A chemically safe future – preparatory projects

WHAT CAN YOU APPLY FOR?

Preparatory projects that builds new, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborative constellations for research and innovation for a chemically safe future.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The call is aimed at individuals who work in academia, the public sector, non-profit associations, the business sector, and other organisations.

Participants from a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five (5) parties are to participate. At least one of the parties is to come from academia.

The main applicant is to come from academia and hold a doctoral degree.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU APPLY FOR?

The project duration is 18 months.

Each project can apply for a minimum of SEK 1.5 million and a maximum of SEK 3 million in grants.

Current: 35 Days left. Apply before: 2025-05-27 14:00

Information events

This call is aimed at those wanting to take on the challenges of achieving a chemically safe future. The purpose of this call is to build up new, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborative constellations for research and innovation. For this reason, the call has a broad target group, where you are welcome to apply if you work within academia, the public sector, non-profit associations, the business sector, and other organisations.

The field of chemicals is always advancing. Chemicals and their use are developed in interaction among the market, regulations and societal needs. This might involve new chemicals needed for the development of fossil-free industrial processes or challenges linked to the circular economy. It could also be linked to how climate change and changes in land use impact both the occurrence and dispersal of environmental pollution.

To achieve a chemically safe future, we need to find ways to effectively and proactively identify, risk assess and regulate substances that are harmful to health or the environment before they spread in society and the environment. We need to expand our knowledge base and develop new solutions about policy instruments and other measures, about socio-economic effects, and about norms and behaviours. New knowledge and new solutions must also be put into practice. The challenges linked to a chemically safe future require new interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations that can challenge conventional ways of approaching the issues and adopt broad system perspectives. In this call, you can apply for funding to build this type of collaboration.

Formas will organise match making events in connection with the call being open. More information about this will be posted on this website.

The Government has tasked Formas to support research and innovation for a chemically safe future. This call is the first of these efforts.

The field of chemicals is always advancing. More and more chemical substances are being produced, while substances that are harmful to health and the environment are being replaced with new ones. We are in the midst of a comprehensive societal transformation where the focus is on the development of fossil-free industrial processes, the circular economy and climate adaptation of society. Chemicals and other critical raw materials play an important role in this development.

The transition towards a fossil-free society involves a shift in which raw materials and chemical substances are used and enter the environment. Adaptations and measures to meet the changing climate are now being implemented at a rapid pace, and their impacts on the environment are not yet known. Climate change will also impact the occurrence and dispersal of environmental pollutants in ways that will affect humans and the environment.

To slow climate change and reduce environmental impact, society needs to transition to a more circular economy in ways that reduce both resource consumption and waste generation. Chemical safety is central to creating resource-efficient product and material flows and recycling processes. This development opens up excellent opportunities for Sweden and the world, but also a responsibility to work from a broader systems perspective. The transition should not contribute to increased emissions of chemicals and pollutants that harm people and the environment.

In working towards a chemically safe future, decision-makers are faced with understanding the sharing of responsibility, risk perception, values, behaviours, measures, instruments, socio-economic costs, as well as health and environmental effects, goal conflicts, and how we handle uncertainties. To achieve a chemically safe and resource-efficient society, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration is needed that can address complex and system-wide issues.

The overall purpose of this call is to build new interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborative constellations. Funded projects will address challenges related to a chemically safe future in the following areas:

  • The next generation of risk assessment.
  • Preparedness for the consequences of climate change for a non-toxic environment.
  • Strengthening the potential for a chemically safe circular economy.

These areas are described in more detail in the Swedish report En kemikaliesäker framtid – investeringar i forskning och innovation för konkurrenskraft, beredskap och proaktiva åtgärder External link..

Projects are to be based on a clearly defined and urgent challenge within one or more of the designated areas. This challenge should be complex enough to require interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration. The projects should challenge conventional ways of approaching the chosen topic.

Collaborative constellations formed within projects should encompass an appropriate breadth of actors and disciplines that can contribute in the long term to solving existing challenges to achieve a more chemically safe future. We encourage collaborations that include both natural science/technical expertise and humanities/social science expertise. The project plan may include elements of linking more participants to the project group. The projects shall move the state of knowledge of the topic, but also entail a future transfer of knowledge for all parties. Innovative collaboration constellations will be rewarded.

