Research Funding System in Estonia

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Research financing in Estonia mainly comes from the state budget (baseline funding, research funding (grants)), private sector institutions as well as from the foreign funds (EU structural funds, European framework programme for research and innovation (in years 2021-2027 Horizon Europe) etc). The latest statistics can be found at Estonian Research Council (ETAG) webpage.

National funding is organised mainly by the Estonian Research Council but also by sectoral ministries. National funding instruments are:

Baseline funding for R&D institutions for attaining their development objectives
Personal research funding for research groups, top scientists and outgoing mobility
Incoming mobility funding
Support for European Research Council (ERC) applicants
Applied Research Funding solutions to practical problems in national interests
Financing of centres of excellence and doctoral schools to increase competitiveness, quality, cooperation and improve performance of research teams and PhD graduates
Funding of R&D infrastructures
National R&D programmes launched and funded by the ministries responsible for the field of research

Baseline funding has the purpose of financing R&D institutions in order to support the development objectives of R&D institutions. It is aimed for co-financing international and local projects, also between academia and industry, opening new fields of research and investing in infrastructure. It is a formula-based annual allocation from the state budget.

Personal research fundingis awarded to individuals and research teams on a competitive basis. The grants are meant for high level research and development projects of persons or research groups working in research and development institutions.

Personal research funding comprises three categories of grants corresponding to different levels of research career:

postdoctoral research grant - is a grant aimed at supporting the launch of a research career of the people with a doctoral degree obtained from an Estonian university at a foreign R&D institutions or among highly qualified research groups (outgoing mobility grant; for incoming postdoctoral grants please see Mobility programmes below).
starting grant - to launch independent research career at an Estonian R&D institution, to set up their research group, and to contribute to educating the next generation of researchers (incl. doctoral students).
team grant - to support researchers in continuing their research career at an Estonian R&D institution, ensuring high-quality research, leading a strong research group, and educating the next generation of researchers (incl. doctoral students).

Personal research funding is organized by the Estonian Research Council and comes from the state budget. Project applications are evaluated by expert commissions and approved by the Estonian Research Council. Application for funding is ogranised through the Estonian Research Information System (ETIS).

Mobility funding to support mobility of researchers and/or PhD students to and from Estonia. Funding for the programmes comes from the state budget and/or is supported by the EU Regional Development Fund.

Mobilitas 3.0 Incoming Postdoctoral Grant
The support for the arrival of postdoctoral researchers to Estonia is aimed at researchers who have received a positive result (at least 70 points) in the Marie Skłodowska Curie (MSCA) postdoctoral individual grant application round (for coming to Estonia), but have not received funding.

Support for European Research Council (ERC) applicants - for researchers who have advanced to the second round of the ERC Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, or Synergy Grant competitions, but have not received funding. It provides the opportunity to continue their research in Estonia and enhance the application for resubmission in the ERC Grant application round.

(Applied) research funding programmes, funded from the EU Regional Development Fund.

TemTA - Thematic research and development program (TemTA) to increase the capacity of R&D activities that meet the needs of companies and society, to create a good basis for the introduction of science-based and innovative solutions in companies and society at large, and to support the development of more scientists and engineers to be engaged in the respective fields.

RITA+ (2023-2029) - "Increasing the ability to implement the results of R&D&I activities in society and creating a favorable political environment". The pupose is to search for science-based solutions to the big challenges of society in the field of smart specialization, to support the development of the experts engaged in R&D consulting and policy-making, as well as cooperation between research institutions and public and private sector, both in national and international dimension.

Centres of excellence (2024-2030) - support is provided to a scientific consortium which aims to develop the cooperation and joint activities of exceptionally high-level Estonian research groups. The Centre of Excellence focuses on solving high-risk, high-reward research questions based on the needs of Estonia.

Doctoral School general purpose is to enhance the efficiency and quality of doctoral studies. The project based doctoral schools have supported organisation of various events, research projects, intersectoral mobility and PhD studens' mobility. In year 2024 one doctoral school with six sections based on fields of study is established, to last until the year of 2029. The project is led by University of Tartu, whereas the thematic sections are led by different universities. The project is funded by the Estonian state and European Social Fund.

Infrastructure expenses of a public R&D institution, which are not covered from other funding instruments, can be covered from the state budget through the ministry under whose area of government the research and development institution belongs. Investments are planned based on a long-term planning tool - the national research infrastructure roadmap (update in 2024).

National R&D programmes are supported by the government and funded from the state budget. These programmes support R&D in limited but important domains such as the Estonian language, culture, history, folklore and language technology.

Through Enterprise Estonia and its sub-units, the Ministry of Economic Affairs finances R&D programmes that involve product development, co-operation of academic sector institutions with enterprises and entrepreneurs, and technology programmes for priority areas. Enterprise Estonia provides support for new companies and supports research and development activities of already active companies, NGOs and R&D institutions.

PhD studies

In 2022, the doctoral studies in Estonia were reformed. New students enrolled from this year on have three different possibilities to conduct their PhD studies and research projects:

the enrolled PhD student gets a position (employment) of a junior researcher at a university or in a research and development institution;
the enrolled PhD student gets a position of a junior researcher in the frames of a contract between academic institution and an organisation outside the university, whereas the student works in the partner organisation based on its needs; the topic for the studies/thesis is directly linked to those needs. This form is called 'a transfer of knowledge doctoral degree' and it can be supported by the SekMo – Cross-Sectoral Mobility Measure.

The employment contracts enable parties to clearly fixate the duties related to doctoral studies and agree upon the remuneration. This way also social guarantees for PhD students are provided, such as annual paid leave, the possibility of receiving sickness benefits, collecting for a pension.
The third possibility to conduct the PhD studies would be to enroll just as a PhD student without an employment contract, to carry out the research project and complete the studies unrelated to one´s job elsewhere. In this case, the state does not provide doctoral allowance.

Until 2026, there are in parallel the PhD students enrolled in universities that are subject to the previous system. They are being considered as students completing their highest level of studies that are normally tuition free, and they are entitled to a state doctoral allowance of €660 a month.

All PhD sudents may, upon an agreement, be included in different research projects by their research teams, as well. Further additional scholarships may be available for PhD students. It is wise to inquire more information from the department of the university you are interested in. Information about PhD scholarships can be found also at studyinestonia.ee!

Research Funding System in Estonia

PhD studies

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