Sweden, the EU and the world face complex challenges and changes – environmental, technical and societal – that affect forests and the forest sector. This call intends to enable research that explores potential futures and future pathways for forests and the forest sector from a broad range of perspectives, including social, cultural, technical, economic, natural science, and other relevant perspectives. The projects are expected to provide new knowledge that strengthens the potential for forests and their values, products and services, to contribute further to a multitude of societal goals and towards a sustainable development of society.
Forests and the forest sector play a key role in a wide variety of societal goals, from meeting the global demand for products and mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss, to being a source for regional development and incomes. Forests and the forest sector are also affected by developments in other countries and in other sectors. In Sweden, a large share of forest products is exported, making Swedish exports account for around 6% of the global export market for forest products. This means that Swedish forests, landowners, companies, financial actors, and consumers are affected by – and affect – what happens in other parts of the world, through trade, policy and other factors. The context for forests and the forest sector is also changing as a result of developments in other sectors, such as the energy sector, and the industrial development in northern Sweden. The forests themselves are facing the effects of climate change, pests and other changing dynamics. The forest sector thus needs to continue to develop and transition to adapt to the changes ahead and ensure that forests and the forest sector can increasingly contribute to meeting the many needs of society in different ways, both today and tomorrow.
In this call, we are looking for research across a range of aspects and viewpoints on the future of forests and the forest sector in a global context, with a connection to Sweden. For example, this may involve research projects that highlight potential or desirable futures for the forest and the forest sector, explore pathways to these futures, and simultaneously manage trade-offs between the many values of the forest and different stakeholders. It might include how the roles of the forest or the forest sector are affected by developments in other sectors or in other countries. The call also includes research projects that investigate drivers, frameworks (including technical, ecological, policy and cultural conditions), and opportunities and obstacles for different paths of development and various types of major transitions related to the forest, forestry, forest products and services in the forest sector as a whole, and along the different value chains.
There are limitations to what can be funded in the call. Projects that exclusively aim to develop technologies, materials, or forestry practices cannot be funded. The projects must also have a clear connection to effects for Sweden, or to how things that happen in Sweden affect other countries. See more under Delimitations below.
In this call, the main applicant and participating researchers must hold a doctoral degree. The main applicant should be associated with a Swedish higher education institution, research institute, or public agency with a research mission, that is a Formas-approved administrating organisation.
The many different benefits of forests and the forest sector in society have become an increasingly important question as the forest and the forest sector, like society as a whole, face large and complex challenges.
The forest and its many values and products have an important role to play in addressing and contributing to solving a range of societal challenges. The forest is an important carbon sink, making it a key component in managing climate change. Forest products can replace many fossil-based products, where long-lived wood products, such as wood used in construction, can have especially large climate benefits. Many forests are also valuable habitats for a diversity of species. How forests are managed is therefore important to prevent and counteract the loss of biodiversity. At the same time, forests help meet society’s demand for a variety of products, and the global demand for forest products is expected to increase by over 50% by 2050 compared to 2010. Forest products are an important component of the economy and for Sweden’s competitiveness. The forest sector also provides opportunities for livelihoods and profitability and contributes to regional development. Further key values of the forest include, for example, its value for indigenous peoples, for tourism, well-being and quality of life, and its role in culture, stories, and identity.
The different expectations of the forest and its products and services are reflected in a multitude of societal goals that relate to forests and the forest sector, for example through the Swedish forest policy objectives, the EU's forest strategy, the Swedish environmental quality objectives, the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as Sweden’s and the EU’s bioeconomy strategies. The strategy for Sweden's national forest program highlights the forest’s value for jobs and sustainable growth throughout the country and for the development of a growing bioeconomy. Forests also play a central role in fulfilling the Paris Agreement (and the EU’s LULUCF regulation), as well as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the EU’s nature restoration law.
Forests and the forest sector are also affected by developments in other countries and in other sectors. In Sweden, a large share of forest products is exported, making Swedish exports account for around 6% of the global export market for forest products. This means that Swedish forests, landowners, companies, financial actors, and consumers are affected by – and affect – what happens in other parts of the world, through trade, policy and other factors. The context for forests and the forest sector is also changing as a result of developments in other sectors, such as the energy sector, and the industrial development in northern Sweden.