The collaborative constellations shall develop a deeper shared understanding of the chosen challenge and thereby lay the foundation for future groundbreaking research and innovation for a chemically safe future. Projects are expected to result in ideas for future research or innovation projects.

This call for preparatory projects will be followed by a call for larger projects planned to open in 2027. The 2027 call will also be open to applicants who did not participate in the current call.

Formas intends to balance the portfolio of funded projects so that all three areas are represented.

As the call aims to create new, cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaborative constellations, the call has a broad target group. The call is aimed at individuals who work in academia, the public sector, non-profit associations, the business sector, and other organisations. Participants from a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five (5) parties are to be included in the application, with at least one from academia (a higher education institution, research institute or other organisation with research as its main activity). Other parties may be from academia, the public sector, non-profit associations, business and other organisations. The main applicant is to come from academia and hold a doctoral degree.

Before you apply

The call A chemically safe future – preparatory projects does not permit submitting the same application with different main applicants. All finally registered applications with the same content will be rejected.

Project team

The project team is to consist of participants from a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five (5) parties, with at least one from academia (a higher education institution, research institute or other research organisation with research as its main activity). Other parties may be from academia, the public sector, non-profit associations, business and other organisations.

The project is to include individuals who together possess the relevant skills and expertise to implement and achieve the objective of the project. Since the purpose of the call is to build new interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations, the project team should consist of expertise from different disciplines and sectors. Achieving a chemically safe future requires involving all of society. For this reason, including both scientific/technical expertise and expertise from the humanities/social sciences on project teams is advantageous.

It is up to the project to put together the project team, to allocate work done by the parties in different parts of the project, and to allocate the budget between the participating parties. These parts are included in the assessment of the application. More information is provided under “How does the assessment process work?”.

All projects applying for grants from Formas must have a responsible project leader (main applicant) and be conducted by the individuals identified in the application.

Project parties

An organisation is considered a party. To be considered as a project party, the organisation must be included as an active party in the project plan. The organisation must also be added as a party in Prisma. The project budget is also to clearly indicate what costs are assigned to the organisation in question, either through grants from Formas, their own funds or other funding or a combination of these.

It is possible to have several participants from the same organisation, but please note that these are then considered to belong to the same party and that a minimum of three and a maximum of five parties are required in the project team.

For organisations engaged in economic activity, such as municipal companies, private companies, and other organisations, Formas applies EU State aid rules External link.. Read more under the section “State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity”.

After notice of awarded funding, the project parties must individually sign a written commitment to implement the project as per the Formas decision for funding. Before the initial payment of grant funds, all project parties must have submitted their signed commitments on time along with any additionally requested information.

International parties can participate in projects through in-kind contributions but cannot apply for funding in this call. Note that sole proprietorships cannot be granted funding under this call or participate as a party in projects applying for grants in Formas calls. Organisations that only contribute to a limited extent, e.g. in the form of a reference group, are not considered parties. A consultant or subcontractor is not considered a project party.

Main applicant

Projects applying for funding from Formas have a main applicant, who is the responsible project leader. In this call, the main applicant must belong to an academic party and hold a doctoral degree by the closing date of the call.

The main applicant may have other ongoing Formas-funded projects and may submit an application to this call at the same time as long as the applicant’s total salary, spread across the different projects, does not exceed 100% funding. Main applicants may only submit one application in this call. It is, however, permitted for the main applicant to be a participant in multiple applications as long as the applicant’s total salary, spread across the projects, does not exceed 100% funding.

Administrating organisation

The main applicant’s organisation, the coordinating project party, must be able to receive and administer the funds paid by Formas to an awarded project. The organisation that receives and administers the funds awarded by Formas is called the administrating organisation.

Formas distinguishes between administrating organisations that can receive funds in all Formas calls and administrating organisations that are approved to receive funds for an individual project. Higher education institutions, government agencies with research assignments, and most research institutes are approved as administrating organisations in all Formas calls. Most other public and private organisations need to obtain individual approval as administrating organisations. In this call, the main applicant must belong to an academic party which then also becomes the administrating organisation.

Who can become an administrating organisation? External link.

Companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that receive funding from Formas are covered by state aid rules. These rules are based on the main principle of EU law that state aid to private enterprises normally distorts competition. However, the main principle allows for some exceptions, including aid for research, development and innovation.

