Frequently asked questions and answers

Career age is here defined as the time that has passed from the day a person has obtained their doctorate to the day the call closes.

To have a career age of four years in this call, the main applicant must have obtained their doctorate no later than 16 October 2020.

No, it does not. In this call, your career age is not affected by time away for parental leave, military service, leave of absence for health reasons, etc.

It is the date you were awarded your certificate and that is on your certificate or diploma.

In order to be main applicant for an application to Explore 2024, all of the following must be true:

• You have a career age of at least four years.
• You will be employed at a Swedish higher education institution, research institute, or government agency with a research mission, that is approved as administrating organisations for all types of calls at Formas, during the entire project duration and availability period.
  
• You are not project leader for a project that is ongoing during 2025 and that has been granted through one of Formas researcher-initiated calls, with the exception of Akutbidrag.
• You are not the main applicant for another application to Explore 2024.

You may not be the main applicant in this call, if any of the following holds true:

• You have a career age of less than four years.
• You will not be employed at a Swedish higher education institution, research institute, or government agency with a research mission, that is approved as administrating organisations for all types of calls at Formas, during the entire project duration and availability period.
  
• You are project leader for a project that is ongoing during 2025 and that has been granted through one of Formas researcher-initiated calls, with the exception of Akutbidrag.
• You are the main applicant for another application to Explore 2024.

You do not have to be employed at your administrating organisation at the time of application, but you must be employed when the grant period begins and then throughout the project period and during any additional availability period.

In this call, the administrating organisation must be a Swedish higher education institution, research institute, or government agency with a research mission. The administrating organisation must also be approved for all types of Formas calls External link. when the application is registered.

Who can become an administrating organisation?

Formas defines a government agency with a research mission as all government agencies that, according to their ordinance, are to carry out research, and university hospitals in regions included in the ALF agreement.

Clinical research in the ALF regions External link.

Project participants are those who contribute to the carrying out of the project. Project participants include main applicant, participating researchers, doctoral students, and other staff. People who are engaged through purchased services do not count as project participants.

Participating researchers are researchers that are the most relevant to the project. Participating researchers need to have obtained their doctorate when the call closes, at the latest.

Participating researchers are invited to the application via Prisma by the main applicant. Only the main applicant and participating researchers can add their academic profiles to the application.

Researchers who work and are employed at companies or other types of organisations engaged in economic activities cannot be invited as participating researchers. Funds for such researchers cannot be included in the budget for the grant you apply for.

Yes, researchers employed at companies or other types of organisations engaged in economic activities can be involved in the project if they are funded through other sources, such as in-kind funding. But such researchers can still not be invited as participating researchers and cannot append their academic profile.

The research funded by the applied grant must be carried out as part of non-economic activities. Thus, doctoral students, post docs and other staff cannot be employed at a company or another type of organisation that is involved only in economic activities.

However, they can be employed at a company or another type of organisation that is involved in both economic and non-economic activities. Such organisations may be asked to provide a statement of separate accounting and ancillary activities.

State aid rules – for organisations engaged in economic activities

Economic activity is defined as any activity that involves offering goods and services on a market. It is not the organization’s form, profit purpose, owners, remuneration or membership fees that are decisive.

Some organisations are engaged in both non-economic and economic activities. Such organisations may be asked to provide a statement of separate accounting and ancillary activities.

State aid rules – for organisations engaged in economic activities

Yes, you may be a participating researcher even though you are not employed when the application is submitted. But you must have an employment when the grant period begins and then throughout the grant period and during any additional availability period. It is important that the application clearly states what organisation you will be employed at, when you carry out the research funded by the applied grant.

Yes, you can apply for funding for doctoral students and post-docs. You can apply for funding for salaries, running costs, premises, and indirect costs. You may include funds for annual salary increases.

Yes, you may apply for funding for a, currently unknown, project participant that is recruited when the project starts. In Prisma, you need to select the appropriate category for the project participant, for example doctoral student, post doc, or other personnel with doctoral degree.

In the same way as you would do for other, known, project participants, you need to describe what the intended project participant will do in the project, and what skills and experiences they need to have.

Other personnel with doctoral degree include people with a doctoral degree who contribute to the project, but to a lesser extent than a participating researcher. This category is also used for currently unknown project participants, with a doctoral degree, who will be recruited when the project has started, and that are to be employed in another position than as a post doc.

You can use no more than 15 percent of the total project budget to fund project participants employed in other countries than Sweden. The 15 percent limit applies as an average across the project duration.

Project participants includes main applicant, participating researchers, doctoral students and other staff. People who are engaged through purchased services do not count as project participants.

Any parts of the project that are carried out by project participants based in other countries than Sweden must be well motivated.

Yes, research services, technical knowledge, consulting services and corresponding services can be purchased within the project. These should be purchased or licensed from external actors on market terms and be used exclusively for the project. Purchased services are reported as running costs in the budget. Purchased services must be reported excluding VAT. Specify running costs in accordance with practices at the administrating organisation. The needed competence and forms of participation of the person or persons engaged through purchased services must be described in the budget specification of the application.

This is determined by Formas’ instruction (Ordinance 2009:1024). This states that Formas is to promote and support basic research and needs-driven research in the areas of the environment, agricultural sciences, and spatial planning.

Formas’ areas of responsibility should not be considered as three separate areas. Knowledge needs often involve complex issues that are at the intersection of the environment, agricultural sciences, and spatial planning, or that are overarching to these areas. This could include issues relating to policy instruments, regulations, and political decisions, but also about norms, values, and behaviours – in the past, present and future. It could also include issues relating to norms, practices and values at individual, group, or system levels, or issues relating to policy instruments, regulations, and political decisions.

