of the university concerning work assignment reporting.
23. The reports concerning project financing should be submitted by the applicant within one month after the end of the project on a form either electronically or on paper to the secretary of the Research Board. The Board will process the reports during their next meeting.
24. If a report is not submitted or has shortcomings, or the financing has not been used according to the conditions set, the Board will discuss each case individually and make a considered decision.