Estonian Research Council (ETAg): Funding Overview for International Researchers

ETAg — Eesti Teadusagentuur, the Estonian Research Council — is Estonia’s national research funding agency. It runs the country’s competitive personal research grant schemes, administers Estonia’s EU-structural-fund-backed mobility programme (Mobilitas Pluss), and coordinates Estonia’s participation in Horizon Europe as the country’s National Contact Point network. For an international researcher considering a move to Estonia, a joint project with an Estonian partner, or a Horizon Europe application involving an Estonian institution, ETAg is the first point of contact.

What ETAg is and how it is structured

ETAg is legally structured as a body governed by public law rather than as a department inside Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research — it is a distinct legal entity, but it is accountable to the Ministry, which sets the overall policy framework and approves the conditions under which ETAg runs its competitions. ETAg’s own remit covers research and mobility grants, partnership funding, and research infrastructure funding, and it organises the peer-review process for its funding calls through an Evaluation Committee that draws on foreign (non-Estonian) expert reviewers alongside Estonian panel members — a structure intended to keep assessment internationally benchmarked despite Estonia’s relatively small national research system.

Alongside its grant-making role, ETAg also functions as Estonia’s Horizon Europe National Contact Point (NCP) coordinator, Estonia’s national coordinator for the COST network (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), and the national bridgehead organisation for EURAXESS, the EU-wide network that supports researcher mobility and provides practical relocation guidance (visas, tax, family support, job listings) to researchers moving between countries. That combination — national funder, EU liaison point, and mobility-support contact — makes ETAg the natural single starting point for an international researcher scoping out Estonia, rather than a single narrow grants office.

Main national funding instruments

ETAg’s core competitive personal research funding sits under three main instruments, all assessed through the same public, peer-reviewed competition process approved by the Ministry of Education and Research:

• PSG — Starting Grant. For a researcher who has begun an independent research career, funding the launch of a research and development project, formation of a research team, and training of junior researchers under that project.
• PRG — Team Grant. For established researchers leading a research team on a higher-level project; the largest of the three in scale and typically held by more senior principal investigators with a track record of independent research leadership.
• PUTJD — Postdoctoral Grant. For a researcher who has recently completed a doctorate in Estonia, funding a period of research at a foreign institution or international research organisation specifically to build independent research experience abroad before returning to (or continuing in) the Estonian system. This is an outgoing-mobility instrument, in contrast to the incoming-researcher grants under Mobilitas Pluss below.

These personal research funding schemes generally require the applicant to be based at, or affiliated with, an Estonian research or higher-education institution that has undergone the relevant positive evaluation — they are not open-call instruments a researcher based entirely outside Estonia can apply to directly without an Estonian institutional affiliation. Programme names, budget ceilings, and the exact evaluation criteria for a given call round should always be checked against the current call text on etag.ee, since eligibility windows and funding levels are set per call round rather than fixed indefinitely.

Mobilitas Pluss: the route for incoming international researchers

Mobilitas Pluss is ETAg’s dedicated researcher-mobility and internationalisation programme, and it is the most directly relevant instrument for a researcher outside Estonia who wants to become the one relocating. It is substantially EU-funded — its total budget is reported at roughly €35.37 million, of which about 83.5% is covered by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with the remainder from national co-financing — and its explicit purpose is to raise the international visibility of Estonian research, business, and higher education by helping Estonian institutions attract researchers from abroad and by supporting Estonian researchers’ international experience in both directions. Its main sub-measures include:

• Postdoctoral researcher grants (incoming). Funding for a researcher coming from abroad to Estonia to carry out an independent research project at an Estonian host institution.
• Returning researcher grants. Support for a researcher who completed postdoctoral work abroad and is returning to take up a position at an Estonian institution.
• Top researcher grants. Funding to bring an internationally renowned, senior researcher from abroad to lead work at an Estonian host institution — aimed at building capacity and international standing around a specific field or team, not at early-career mobility.
• Training and study visit support. Support for Estonia-based researchers attending international training events, conferences, or short study visits abroad.
• ERC application support. Support for researchers whose European Research Council (ERC) proposal was assessed as high-quality but not funded (a ‘Seal of Excellence’-type outcome), intended to strengthen a subsequent application or bridge the gap while reapplying.
• Support for Horizon-framework structures hosted in Estonia. Co-funding contributions for instruments such as ERA Chairs, ERA-NET-type joint programming, and Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) participation based at Estonian institutions.

A distinguishing feature of the incoming postdoctoral and top-researcher measures is eligibility framed around the host institution and the researcher’s mobility history rather than nationality: Mobilitas Pluss grants are generally available to researchers taking up a position at a positively evaluated Estonian R&D institution regardless of citizenship or country of origin, provided the mobility condition (coming from outside Estonia, or returning after time abroad) is met. As with the personal research funding schemes, always confirm the current eligibility windows, budget ceilings, and open call dates directly on ETAg’s Mobilitas Pluss page before relying on any third-party summary, including this one, for a live application.