In this call, Formas will apply Article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) (EU Regulation No. 651/2014). When support is based on GBER, the aid intensity depends on the type of project and the size of the organisation. A preliminary assessment of the project’s activities is based on the “basic research” exemption. The size of the organisation is assessed using the EU definition of small and medium-sized enterprises. Read more in Aid intensity according to Formas’ aid scheme External link. (in Swedish). Before making a decision, Formas performs credit checks on companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities that may be considered for funding.

More information on state aid rules is available on the Formas website: State aid rules External link..

Applicants receiving state aid (should the application be awarded funding from Formas) need to be aware that the requirements for transparent reporting of state aid became stricter in 2023. This means that state aid over EUR 100,000 to a project party (or if it concerns primary agricultural production or the fisheries and aquaculture sector EUR 10,000) are to be publicly reported within the EU. Formas is responsible for this transparency report. Applicants are assumed to understand this requirement for transparent reporting and are considered to have accepted that such public reporting occurs for grants exceeding the threshold amounts.

When applying for project funding, you can apply for both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs, also called operating costs, are costs that would not have arisen if the project had not been conducted: Staff expenses, costs for equipment, buildings and land, costs for consultants and licenses, and other operating costs. Indirect costs are costs that are not the immediate result of the project but that are still related to it, such as for administration, IT, and renting of premises. Indirect costs are also called overhead costs or general expenses.

The grant must be clearly linked to the project you wish to fund and must be used to fund activities that are not part of regular activities.

The total amount of salary received for an individual researcher, doctoral student, or other participant must correspond to the activity level in your project and may not exceed 100 per cent of a full-time position. This means that additional salary funding cannot be granted to staff who already have full salary funding. Participants who receive a full-time pension cannot receive funding for their own salary.

In this call, grants cannot be used to fund participants whose activities are based outside of Sweden. Participants from outside of Sweden may participate in-kind in projects.

More information about costs eligible for funding by Formas:

Project costs that qualify for funding External link.

Costs funded by Formas with supporting provisions (PDF) External link. (in Swedish)

Grants for 18 months are applied for, with a total requested grant of at least SEK 1.5 million and a maximum of SEK 3 million.

The project start date is predefined in Prisma as 1 November 2025 and cannot be changed.

In the budget included in the application, applicants must explain how the funds will be used. Applicants input their budget according to how the actual costs are expected to occur per financial year. For administrative reasons, Formas may apply a payout plan that differs from the application’s allocation of the budget over time.

Applications with a different requested amount or a project duration that does not fall within the above range will be rejected.

You should write your application in English, since it will be assessed by international review panel. If you do write your application in Swedish, a professional translator will only translate into English the section describing the project work itself. You will not be able to review or change the translation before the application proceeds to assessment in the review panel. However, the popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the abstract is to be in both Swedish and English. Budget specifications and CVs will not be translated.

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 redacted 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.

We currently see no problem with an applicant using AI tools when preparing their application. However, it is important that you are aware that the responsibility for fulfilling the commitments you make in the application lies with you as the applicant. As the applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that the content of both the application and the project plan is correct and that the research is carried out as described. You certify this when registering your application. As the applicant, you are to follow good research practices, which means that plagiarism, falsification, and fabrication of content in the application may not occur.

Formas is committed to funding projects that maximise positive and minimise negative impact 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. 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 pursuing the sustainable development of society. Equal opportunities and inclusiveness are crucial for this. As such, we encourage applicants, as far as possible, to design their projects so that they can provide knowledge that reflects and is relevant to different groups in society. We also encourage you to ensure that the project team has a gender balance and that it includes participants with different backgrounds and experiences.

How to apply

All information about what to include in your application and how to apply can be found here.

Any post-publication revisions to the call text are listed in the section Revision history.

Grant applications are filled in and submitted in our application system, Prisma. Enter the necessary information for your application there.

In this call, the main applicant and party enters the information in the application in Prisma. The organisation to which the main applicant belongs is the administrating organisation. It is possible to add participating administrator(s) in Prisma, who can then also make changes to the application. The application is to have separate budgets for each party, as per the instructions under “Required information for your application”.

The call closes on 27 May 2025 at 14:00. All applications must be registered before this deadline, no supplements or late registrations are allowed (unless they are specifically requested by Formas).

Please read these instructions carefully, even if you have previously applied for a grant from Formas.

The following information and instructions apply to personal and organisation accounts in Prisma.

