This book is a practical guide for researchers and PhD students on the topic of ‘impact’. Nowadays many funding bodies expect applicants to compose an ‘impact section’ in research funding applications, and this guide focuses on providing concrete tips and tools for proposal writing. The book is not intended to be an academic exploration into the concept, but the guidance provided here is based on author’s own experiences of writing winning proposals. The guiding principle for the author is to provide the best possible insights for researchers in order to write better proposals and have even more impactful research.

Efforts towards developing and using virtual laboratories are increasing across the world. Virtual laboratories provide a platform for collaborative research without geographical or temporal boundaries. There is, however, a need for improving the coherence of structures providing virtual laboratories, especially concerning ecosystem services. This paper is a literature review on virtual laboratories with an emphasis on the ecosystem service sector. It provides recommendations and ideas to assist in closing the gap of coherencies of the complexities in this sector. The literaure report formed part of the work done in the Finnish Environement Institute (SYKE) to develop an assessment framework for ecosystem services (ESLab) and was linked to the LifeWatch project, funded by the Academy of Finland, and to the CLIMES project, funded by the Academy of Finland and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Objective The volume of research work done by general practitioners (GP) is modest compared to other specialties. In order to find out reasons for this we examined the current situation concerning research orientation and factors relating to them among Finnish GPs compared to other specialists. Design and setting Data from The Physician 2018 Study were used for our research. The study was undertaken in collaboration with all five medical faculties in Finland and the Finnish Medical Association. It compiled information on physicians` social background, work history and career and research plans as well as their views regarding undergraduate and specialist training, values, and professional identity. Subjects The basic study population comprised all Finnish doctors under 70 years of age (N = 23,131). Questionnaires were sent to doctors born on even-numbered days (n = 11,336). Altogether 5,214 (45.8%) responded. Responses from GPs (n = 796) were compared with those of doctors in other specialties (n = 3,514). Main outcome measures and results The respondents were asked about their current intention to undertake a doctoral degree. Factors associated with this were analysed. Only 7.3% of GPs had completed a doctoral degree. The corresponding figure in other specialties was 32.3% (p <0.001). In general practice the current intention to undertake a doctoral degree had only slightly increased over ten years. Most GPs had also decided not to undertake a doctorate. The main factors associated with the current intention to complete a doctoral degree were interest in attaining a senior position (OR 3.43, 95% CI 2.25-5.24), a position in a university hospital district (OR 2.89, 95% CI 1.69-4.94) or other sector than primary care (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.18-2.96), one's father being a doctor (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.09-3.72) and male gender (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.05-2.54). Conclusion Research work in primary health care has been quite sparse. In general practice there is a need to increase teaching and guidance in research work.