The forests themselves are affected by changes in the environment and in the world. Climate change can bring about changes to forest growth (both positively and negatively), as well as risks of drought, fire, and extreme weather. This, along with reduced biodiversity, can in turn affect the forests’ resilience to pests, for example.
The forest sector as a whole therefore needs to continue to develop to adapt to the constantly changing conditions – both in terms of society’s different expectations on the forest and in terms of the changes taking place in the environment and in the world – and to ensure that forests and the forest sector can increasingly contribute to meeting the many needs of society in different ways, both today and in the future.
Overall, the projects funded within the call are expected to increase knowledge on how the forest and the forest sector can further contribute to a sustainable development of society, support a variety of possible development paths, and contribute to a diverse and robust knowledge base for more secure decision-making. The call welcomes research from a broad range of perspectives, including social, cultural, technical, economic, natural sciences, and other relevant perspectives. The projects are expected to provide new knowledge that strengthens the potential for forests and their values, products and services, to contribute further to a multitude of societal goals and towards a sustainable development of society. The projects should include activities for communication and utilization of results.
Below are some examples of areas that can be in focus. These areas should not be seen as separate or exclusive: a research project may touch on several of these areas, as well as other areas that contribute to the purpose of the call.
- Future and future paths: The call can include research projects that highlight possible or desirable futures for the forest and the forest sector, explore paths to get there, and simultaneously handle trade-offs between the forest’s many values and various actors and stakeholders. This can, for example, involve scenarios and different types of descriptions of the future. It can involve how different parts of the forest sector can transition or prepare to meet various types of challenges, opportunities, and interactions. It can include how different broader forest management systems and methods are adapted and changed based on the development that occurs within the forest sector and in society. It can also involve how forestry and the forest sector deal with uncertainties and where there is a low degree of predictability. The research projects can also include impact assessments of different potential future paths in the development of the forest and the forest sector.
- Conditions, drivers, and barriers: The call can include research projects that examine drivers, frameworks (including technical, ecological, societal and policy conditions), opportunities and barriers for different paths of development as well as for various types of major transitions related to forests, forestry, forest products and services, in the forest sector as a whole and along the different value chains. Research projects can also include perspectives from past technological and industrial development to identify learnings on potential paths from the current state to the future state (for example, the development of the current industrial structure towards other types of products and product mixes).
- Interactions with other sectors and other countries: The call can include research projects that explore how the roles of the Swedish forest or the forest sector is affected by developments in other sectors or in other countries. This can, for example, involve connections and interactions between the development of the forest and various other sectors, such as industrial development in northern Sweden and the energy sector (such as large-scale expansion of wind power). It can also involve connections and interactions between the Swedish forest sector and developments in other countries as seen from one or more broader perspectives, such as changes in land use (including deforestation), technological and policy development, geopolitics, conflicts, increases or decreases in production in other countries, competitive advantages, justice aspects, or changes in trade flows, market forces, and consumption (for example, due to changes in living standards and consumer awareness). It can also be about the role of Swedish forest products as seen from a global perspective, as well as the potential consequences for other countries resulting from changes in production, product mix, or trade. Research projects can also, for example, compare Swedish production with production in other countries, based on a breadth of sustainability aspects.
- Use of forest and raw materials: The call can include research projects that deal with what we as societies use – and want to use – the forest and its services and products for. This can, for example, involve the use of raw materials for different broader areas and throughout the value chain (including residual streams and circularity), as well as changes in the product mix, for example towards increased added value and climate benefits.
- Other areas: Research projects can also address other questions that take a broad and long-term systems perspective on the future and development of the forest or the forest sector, or that otherwise contribute to the purpose of the call.
The call does not include the development of, for example, specific products, bioenergy, biobased materials, production methods, forestry practices, wood construction or pure forest ecology analyses. These aspects may be included as part of a project to the extent that they have a clear relevance from a system perspective, but they cannot constitute the core of the project.