Personal account

The main applicant who fills in the necessary information and registers the application must have a personal account in Prisma. If the designated main applicant does not have a personal account, they need to create one in Prisma.

Create a personal account in Prisma External link..

Organisation account

The organisation that will receive and administer the funds awarded to a project by Formas is called an administrating organisation in Prisma, the Formas application system. At the time of application, the organisation must have an organisation account.

The main applicant must specify the administrating organisation and the project site when filling in the application form in Prisma. This is done in the dropdown menus for “Administrating organisation” and “Project site”. Available project sites are defined in the organisation structure by the organisation account supervisor. The administrating organisation represented by the main applicant (the coordinating project party) must have an organisation account in Prisma when applying for funding.

If your organisation has not previously been an administrating organisation of Formas funds, it must first apply for an organisation account in Prisma (see below).

Formas distinguishes between administrating organisations that can receive funds in all Formas calls and administrating organisations that are approved to receive funds for an individual project.

Applicants from administrating organisations approved for all Formas calls

Higher education institutions, most research institutes, and government agencies tasked with conducting research are approved as administrating organisations for all Formas calls and already have organisation accounts.

Applicants from administrating organisations requiring individual approval

Most other public and private organisations require individual approval as administrating organisations in this call.

Organisation account for organisations that can become an administrating organisation for an individual project

  • If the organisation already has an account in Prisma, email our research officer Emily Dock Åkerman emily.dockakerman@formas.se to request to be added to the list of possible administrating organisations for this call. Provide the organisation identity number in your message. This applies even if your organisation was approved as an administrating organisation for a project in a previous Formas call.
  • If your organisation does not have an account in Prisma, an appropriate representative (organisation account supervisor) needs to apply for an organisation account on the Prisma website. In your explanation for applying, refer to the call “A chemically safe future – preparatory projects”, and include the type of organisation and the organisation identity number. If the intended coordinating party (the administrating organisation) is not already listed in Prisma, it is important that the main applicant apply for an organisation account well in advance. Apply for an organisation account in Prisma External link.
  • If you do not know whether the organisation has a Prisma account, contact the responsible research officer Emily Dock Åkerman emily.dockakerman@formas.se before applying for a new account. Specify your organisation identity number.

Project site – create a structure to describe your organisation

To be able to register an application, a project site within the organisation must be specified, such as an institute or department. The organisation account supervisor must build a structure of divisions and sub-divisions (project sites) at two levels. If the organisation has no departments, then enter a sub-division with the same name as the organisation. For information on how to do this, see Prisma’s user support External link..

Learn more about creating project sites and specifying levels for project sites in Prisma External link..

All limits for the maximum number of characters refer to characters including spaces. Please choose the default font (Verdana) for the information entered in the text boxes. Please also use the default font size.

Note that if you write your application using a word processor and then paste the text into Prisma, formatting might be lost.

Upload tables and figures with advanced formatting or formulas as a PDF appendix to prevent the loss of important information contained in formatting.

The application is to include a clear description of the project using the following sections:

Basic information

  • Number of months applied for. In this call, the project duration is predefined as 18 months.
  • Start month. Note that the start month is predefined in Prisma as November 2025 and cannot be changed.
  • Project title in Swedish and English (200 characters including spaces).
  • Popular science description in Swedish (max. 4,500 characters including spaces). The popular science description and project abstracts for awarded projects will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality assessment. As such, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information.
  • Abstract in Swedish and English (max. 1,500 characters each including spaces). The abstracts of granted applications will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality assessment. For this reason, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information.

Project description

Read the background text and the purpose and focus of the call carefully. The application is only assessed based on the information provided in it. For this reason, it is important that it address all the assessment criteria under “How does the assessment process work?”.

The following are to be described in detail:

Project’s relevance and potential (max 10,000 characters including spaces)

  • Background
    • Describe the context of the project and why the project is important from a broader perspective.
    • Describe and characterise the challenge or challenges addressed by the project.
  • Purpose and Goals
    • Describe the challenges addressed by the project in concrete terms.
    • Describe how the project can contribute to the purpose and focus of the call.
    • Describe your concrete goals for the project. What do you plan to have achieved by the end of your preparatory project?
    • Describe the objectives and expected impacts of the project in the long term. What will the collaborative constellation developed during the project achieve in the future?