To be eligible for funding, your project still needs to contribute to at least one of Formas’ areas of responsibility. In your application, you will need to describe how your project contributes to Formas’ areas of responsibility.

No, the assessment of whether an application falls within Formas' areas of responsibility or not is made only on registered applications. In your application, you will need to describe how your project contributes to Formas’ areas of responsibility. In the assessment of whether or not a project falls within Formas’ areas of responsibility we will depart from this description.

If you are unsure of whether or not your project idea falls within Formas' areas of responsibility, we recommend that you engage a colleague and asks them to read your application as a critical friend. You can also get in touch with the Grant’s Office or similar function at your organisation.

No, the project duration is set to 48 months in this call.

Yes. In the budget you can add the salary increase per year or as an average. Explain how you have calculated the salary increase in the budget specification.

You may be the main applicant in both the calls for Career grants for early-career researchers 2024 and Explore – Formas’ open call for research projects 2024, provided that you fulfil the eligibility criteria for both calls.

If you are the main applicant for an application that is granted funding in the Career grant 2024 and have submitted an application as main applicant to Explore 2024, you need to withdraw one of these applications.

The restrictions for the Career grant for early-career researchers 2025 are not yet decided. But if they are same as for the 2024 call, you may be the main applicant in both calls, provided that you fulfil the eligibility criteria for both calls.

If you are the main applicant for an application that is granted funding in Explore 2024 and have submitted an application as main applicant to the Career Grant 2025, you need to withdraw one of these applications.

Yes, you are allowed to submit the same or a similar application to Explore, that you have submitted under another call – but only if the application you have submitted under another call have not been awarded funding.

If both applications are awarded funding, you might need to withdraw one of these applications, depending on to what extent they are similar to each other.

Your application cannot include costs for purposes that are already funded by Formas or another funder. Applications that are entirely or to large parts the same as an application that has been granted funding from Formas or another funder will be rejected.

It is also the case that the amount you may be awarded for the salaries of each researcher, doctoral student, and other staff may never exceed 100 per cent of full-time employment. This also means that an individual with full salary funding from a funder during the entire project period may not receive additional salary funding.

You can only be the main applicant for one application in Explore.

It is not permitted to submit the same or similar application with different main applicants. All registered applications with similar content will be rejected.

Yes, you may be participating researcher in more than one application. However, salary funding from Formas and other research funders cannot exceed 100 percent of a full-time position per project participant.

You may not be the main applicant under Explore if you are the project manager for an ongoing project granted in one of Formas researcher-initiated calls that has a grant period that includes 2025.

Formas’ researcher-initiated calls include:

• Mobility grant for early-career researchers.
• The Annual open call – both Research projects and Research projects for early-career researchers.
• The Career grant for early-career researchers.
• Explore – Formas’ open call for research projects.

Applications where the project manager has an ongoing project from one of Formas’ researcher-initiated calls and a grant period that includes 2025 will be rejected.

A project is considered ongoing during its grant period, i.e. the years when funds are being paid out from Formas.

The document “Godkännande av villkor”, which the main applicant (project leader) received in Prisma when the grant decision was taken, contains information about the grant period (bidragsperiod, in Swedish).

If a project has a grant period (bidragsperiod, in Swedish) that includes one or more payout from Formas in 2025, the project is considered as ongoing in 2025.

To find “Godkännande av villkor” in Prisma, follow these steps:

1. In Prisma, open the Applications and grants tab in your account.
2. In the left-hand menu, click “Grants”.
3. Under “Granted applications”, access the current project by clicking “Details”.
4. Under “Signing”, click Download to download the “Approval of terms” (Godkännande av villkor, in Swedish).

The document “Godkännande av villkor”, which the main applicant (project leader) received in Prisma when the grant decision was taken, contains information about the type of call “inriktning” under which the project was funded.

If the “inriktning” is “forskningsinitierad”, then your project is affected by the restriction regarding on-going projects.

To find “Godkännande av villkor” in Prisma, follow these steps:

1. In Prisma, open the Applications and grants tab in your account.
2. In the left-hand menu, click “Grants”.
3. Under “Granted applications”, access the current project by clicking “Details”.
4. Under “Signing”, click Download to download the “Approval of terms” (Godkännande av villkor, in Swedish).

A project is considered ongoing during its grant period, i.e. the years when funds are being paid out from Formas. If the grant period has passed but the availability period runs during 2025, you may be main applicant under Explore 2024.

Yes. Prolonging a project does not affect the grant period. A prolongation only affects the availability period, i.e. the period during which you as project manager may use the funds.

Yes, Explore is connected to Weave.

Weave – simplified funding procedures for projects with participants from several countries

In the Annual open call, the submitted applications were sorted into ten thematic review panels. In this call, the review panels will be formed inductively, also called bottom-up, based on the submitted applications.

There are several reasons to why we are changing the review panels. One reason is to create better conditions to assess projects addressing issues the intersection of different fields of knowledge and subject matters. Another reason is that the previous review panels did not in a satisfying way represent the full extent of research within Formas’ areas of responsibility. A third reason is to avoid structures that risk steering and restraining research. By forming review panels inductively, these can better adapt to the research front.

We do not prohibit you from using generative AI when developing or writing your application. Also, you do not have to state whether you have used generative AI.

However, you need to be vigilant. Generative AI can plagiarize both itself and other texts without stating the source. Generative AI can also “hallucinate”, i.e. make up facts that are incorrect and references that don’t exist. AI also tends to reproduce different forms of bias, for example regarding sex and gender.

As applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that all content in the application is correct.

The European Commission, along with the countries and stakeholders represented in the European Research Area, ERA, Forum has taken the initiative to develop Living guidelines on the responsible use of generative AI in research External link.. Formas’ supports the guidelines and recommends that they are used by researchers, research institutions, and funders of research.