The projects must also have a clear relevance for or a connection to effects on Swedish forests or the Swedish forest sector, or to how things that happen in Swedish forests or the Swedish forest sector affect other countries. Studies of a single country that is only viewed as an example or model for Sweden are not included unless there is a very clear comparative approach. However, the call can include research on, for example, how a major shift in production or policy in one or more other countries can impact the Swedish forest sector, and vice versa. The call can also include projects on things that occur in other sectors or countries that may have effects on the Swedish forest or forest sector, including through indirect effects, such as effects on trade or policy frameworks that may have implications for the Swedish forest sector. The call can also include the examples listed in “Interactions with other sectors and other countries” under Purpose and focus above.
Research projects that are deemed to be outside the aim and focus of the call cannot be granted funding and will be rejected before being reviewed. The assessment of whether an application is within the scope of the call or not is made based on a complete application only. Such assessments are therefore only made after the call has closed.
The call is intended for researchers in all disciplines at Swedish higher education institutions, research institutes or public agencies with a research mission. Formas welcomes researchers both from the social sciences and humanities and from the natural sciences and technical disciplines. In particular, this call encourages interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects that include and bring together multiple disciplines. The hope is that the call, in its entirety, will be able to fund a diversity of projects. The research projects should be able to provide a clear scientific contribution which, from a broad perspective, can give both an overview and depth to the questions studied. Projects may, but do not have to, include doctoral students.
In this call, the main applicant and participating researchers must hold a doctoral degree. The main applicant should be associated with a Swedish higher education institution, research institute, or public agency with a research mission, that is a Formas-approved administrating organisation. Funds in this call can only be applied for by higher education institutions, research institutes, and public agencies with a research mission.
Before you apply
All information about what to include in your application, how to apply, and the assessment process is found below.
Grants from this call may only be administered by a Swedish university, university college, research institute, or public agency with a research mission that meets Formas’ criteria for administrating organisations.
Who can become an administrating organisation?
External link.
To be able to apply for a grant in this call:
- The main applicant is to have completed their doctorate (no later than the close of the call).
- The co-applicant(s) is to have completed their doctorate (no later than the close of the call).
- Other staff participating in the project do not need to have completed a doctorate.
- The doctorate can have been awarded in Sweden or in another country.
- The proposed grant recipient is stated as the project leader on the application.
- The main applicant may submit only one application as a main applicant within the call.
- There is no limit to how many applications an individual can participate in as a co-applicant or participating part.
- PhD students cannot be co-applicants.
- There is no upper age limit for the main applicant and participating researchers. However, researchers who are full-time pensioners are ineligible to receive funding towards salaries, without first reducing their pension by the corresponding percentage.
People who are project leaders for other ongoing Formas projects can also apply for a grant. However, a person’s total funding must not exceed 100% of a full-time position.
When you apply for project funding, you can apply for a grant to cover both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include costs for salaries, equipment, and travel. Indirect costs are costs that are shared with others in your organisation, such as for administration, IT and renting of premises. Indirect costs are sometimes called overhead.
In this call, you may apply for grants to cover salaries for researchers, doctoral students, and other staff, running costs, depreciation costs, costs for premises, and indirect costs.
International co-operation
Grants from Formas can be used to fund research conducted by researchers or other project participants who are employed at a higher education institution or research institute outside of Sweden. The research must be initiated and managed from Sweden. The administrating organisation must be located in Sweden and approved by Formas, and is responsible for hiring any foreign staff or paying for activities or services outside Sweden in accordance with the administrating organisation’s guidelines. Foreign participation in the project must be limited, well-defined and clearly explained in the project application.
Research collaboration with Russia and Belarus
Due to the war in Ukraine, it will not be possible to receive funding for projects involving research cooperation with state or federal research institutions in Russia or Belarus. Formas actions due to the ongoing war in Ukraine External link..
Restrictions – researchers employed at companies and other organisations
In this call, funds are not awarded to companies or other organisations that conduct economic activity. Companies and organisations conducting economic activity may be involved in the project through collaborative activities, but they can also be hired as consultants. This assumes a procurement is conducted as per the administrating organisation’s guidelines and applicable legislation. Any contribution by consultants is to be justified and consist of a well-defined and clearly limited part of the project’s implementation.