Implementation (max. 10,000 characters including spaces)

  • Describe the project and explain how it will be conducted using, for example, work packages, activities, methods, work plan, and time plan.
  • Describe any ethical considerations and how these are managed in the project.
  • Reflect on how gender equality and diversity have been integrated into the project.
  • Describe risks that can impact the project’s implementation, time plan, and budget, how likely such risks are, and how you will manage these if they arise.

Actors (max. 8,000 characters including spaces)

  • Explain your choice of project parties and their qualifications, roles, and level of activity in the project.
  • Explain how the project will consider the interests of the project parties and other end users.
  • Describe how the project will contribute to knowledge transfer for each individual project party.
  • Reflect on the project team’s composition (key stakeholders) with regard to gender and distribution of influence among women and men.
  •  

List of references (max. 8,000 characters including spaces)

  • List the references included in descriptive text in the previous sections. These can include publications, previous works relevant to the project, and similar.

If you need to include images, tables, figures, etc. with the application, these must be uploaded in a single PDF file (max. 4 MB). Attaching this type of file is optional.

Budget and other information

In the application in Prisma, report the project costs, financing, and other information about all organisations participating. Note that the budget and budget specification should be written in English. A Swedish budget specification will not be translated but will instead be assessed as is by the international review panel. In Prisma, write out the sum you are applying for in full, i.e., write SEK 1 million as: SEK 1 000 000.

Separate budgets are entered for each project party (organisation). The budgets are entered directly into Prisma, meaning they must be inputted by the main applicant or individuals who have been designated in Prisma as participating administrators for the application. All participating project parties included in the application must have a budget with costs. Funding for the participating party can be applied for through the call (see “State aid rules for organisations engaged in economic activity” External link.) and/or funded through in-kind contributions, e.g. through own work hours or own financial resources. Note that even if a participating project party does not apply for funding from Formas and only contributes its time in-kind, this must still be listed as a separate item in the budget to be counted as part of the project. Please also note that the project party may not be a financier of another project party within the framework of the project.

In this call, companies and other organisations that conduct economic activities, regardless of size, can apply for and be awarded grants corresponding to a maximum of 75% of their eligible costs.

The following information must be stated in the project budget:

Information about the main applicant’s organisation and each project party

This is required information and must be completed for each party in the project. The information is collected and added by the main applicant. The main applicant’s organisation must be the same as the one stated as the administrating organisation.

  • Name of the organisation
  • Organisation identity number
  • Address, postal code, city, country
  • Annual turnover (the total sales or turnover of the higher education institution, research institute, company, or organisation during the previous fiscal year), stated in digits. Example: 3 500 000.
  • Balance sheet total (the sum of either the assets page or liabilities and equity from the company’s or organisation’s balance sheet), stated in digits. Example: 5 500 000.
  • Number of employees
  • Contact person
  • Email address to contact person
  • Name of the workplace, address, postal code, city, and country where most of the work will be carried out.

Costs

  • Staff expenses: Funding is available to cover actual salary costs for time spent on the project. For employees of higher education institutions or research institutes, the amount may never exceed 100 per cent of full-time employment. This also means that an individual that already has full salary funding from another funding organisation may not receive additional salary funding. Researchers who are full-time pensioners cannot receive funding for their own salary.
  • Equipment, buildings, and land costs are eligible to the extent and for the duration of their use in the project. If such instruments and equipment are not used for the project for their full life, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the research project, as calculated on the basis of good accounting practice, are considered as eligible. With regard to buildings, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the research project, as calculated on the basis of good accounting practice, are considered as eligible. For land, costs of commercial transfer or actually incurred capital costs are eligible.
  • Costs for consultants, licenses, etc., which are purchased or hired from external sources on market terms and costs for consulting services and similar services used exclusively for research activities.
  • Other operating costs, such as costs for materials, inputs, and similar products, which arise as a direct result of a project. Other operating costs also include travel, conferences, and publication in open access journals and databases. Formas only awards funding for certain author fees. Read more under the section Costs for publishing External link..

    Project partners applying for funding equivalent to SEK 3 million or more may also apply for funding of up to SEK 30,000 to cover the cost of a certificate from a certified public accountant or chartered accountant. Auditor certificates from internal auditors are accepted for municipalities, county councils, government agencies, and higher education institutions.
  • Indirect costs (overhead):
    • Higher education institutions may charge a markup for indirect costs according to the applicable full-cost pricing method. Higher education institutions only need to separately report eligible costs in their accounting that correspond to the grant amount.
    • The following organisations may, when participating in the project with non-economic activities, claim actual indirect costs up to an amount corresponding to a maximum of 45% of their eligible staff expenses:
      • Research organisations that are limited liability companies and partnerships in which the State directly or indirectly exercises a legal controlling influence.
      • Research organisations that are foundations in which the Government appoints one or more board members.
      • Government agencies (other than higher education institutions) that are required by their government instructions to conduct their own research.

