For the referee

General guidelines

A reference gives the grant evaluator important insight into the project’s significance and the applicant’s capacity to complete it.

• In grant applications, particularly those related to doctoral thesis work, a reference provided by the supervisor or another person familiar with the project is important. In applications in the arts, such a reference may be especially necessary if the applicant is at an early stage of their career.
• The grant applicant is responsible for requesting the referee to submit a reference through the online service.
• To provide a reference, log in to the online reference service and submit it in May during the grant application period. There is no need to send the reference separately by mail to the Foundation.
• As a referee, you can submit a reference through the online service even if the applicant has not yet submitted their application. The reference and the grant application will be matched after the application period ends, based on the applicant’s name, at the Wihuri Foundation office.
• For applications involving working groups of several people, it is particularly important that you know under which name or for which project the grant is being applied. This ensures that your reference can be associated with the correct application.
• References submitted through the online service are specific to each application — one reference can only be linked to a single grant application. Please keep this in mind if the same applicant has requested your reference for multiple projects.
• When submitting a reference via the online service, it will be visible only to the Foundation staff and the application evaluators. The information contained in references is not shared with external parties — not even the applicant. The applicant is also not informed whether a reference has been submitted. The confidentiality of the information protects the referee’s right to privacy.

Form of References

• The online service provides a template for submitting a reference.
• The reference requests an evaluation of the applicant’s previous achievements compared with other researchers or artists at a similar stage in their careers, the applicant’s ability to carry out the project, and the significance of the project in the field of science or the arts.
• It is also useful to explain why this particular project should receive a grant. This can be justified, for example, by its novelty, societal impact, or impact within the field of science or the arts. The reference should also ideally comment on the applicant’s funding situation and need for support.
• If you are providing references for multiple applicants, it is important to indicate the relative ranking of the applicants. The online service allows you to set applicants in order of priority.
• Alternatively, you may write and provide a reference letter to the applicant, who can then attach it to their application during the grant application period. The online reference template can serve as a useful guide for such free-form references submitted via the applicant. However, we encourage references to be submitted primarily through the online service.

Using the Online Service

• You can log in to the online reference service using online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.
• Alternatively, you can log in using a username and password. If you have not previously used the online service with a username, first create your own credentials under “Create a new username.”
• Once a reference submitted through the online service has been successfully sent to the Foundation, a message will appear on the screen: “Reference submitted. The reference has now been sent and received by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.”
• You may edit and supplement your reference until the end of the grant application period, after which the references will move forward for processing. Submitted references are visible on the main page of the online service, where you can print them or edit them during the application period.
• Although references should be submitted during the grant application period in May, we will still accept references through the online service during the first week of June. Please ensure you submit your reference on time.
• References cannot be submitted through the online service once it closes in June.

The online reference service is also available in Finnish.

Questions?

The office of the Foundation answers questions from Monday to Friday during office hours (9-16):

tel +358 9 4542 400 or toimisto(at)wihurinrahasto.fi.

For technical support please send an email to hakemustuki(at)datalink.fi.