More information on approved project costs can be found under Budget.
You can apply for a project duration of three or four years (36 or 48 months). Maximum project budget is 3 million SEK per year, on average over the calendar years the application is valid for. A calendar year is the period from 1 January to the 31 December. So, applicants can apply for more than 3 million SEK for one calendar year if the amount applied for during another year of the project period is less than 3 million SEK. Three-year projects have a maximal budget of 9 million SEK, and four-year projects have a maximal budget of 12 million SEK.
If the total amount applied for exceeds the average amount of 3 million SEK per calendar year, the application will be rejected.
Please note that the total amount of salary received for individual researchers, doctoral students, or other staff may not exceed 100 per cent of full-time employment. This means that additional funds for salary cannot be granted for researchers, doctoral students, or other staff who already receive a grant with complete salary funding.
The project start is 1 September 2025, and the start date is set by default in Prisma. The project has an availability period of 12 months. This means that the project has an additional year after the project duration ends to complete the project. This also means that the project start can be delayed up to 12 months and the project will still be able to be completed in the specified time.
You should write your application in English, as the review panel that will assess the application is international. If you write your application in Swedish, Formas will only translate the project description. The translation will be done by a professional translator. You will not be able to change the translation before the application proceeds to assessment. The budget specification, CVs and academic profiles will not be translated. For this reason, please write these in English, even if you fill in the application in the Swedish version of the application system. The popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the abstract is to be in both Swedish and English.
- To facilitate the processing of applications, we ask you to inform us if you have written your application in Swedish.
According to Swedish law, your application and its appendices are considered public documents once they have been submitted to us. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Information can only be concealed if it is confidential as defined in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).
Formas is limited in its ability to designate personal data as confidential. For this reason, your application should not contain the personal data of anyone who is not included in the application.
If the project is awarded funding, the popular science description and project abstracts in Swedish and English will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality review. For this reason, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information.
Currently, we do not see any problems with you, the applicant, using AI to assist you when formulating your application. However, it is important that you are aware that the responsibility for fulfilling the commitments made in the application remains with you, the applicant. As an applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that the contents of both the application and the project plan are correct and that the research is conducted as described. Applicants certify this when registering their application. As the applicant, you are always expected to follow good research practice in the application process, which means that plagiarism, falsification, and fabrication of content in the application may not occur.
At Formas, we strive to fund projects that maximise positive while minimising negative impacts on the environment and climate. As such, we encourage grant applicants to design their projects to enable primarily online collaboration and that any necessary travel minimises climate impact as much as possible. We also suggest that your project planning includes measures that minimise energy use and other resource consumption, emissions, and waste. However, this is not part of the assessment of your application.
Read about Sustainability at Formas External link..
Formas is tasked with working towards achieving a sustainable development of society. Crucial to such a development are equal opportunities and inclusion. We therefore encourage applicants to, to the extent possible, design the project so that it can provide knowledge that reflects and is relevant to different groups in society. We also encourage you to consider gender balance in the project team and including participants with different backgrounds and experiences. This will however not be part of the assessment of your application.
How to apply
Grant applications are filled in and submitted in our application system, Prisma. This is where you will add the information needed for your application. You will need a personal account for this.
Apply for a personal account in Prisma External link.
Co-applicants whose CV and academic profile will be included in the application also need to have a personal account. The project leader invites co-applicants to the application in Prisma.
To be able to register an application, the main applicant must have a Formas-approved administrating organisation for all types of calls. Higher education institutions, most research institutes, and public agencies with research missions are approved as administrating organisations for all Formas calls and already have an organisation account.
Become an administrating organisation for all types of calls External link.
All limits for the maximum number of characters refer to characters including spaces. We recommend using the font Arial with font size 12 for the information entered in all text boxes.
Please note that text written in a word processer and then pasted into your application in Prisma may lose formatting. Tables and figures with advanced formatting or formulas should be uploaded as attachments to avoid the risk of losing valuable information.