        The requirement for a maximum of 45% applies provided that the organisation receives funding through a government decision to conduct independent research. If the organisation also conducts economic activities, such as commissioned research, these activities must be reported separately. If the organisation participates in the project with economic activities, the condition below about other project parties applies.

        Other project parties may claim actual indirect costs but not exceeding an amount equivalent to 30% of their eligible staff expenses.

        Formas does not grant funds for overhead on costs written off for equipment or for premises.

Funding

An application can specify four types of funding:

  • Applied for funding from Formas: Indicates the amount requested from Formas under the call. This amount cannot exceed total costs. If the amount applied for is less than the total costs, the remaining amount will be automatically calculated and reported under “Self-funding”.
  • Other funding (state): If Formas or another public funder has provided funding for related projects.
  • Other funding (private): If another private company or organisation has provided funding for the project.
  • Self-funding: If the project party contributes its own funding, this is calculated automatically and displayed in this field.

Explanation for budgeted staff expenses

Specify the average hourly cost for budgeted staff expenses. This refers to salaries including social security contributions and other required charges associated with salaries. (max. 500 characters including spaces).

Budget specification

The main applicant describes and explains the budget in their own words. State the overhead costs that apply in the application here. Formas does not grant funding for overhead costs written off for equipment or premises.

Also indicate any consultancy costs and the scope of the consultant’s participation. Specify which project participants will pay for any potential consultancy costs. You are encouraged to clearly describe all costs related to the project activities within the project. (max. 9,000 characters including spaces).

Statement for organisations that conduct some economic activities

Project parties that conduct economic activities and that intend to apply for non-state aid must certify that they intend to participate through their non-economic activities by providing a statement of separate accounting and ancillary activities. The statement is to be signed by authorised representatives of the organisation and then uploaded as a PDF document (max 4 MB) in Prisma. Formas accepts e-signatures. Statement for organisations that conduct economic activities External link. (in Swedish).

Ethics

Indicate whether the project includes special ethical concerns. Specify what these ethical concerns are and how you plan to address them. This can include research that uses personal data or research that involves human or animal experiments.

If you will be conducting research on humans, human tissue, or sensitive personal data, you must submit an application for ethical review to the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and have it approved. If your research involves experiments on animals, you must also have approval from an animal research ethics committee. You can apply for this through the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s e-services.

Indicate 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 are to obtain ethical approval before starting the part of the research that requires this approval.

If your research is not expected to involve experiments requiring ethics approval, state this and explain how and why.

Classifications

Formas uses the project’s classifications in analyses and supporting documentation on an overall level. The classifications are made when the applicant states the subject area, research topic (SCB code), at least one sustainable development goal the project can contribute to, and keywords.

  • Subject area
    Select the project’s subject area and add a subheading.
  • Research topic (SCB code)
    Select at least one research topic and two sublevels that together form the entire code.
  • Keywords
    List at least one and at most three keywords describing the project.

Administrating organisation – the organisation receiving the grant

The organisation that will receive and administer the awarded funds paid out by Formas is called the administrating organisation.

  • Select the administrating organisation from the dropdown list. If you cannot find the organisation that will be the main applicant, see the “Organisation account” section under “How to apply”.
  • Select the project site from the dropdown list. If you do not find the correct project site, see the section “Applicants from administrating organisations requiring individual approval” under “How to apply”.

Required appendices

Project participants

List all project participants by name, organisation, role and working hours in the project. Fill in the data in table format: first name, last name, PhD if relevant, organisation name of project party. Save the document as a single PDF (max 4 MB) and upload it under required appendices in Prisma.

Curriculum vitae

Add CVs, including relevant qualifications of key persons, and upload as a single PDF (max 4 MB). Each CV may be at most one (1) A4 page per person.

In this call, you cannot link to CV information that is already entered in Prisma. This is so that the reviewers can make a fair assessment of applications and CVs from different types of organisations.