ETAg, Horizon Europe, and EU-level funding

Estonia participates in Horizon Europe as a full EU member state, and ETAg is the coordinating body for Estonia’s network of National Contact Points (NCPs) — the designated experts who advise applicants on specific Horizon Europe pillars and clusters, help with partner search, and provide proposal-writing guidance ahead of a submission. This sits alongside ETAg’s role coordinating Estonian participation in the COST network of research networking actions and its role as Estonia’s EURAXESS bridgehead. Estonia is also a partner country in several transnational, jointly-funded research programmes coordinated through ETAg or with ETAg’s participation — for example M-ERA.NET (materials research) and CHIST-ERA (ICT-adjacent basic research) — which fund multi-country consortium projects through a single joint call and review, similar in structure to the EU’s other ERA-NET Cofund instruments. For a researcher or research office building a Horizon Europe consortium that includes an Estonian partner, or scoping whether a joint call exists in a specific field, ETAg’s NCP network and its transnational-programme listings are the starting points rather than the European Commission directly.

Practical guidance for international researchers

• Coming to Estonia for a postdoc or senior position: start with Mobilitas Pluss’s incoming postdoctoral or top researcher measures, and identify a positively evaluated Estonian host institution before applying — the grant is tied to that institutional affiliation.
• Building a Horizon Europe consortium with an Estonian partner: contact ETAg’s Horizon Europe National Contact Points for the relevant cluster or pillar; they can advise on partner search and Estonia-specific proposal considerations.
• Relocating to Estonia generally (visas, tax, family, housing): use EURAXESS Estonia, for which ETAg is the national bridgehead organisation — this is separate from, and complements, the funding application itself.
• Applying for Estonia’s own competitive personal research funding (PSG/PRG/PUTJD): these require an existing affiliation with an eligible Estonian R&D institution; a researcher not yet affiliated with one should typically pursue a Mobilitas Pluss incoming grant or an institutional appointment first.
• Confirm terms before applying: ETAg periodically updates its programme names, budget ceilings, and eligibility windows between call rounds. Treat this guide as an orientation to the landscape, and confirm the specific, current call conditions on etag.ee before submitting a live application.

Why this matters for research administrators

ETAg comes up for non-Estonian research offices in a few recurring situations: advising a researcher considering a Mobilitas Pluss-funded move to an Estonian host institution, coordinating a joint Horizon Europe or ERA-NET-type submission with an Estonian partner, or simply distinguishing ETAg’s national grant instruments from EU-level funding a Horizon Europe proposal might also draw on. Because ETAg’s core personal research funding (PSG, PRG, PUTJD) maps onto a career-stage logic broadly comparable to other national funders in the region — an open/general team-level grant, a starting-career grant, and an outgoing postdoctoral mobility grant — administrators already familiar with the Research Council of Finland, Sweden’s Vetenskapsrådet, Norway’s Forskningsrådet, Denmark’s Independent Research Fund (DFF), or Poland’s NCN will find the underlying shape familiar, even though Estonia’s specific instrument names, budget scale, and the heavy EU-structural-fund role behind Mobilitas Pluss are distinct.

Frequently asked questions

What does ETAg stand for and what does it do?

ETAg is the common abbreviation for Eesti Teadusagentuur, the Estonian Research Council — Estonia’s national agency for competitive research and mobility funding, Horizon Europe National Contact Point coordination, and the country’s EURAXESS bridgehead organisation.

Can a researcher outside Estonia apply directly to ETAg’s national grants?

ETAg’s core personal research funding (PSG, PRG, PUTJD) generally requires an existing affiliation with an eligible Estonian research or higher-education institution. A researcher not yet affiliated with an Estonian institution who wants to relocate should generally look first at Mobilitas Pluss’s incoming postdoctoral or top researcher grants, which are specifically structured for researchers moving to Estonia from abroad.

What is Mobilitas Pluss?

Mobilitas Pluss is ETAg’s researcher-mobility and internationalisation programme, funded substantially (roughly 83.5%) through the European Regional Development Fund, covering incoming postdoctoral grants, returning-researcher grants, top researcher grants, training/study visit support, ERC application support, and co-funding for Horizon-framework structures hosted in Estonia.

Does citizenship affect eligibility for Mobilitas Pluss?

Mobilitas Pluss’s incoming and top-researcher grants are generally available regardless of the researcher’s citizenship or country of origin — eligibility turns on the mobility condition (coming to, or returning to, Estonia) and the host institution’s positive evaluation status, not on nationality.

How does ETAg relate to Horizon Europe?

Estonia participates in Horizon Europe as an EU member state, and ETAg coordinates Estonia’s network of Horizon Europe National Contact Points, who advise applicants on specific pillars and clusters and assist with partner search. ETAg also coordinates Estonia’s participation in the COST network and several transnational co-funded programmes such as M-ERA.NET and CHIST-ERA.

Where can I find current ETAg call deadlines and eligibility details?

ETAg publishes current call conditions, deadlines, and budget ceilings directly on etag.ee, which is the authoritative source rather than any third-party summary, including this guide.

Related CASRAI resources

• Grants Management — the cluster hub for grants lifecycle, international funding bodies, and compliance topics.
• Horizon Europe National Contact Points — how the NCP network works across EU and associated countries.
• European Research Council (ERC) — the EU-level funder ETAg’s Mobilitas Pluss ERC-support measure is built around.
• NordForsk — the Nordic Council of Ministers’ cross-border research funder, relevant to Estonia’s Baltic and Nordic regional collaboration context.
• Research Council of Finland, Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), Research Council of Norway (Forskningsrådet), Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF), Iceland’s Rannís, and Poland’s NCN — comparable national research funders elsewhere in Northern and Central Europe.