Your application must include a clear description of the project under the following sections:
Basic information
- Number of applied years 3 or 4 (36 or 48 months).
- Start month 1 September 2025. Note that the project’s start month is predefined in Prisma and cannot be changed.
- Project title in Swedish and English (max. 200 characters including spaces).
- Popular science description in Swedish (max. 4,500 characters including spaces). Describe what the project is about, why it is important to investigate the topic, and how you intend to implement the project. Write so that even a non-researcher can understand what the project is about.
- Abstract in Swedish and English (max. 1,500 characters including spaces). Describe the goals and purpose, how the project will be conducted, and why it is important that the project be conducted.
If the application is granted funding, the abstract and the popular science descriptions will be published in open project databases without checking for confidentiality. For this reason, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information.
Research programme
- Aims and objectives of the proposed project, and a background description containing an overview of the research area and the project's relevance to the purpose and focus of the call (max. 7,000 characters including spaces).
- Description of the project, including a summary of the structure, theory, methods, performance, and a concrete and realistic plan for scientific publication and communication of results. Include a detailed description of how the research question and the composition of the project group contribute to the purpose and focus of the call, the project's role in the development of the knowledge area and in relation to existing knowledge and other ongoing research in similar areas. Describe and justify the method, implementation and plan for scientific publication. Also describe and justify how the project is planned with the resources and skills required to carry out the work. Include a timetable. (max. 15,000 characters including spaces).
- Description of the societal value of the project and who the relevant stakeholders/users of the research are and how the research and its results are planned to be communicated with these stakeholders. Includes how the project addresses important societal or sectoral issues within the focus of the call, how the project can contribute to sustainable development, and how the needs of different stakeholders and/or users have been taken into account (8,000 characters including spaces).
- Description of how communication and dialogue are planned with relevant stakeholders and/or users during the project (max 8,000 characters including spaces).
- References. List the in-line references pertaining to the above sections in a separate field (max. 5,000 characters including spaces).
Budget
The project’s budget is provided in Prisma. Note that the budget and budget specification should be written in English. If the budget specification is in Swedish, it will not be translated and will be assessed by the international review panel as is. In Prisma, write out the total amount you are applying for in Swedish kronor using digits. SEK 1,000,000.
The budget is described in the following sections:
- Salaries, including social contributions for each project participant. 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 during the entire project duration may not receive additional salary funding. There is no upper age limit for the main applicant and participating researchers. However, researchers who are full-time pensioners are ineligible to receive funding towards salaries, without first reducing their pension by the corresponding percentage.
- Percentage of salary refers to the per cent of the applicant’s full-time salary that corresponds to the salary in the project.
- Degree of activity in the project refers to the percentage of a full-time position the participant will be contributing. This shows whether the applicant is contributing in-kind or with other funding to complete the project.
- Running costs include such costs as consumables, travel, and conferences. They can also include publishing in open access journals and databases that use open access. Formas awards only funding for certain types of author fees. Read more about this under the section Publishing costs External link.. Running costs also includes purchased services, such as consulting services. Purchased services are reported excluding VAT. This can also include compensation for services and travel expenses for individuals from civil society organizations or equivalent who have an advisory role during the project. This can also include costs for any collaborative activities during the project’s implementation and participation in joint activities, such as those organised by the call coordinator. Running costs are to be listed as per the administrating organisation’s standard procedure.
- Equipment and depreciations. List equipment costs and depreciations for equipment if relevant to the application. You may be awarded at most SEK 500,000 for equipment and depreciations for equipment.
- Premises. You can apply for funds for premises costs if they are not already included in the indirect costs (overhead) in the project budget. List premises costs as per the administrating organisation’s standard procedure.
- Total applied for/Subtotal refers to costs already included in the previous budget tables and that are automatically be transferred to these items.
- Indirect costs refer to overhead costs. When entering overhead costs in the application, do so as per the administrating organisation’s standard procedure. If funds are to be transferred from the administrating organisation to another organisation participating in the project, the receiving organisation’s overhead cost can instead be applied to these funds. Explain and report the various overhead costs in the budget specification. The total overhead cost for the project should be listed in the budget table. Formas does not grant funding for overhead costs written off for equipment or premises.