The CVs are to provide relevant information demonstrating the key participants’ qualifications and skills that are important in the project. This can include experience from relevant research, implementations, collaborations, and project management.

CVs are to include the following: Name, Sex, Organisation, Title, Participation in per cent, Role in the project, Relevant skills and experience, Reason why the person is a key participant in the project, and Other information.

Optional appendices

Illustrations, sketches, pictures and figures to help understand the project. Combine any appendices as a single PDF file and upload (max 4 MB).

After submitting your application

First, Formas verifies that the application meets the procedural requirements set out in the call. If not, it is rejected.

For this call, the following requirements will be checked:

  • The administrating organisation has signed the application. This must be done within seven calendar days after the call closes.
  • The application has been approved by the administrating organisation.
  • The main applicant has only submitted one application as a main applicant.
  • The focus of the application is within Formas’ areas of responsibility.
  • The focus of the application falls within the call’s areas.
  • The application complies with the framework of the call regarding budget, project duration, type of project parties, party composition, etc.
  • The application is complete and contains all required information.
  • Multiple applications with the same content have not been submitted.
  • A main applicant responsible for other projects or activities funded by Formas has submitted all requested reports by the stated deadlines.
  • Fulfilment of the requirements for the project manager, project participants, and organisations under “Requirements for project teams and project parties” and “Requirements for main applicant and your organisation”.
  • A credit check on all participating companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that may be relevant for awarding a grant.

All applications are assessed by an external review panel based on the contents of the application. Each application is reviewed by multiple reviewers. The review panel is composed of active researchers and relevant stakeholders from other parts of society. This means that it is important for the application to include all relevant information and for the content to be as clear as possible.

In this call, Formas may apply a portfolio perspective to enable financing of projects in all three priority areas. The portfolio perspective will only be applied by the review panel after each application has been assessed on its own merits.

Applications are assessed based on the following criteria:

Relevance

  • The project can significantly contribute to the purpose and focus of the call.
  • The design of the project and the expected results have taken into consideration the relevant needs and conditions of different groups in society.
  • The application clearly states what impact the expected results can have in society.

Potential

  • The problem formulation and purpose of the project are clear, logical, and in line with the purpose and focus of the call.
  • The research that forms the basis of the project is of high quality.
  • The expected results of the project are at the forefront of their field, and the novelty or innovation level is significant.
  • The project has significant potential for scalability and/or dissemination.

Implementation

  • Planned activities and methods are appropriate for achieving the expected results.
  • The timeline and budget are realistic and appropriate in relation to the project’s purpose and goals.
  • Ethical considerations are well described, and the plan for how to manage these is appropriate.
  • Gender equality perspectives are well integrated into the implementation of the project.

Actors

  • The project’s organisation and collective expertise are appropriate for implementing the project.
  • The project will be carried out in collaboration with relevant actors or end users. The involvement of the project participants is well described and appropriate for the objectives of the project.
  • The project team (key actors) and the distribution of influence are well balanced between women and men. This is relevant for project teams of more than three (3) people.

Our reviewers may currently not use AI tools as support in assessing applications. There are several reasons for this. There is a great risk that information uploaded could be disseminated. There is also a risk related to confidentiality and the processing of personal data. Uploading an application or information from an application to any form of AI tool constitutes the unauthorised sharing of information. This applies not just to AI tools but also to other services and tools for storing and sharing data.

Formas expects to decide which projects are awarded grants on 21 October 2025. We publish our decisions the following day at the latest on the Formas website, and you will receive an email informing you that the decision is available in Prisma. Grant award decisions cannot be appealed.

All awarded projects must submit a report to Formas containing financial and project results within three months of the end of the availability period. All reports are submitted in Prisma.

Financial reporting in Prisma External link. (in Swedish)

Formas may have requirements for how to report projects regarding content and results to facilitate dissemination and real-world impact. In such cases, the award decision (with associated terms and conditions) will include more information about this. Formas may also require you to participate in conferences and similar events to create synergies and platforms for learning and knowledge sharing.

Terms and Conditions for Grants – Formas External link.

Results of research funded by Formas must be published using open access.

You must also 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.

Open access to research results and data External link.

Formas shares information about awarded grants with Swecris, a national database of grant-funded research that was instituted by request of the government.

Revision history

Any post-publication revisions to the call text are listed below.

Contact information

For questions about the content of the call

For administrative questions and questions about Prisma

Updated:31 March 2025