The dates of the call are provisional and subject to change. The content will be further developed and refined until the call opens.
Please note: This text was translated by AI and has not been reviewed. In case of any uncertainties, the Swedish version applies.
Formas is now announcing funding for interdisciplinary centres that will contribute to robust and resilient infrastructure and the built environment for sustainable spatial planning. The centres are to focus on issues relating to robustness and resilience, sustainability, and the competitiveness of society. The centres are to be planned, established and run jointly by academia, industry, the public sector and other parts of society. The work will be done in collaboration with relevant actors outside academia.
Sweden's infrastructure and built environment need to be strengthened in response to a changed global context, with new types of security and health-related risks and threats that make systems vulnerable. At the same time as there is a steadily increasing need for maintenance and repair, infrastructure projects are becoming increasingly complex to manage with co-operation between many actors. Sustainable, low-carbon infrastructure is key to accelerating the climate transition, and it also needs to be adapted to climate change and manage the risks it brings. Well-functioning infrastructure and built environments are also crucial to maintaining the competitiveness of society and meeting the needs of, for example, industrial establishments. Well-functioning infrastructure and built environments that meets society’s needs are also central to maintaining and creating an attractive society with good and safe living environments for all people. These challenges for infrastructure and the built environment require broad systemic perspectives considering climate sustainability, resilience, adaptability, attractiveness and competitiveness as an integrated and interdependent whole. At the same time, there are inherent conflicts between these perspectives linked to objectives, interests and values that need to be addressed.
There is a great need for structural changes and new thinking to meet the major challenges that we are in the midst of and have ahead of us for society's infrastructure and built environments. Such shifts imply a transformation that encompasses technological innovation, changes in behaviour, culture and norms, and changes in our governing institutions. Long-term and transformative research and innovation initiatives conducted in collaboration between actors with different experiences can address complex challenges with the help of broad system perspectives. Innovative and interdisciplinary knowledge building, combining excellence and societal relevance, can take the long-term perspectives required to eventually contribute to structural changes for sustainable spatial planning.
This call is part of the national research programme for sustainable spatial planning. External link. We will fund up to three new centres on the theme of robust and resilient infrastructure and the built environment.
Robust and resilient infrastructure and built environments are a prerequisite for sustainable spatial planning. Sustainable spatial planning addresses equally the processes for the planning, construction, use and management of infrastructure and buildings, cultural sites and natural environments, as well as the planning and promotion of inclusive, participatory and safe communities where people want to and can live. Creating resilience means infrastructure and built environments with the capacity to withstand disturbances. Resilience is about how well infrastructure and built environments can withstand the demands, threats, and disturbances that arise, adapt to change, and continue function.
Infrastructure is the foundation of critical societal functions and society’s basic needs, and includes systems that enable mobility, supply, information flows and public services. It can be physical or a combination of physical and digital systems. Infrastructure and the built environment includes all forms of transport infrastructure, such as roads, railways and ports; water infrastructure, which includes, for example, water and wastewater infrastructure; communication infrastructure, such as broadband and mobile networks; and energy infrastructure. It also includes blue-green and green infrastructure. Infrastructure can be both above and below ground. In addition, it includes all types of buildings and facilities for housing, businesses and public services.
Infrastructure and the built environment face several challenges. Many existing infrastructure systems and facilities are reaching the end of their technical lifespan or are not up to date with current societal needs. The demands for new investment, adaptation and maintenance of existing infrastructure and buildings are high, and at the same time the work needs to be faster and consider the challenges of future needs. New forms of organisation, financing, practices and ways of working need to replace traditional models, and regulations and their application may need to be reviewed. Infrastructure and the built environment also need to be flexible over time and adaptable to societal and human needs and the context in which they will operate. Ultimately, it is about how we want society to function, through how we want to live and move, and how we want to produce and transport the goods and services we need. Although much needs to happen quickly, it is important to have a long-term perspective in planning, development and redevelopment. Much of the infrastructure and buildings we have today were built between 50 and 100 years ago, and what we do now will affect society for a long time to come.
This may challenge existing research areas, and new questions and perspectives may require developing new areas of knowledge with other types of stakeholder constellations and collaboration constellations between different sectors in society.
The call aims to promote innovative interdisciplinary research of highest scientific quality and societal relevance that contributes to structural change and transformation to more robust and resilient infrastructure and built environments. Formas seeks to fund centres that involve constellations of organisations that contribute to knowledge building and capacity for solutions, and that can address complex issues spanning multiple sectors, societal systems and scientific fields of knowledge.
The centres are to be based on a clearly articulated challenge. They must be able to contribute to robust and resilient infrastructure that is environmentally sustainable and contributes to the competitiveness of society incorporating both aspects of social and economic sustainability. The call is limited to challenges for robust and resilient infrastructure and the built environment that have some form of physical/material character and are relevant to infrastructure and the built environment in a Swedish context. In addition, the centres should have high potential to contribute to structural changes within the chosen challenge over time. Structural changes include technological innovation, changes in behaviour, culture and norms, and changes in our governing institutions.
The centres are to have an interdisciplinary approach and contribute innovative knowledge that is close to practice. This is because complex challenges require transformative approaches with views and solutions from several disciplines and working methods. Interdisciplinarity here refers to knowledge production where researchers from different disciplines take on a jointly formulated challenge. Interdisciplinarity brings together research questions, perspectives and methods from more than one subject area. Interdisciplinarity can, but need not, aim to integrate different disciplines.
Centres should be at the intersection of research and practice, with multiple actors that together have the capacity to build new knowledge and develop new solutions. The centres should also work to ensure that the knowledge and the solutions developed are used and have an impact on society. This means that the centres are planned, established and operated jointly by all project partners from the start. This includes the formulation of the centre's focus (what challenge is at the centre) and main issues, the formulation of sub-areas and how they relate to each other, and forms of knowledge and experience sharing. It also includes the Centre's work to design activities so that the knowledge and solutions produced involve relevant societal actors and have an impact on society.
The Centre are to be developed by academic partners and other societal actors together. In this context, academic partners refer to Swedish higher education institutions and research institutes. Other societal actors refer to organisations such as actors from the business, public and non-profit sectors.
The call is thus aimed at a group of actors where the main applicant organisation must be a Swedish higher education institution or research institute with a Swedish organisation number that meets Formas' requirements for administrating organisations. Only multi-party applications, with the participation of at least two (2) parties from Swedish higher education institutions or research institutes, and at least two (2) parties from another organisation from the business sector, public sector or civil society can receive funding. Each centre must bring together researchers from at least two different Swedish higher education institutions or research institutes. Only actors with a Swedish organisation number can participate as a party in the call.
The centres must be planned, established and operated jointly by all project partners from the start. This includes the formulation of the focus of the centre (which challenge is at the centre) as well as the main issues, the formulation of possible directions and how they relate to each other, and forms of knowledge and experience sharing. All partners should also be actively involved in the centre and the in the knowledge production.
To be considered a project partner, the organisation must be included as an active party in the project plan and the project budget must clearly show the costs that will be incurred by the party in question; either through a grant from Formas, own or other funding, or a combination of these.
An administrating organisation can be the main applicant for a maximum of two applications in this call. However, an administrating organisation may be a participating project partner in several applications.
It will not be allowed to submit the same application with a different main applicant and co-applicants.
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