- Other cost refers to funds that are not applied for but are relevant for completing the project. This may involve co-funding from participating organisations or collaborators. Also indicate if the project is receiving funding from other sources.
- Total cost refers to a budget total.
- Budget specification (max. 7,000 characters including spaces) is a description and explanation of the applied budget and is included in the assessment of the project. State how the applied amount is divided in amounts per year and the total amount per organisation, if relevant. Make a brief justification for salary costs specified in the budget. All other costs must be justified, such as participation in conferences, fees for open access to publications and data, etc. Describe the project’s total budget, including funding from any other sources.
Ethics
Describe which ethical issues are relevant for your project (max. 4,000 characters including spaces). Describe how you plan to handle the ethical aspects of the project. This may, for example, involve research that uses personal data or research that involves experiments on humans or animals.
If you are conducting research on humans, human tissue, or personal data, you must submit an application for ethical review to the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and have it approved. If your project includes experiments on animals, you must have approval from an ethics committee for animals. You can apply for this through the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s e-services.
You must state in your application whether you have a valid ethical approval or not. If you do not have one and your application is granted funding, you must have ethical approval before starting the part of the research that requires this approval.
If no approvals or permits are needed, you need to motivate why this is the case.
Classifications
Formas uses the project’s classifications in analyses and documents on an overall level and when assessing your application. These classifications are determined by the applicant specifying subject area, research subject (SCB code), at least one global goal for sustainable development to which the project can contribute, and keywords.
- Subject area. Select at least one and at most three subject areas and add a subheading.
- Research subject (SCB code). Select, in order of priority, a minimum of one and up to a maximum of three SCB codes with two sub-levels that together form the entire code.
- Sustainable Development Goals. Select at least one and up to three Sustainable Development Goals to which the project can contribute in order of priority according to degree of relevance. Read more about the Sustainable Development Goals on the UN Development Programme website External link..
- Keywords. Select at least one and up to three key words that describe the project.
Administrating organisation – the organisation receiving the grant
In this call, only applicants from administrating organisations approved for all Formas calls may submit an application. Approved administrating organisations are listed as defaults in Prisma.
- Select your administrating organisation from the drop-down menu.
- Select project site from the dropdown list
Participating researchers
- The main applicant invites participating researchers to the application in Prisma.
- Participating researchers are researchers with a doctorate that are the most relevant for the project. It is only the main applicant and participating researchers that may include their academic profiles in the application.
- All participating researchers must have created their own personal account in Prisma to be invited.
- The main applicant will not be able to register the application if invited participating researchers have not accepted the invitation or failed to fill out the mandatory fields correctly.
- The main applicant invites participating researchers through searching for their names and e-mail addresses in Prisma. Names and email addresses must be spelled exactly right.
Other staff
- Other staff are persons who contribute to the project but do not have a doctorate degree. This could, for example, be about research assistants, lab assistants, technicians, etc.
- Other staff in the project may, however, be researchers with a doctoral degree, but they do not act as participants in the project, i.e., they are not invited by the main applicant to the application in Prisma.
- Since these people do not have a Prisma account linked to the application, their participation and competence must be described in the research programme. It is not possible to attach a CV for other staff.
Participating administrators
- The main applicant may invite participating administrators.
- Participating administrators are not active in the project but are persons who help you to fill out the application form.
- Participating administrators cannot register the application. Only the main applicant can register an application.
CVs
The main applicant and co-applicant(s) retrieves the data from their respective personal profile to the application in Prisma. Applicants should review their CV in Prisma in good time to ensure that it is complete and up to date. If participating researchers have not filled in the required fields correctly, the main applicant will not be able to complete the registration of the application. Participants who are not co-applicants do not have the opportunity to attach their CV information, instead their competence for the project should be described in the research program.
The CV information should include:
- Education
- Doctoral education
- Bachelor’s and master’s education
- Work experience
- Current employment and longer relevant previous employment
- Postdocs
- Researcher exchanges relevant to the described research
- Any longer breaks in research that might be of relevance to the assessment. research (e.g. parental leave, illness, military service, or political appointments)
- Merits and awards
- Associate professorships.
- Doctoral students, postdoctoral students, and exam project students; add as an individual or/and a group. When adding a group, state the total number in each respective category. When adding an individual provide the names of the most relevant supervisions (max. 10).
- Grants awarded in competition. Specify the most relevant grants (max. 10).
- Merits and awards. Specify the most relevant ones (max. 10).
- Other merits, including summary of publications. Under “Other merits,” you can list other qualifications that are relevant to the application, such as any popular science publications or proven experience of collaboration and research communication (max. 10).
Here the main applicant and participating researcher’s publication history, for the last five years and in total if the applicant's active research period is longer than five years, should be summarised (max. 800 characters including spaces).
This summary should include:
- The number of publications of various types (such as articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, books and other monographs, conference papers and popular science contributions).
- The summary should not contain information about the H-index, Journal Impact Factor or any other type of measure used to rank publishers or journals.
List of publications
The main applicant and co-applicant should list up to ten of their most relevant publications. Note that the publications should be linked from the applicant’s personal profiles in Prisma.
Appendix
The following attachment can be uploaded if relevant to the application:
Appendix 1: Illustrations. If figures, tables or images are needed to describe the project idea, these are attached as an appendix. A maximum of one attachment of 4 MB in PDF format can be uploaded. Please note that a CV, letters of intent or other types of documents that prove the project should not be attached as an appendix.
After you have submitted your application
You can make changes to your registered application (unregister it and re-register) until the call closes at Tuesday February 4, 2025. After that, the status of your application will change from “registered” to “finally registered”. Unless any errors have been identified in Prisma, no changes may be made to the final registered application. Furthermore, you cannot make any additions via, for example, email or by phone, and the application will be assessed in its existing condition.
Your submitted application is automatically sent to the administrating organisation when the call is closed. The administrating organisation has seven days to sign the application digitally in Prisma.
First, Formas verifies that the application meets the formal requirements set out in the call. If the application does not meet these requirements, it is rejected.
The following requirements will be verified in this call:
- The administrating organisation has signed the application within seven calendar days of the call’s closing date.
- The application has been approved by the administrating organisation.
- The application’s focus falls within Formas’ areas of responsibility.
- The focus of the application falls within the call’s areas.
- The total amount applied for does not exceed an average amount of 3 million SEK per calendar year.
- The application is complete and contains all mandatory information.
- The requirements for project leaders, project participants and organisations under Applicant and organisation requirements are met.
- The main applicant responsible for other projects or activities funded by Formas has submitted any requested reports by the stated deadline.
- That the main applicant has only one application registered as the main applicant in the call.
- The same application or to large parts the same application has not been registered with different main applicants.
- The application is not entirely or to large parts the same as an application that has been granted funding from Formas or another funder.
All applications are assessed by an external international review panel based on the contents of the application. It is therefore important to write the application as clearly as possible and include all important and relevant information. Each application is assessed by four reviewers in the panel. The review panel includes both active researchers and users of research results who are qualified to assess the potential societal benefit. The applications are assessed based on the specific criteria of the call on a scale of 1-7, where 1 is the lowest and 7 is the highest. All five criteria will be weighted equally in the assessment.
Formas will consider the overall portfolio perspective in order to fund projects that address a wide range of challenges and perspectives within the scope of the call. The portfolio perspective will be applied by the review panel in connection with the ranking of the applications.
Applications are assessed based on the following five criteria:
Criteria for scientific quality:
Research question
- Scientific relevance of the purpose
- Originality and novelty of purpose, theory and hypotheses
- Possibility of scientifically significant results
- Whether the purpose is aligned with the call
The reviewers also:
look favourably upon multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches as they relate to the current research question. It is therefore important that you include these considerations in your application if they are relevant to your project.
Method and performance
- Feasibility and suitability of the scientific method
- Whether the execution plan and timetable are well-defined and realistic
- The coordination of the project and research team
- The appropriateness of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, if these are chosen
- Whether the proposed research requires ethical considerations, and if so, how the applicant plans to address them
- Whether the budget is reasonable relative to the project’s organisation and expected results
Clarification:
Of these points, the feasibility and suitability of the scientific method carry the most weight.
Scientific competence
Here, the review panel weighs the following:
- Scientific quality of publications
- Ability to complete the project according to plan
- Supervisory experience
- Project management experience
- National and international activities, including projects, networks, assignments, honorary assignments, and participation in or arranging workshops or conferences
- Interest, experience and ability to communicate the research and research results with stakeholders and users
- Strength and competitiveness of the research team.
Clarification:
The review panel assesses the quality of scientific publications with respect to standards within each discipline. The assessment focuses on the content and quality of the publications rather than on where they were published.
Publications are only part of what is considered in the criteria of scientific competence. In their assessment, the reviewers also consider other forms of results achieved and experience. This includes, for example, the dissemination of knowledge, training, patents, products, or impact on policy.
The assessment takes into account relevant reasons for any gaps in research, such as parental leave or sick leave, that might have had an impact on the applicant’s overall productivity. That is, the results and experience described by the applicant are assessed in relation to periods of active research.
Criteria for societal relevance:
Societal value of research question
The review panel will assess how well your research proposal addresses the following four considerations:
- The research question addresses important issues in society within the call’s focus, nationally, internationally or both
- The project can help to achieve sustainable development in the short or long term, nationally, internationally or both
- In the project’s design, applicants consider the needs of stakeholders and/or users
- The purpose of the research is aligned with the call
Clarification:
Taking into account the needs of stakeholders or users can include references to directives, environmental objectives, the UN’s sustainable development goals and related targets, and discussions with the relevant stakeholders or users.
The terms “stakeholders” and “users” are broadly defined as beneficiaries or enablers of the research results. This includes stakeholders outside or inside the research community (depending on whether the project is of a more basic or more applied nature), nationally or internationally.
Communication with stakeholders and users
The review panel assesses whether the application contains the following:
- A description of relevant stakeholders and/or users.
- A concrete and realistic plan for (a) the project’s involvement of relevant stakeholders or users and (b) the project’s plan for communicating the research and its results with the stakeholders or users.
Communication with stakeholders and users can take place in different ways and with different timeframes, depending on the research question. However, it should include various forms of dialogue with stakeholders and potential users of the research.
All the criteria must be addressed in the application, and we advise applicants to clearly relate their application to these criteria. We also advise applicants to clearly and accurately organise and formulate their applications, as the review is based solely on the information contained in the application.
Our reviewers are not currently allowed to use AI tools to help review applications. There are several reasons for this. There is a great risk that uploaded information may be made public. There are also risks related to confidentiality and the use of personal data. Uploading an application or information to any kind of AI tool is an unauthorised disclosure of information. This does not just apply to AI tools but also to many other services and tools for storage and sharing data.
Decisions on awarded projects are expected to be made on 25 June 2025. We publish our decisions the following day at the latest on the Formas website, and you will receive an email when you can view the decision in Prisma. Grant award decisions cannot be appealed.
All awarded projects must submit a report to Formas regarding financial and project results within three months of the end of the grant availability period. For projects longer than 18 months, a financial statement must also be submitted to Formas annually. All reports are submitted in Prisma.
How to report expenses and results. External link.
Formas may impose requirements on how projects must be reported in terms of content and results to enable distribution and application. In such cases, the award decision will contain more information about this. Formas may also require you to participate in conferences and similar events in order to create synergies and platforms for learning and knowledge sharing.
Results from research funded by Formas are to be published using open access.
You are also to have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. If you receive Formas funding, you are to draw up a data management plan. The plan should not be sent into us, but you should be able to present the plan upon request. By signing our grant terms and conditions, you certify that a data management plan will be in place before the research begins and that it will be maintained.
Formas transfers information about awarded grants to Swecris, a national database of grant-funded research that was instituted by request of the government.
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Revision history
Any post-publication revisions to the call text are listed below.
2024-12-02: Clarification in the section running costs.
Contact information
For questions about the content of the call
For administrative questions and questions about Prisma
