The dates of the call are provisional and subject to change. The content will be further developed and refined until the call opens.
Formas has a government assignment to establish a ten-year national graduate school in bioeconomy. Formas therefore intends to announce funding for the first five-year phase of this graduate school's coordinating consortium and the first rounds of admissions.
The call is aimed at consortia of universities and research institutes that represent the thematic and disciplinary breadth necessary to address key challenges for the development of the bioeconomy. The aim of the graduate school is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the Swedish bioeconomy by strengthening the supply of expertise in the field. The graduate school will place great emphasis on the knowledge needs of the business sector, and the business sector is expected to participate actively in the establishment and implementation of the graduate school. The coordinating consortium must be able to demonstrate relevant contacts with industry in forestry, agriculture, food, textiles, chemistry, plastics and the blue industries, as well as a good understanding of the skills needs of these industries.
The doctoral projects must be based on issues relevant to industry. These can be issues that are relevant to an individual company but also issues that are common to an industry or cross-industry challenges. Doctoral students can be employed by industry, universities or research institutes. Doctoral students will be admitted in rounds and must not necessarily be linked to only the higher education institutions included in the consortium.
The coordinating consortium must:
- bring together researchers in the key areas of the bioeconomy: forestry, agriculture, food, chemistry, plastics, textiles and the blue industries, and work to ensure that the graduate school is cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary
- be familiar with the research and knowledge needs of both academia and industry and demonstrate a good understanding of the various societal benefits of the bioeconomy
- design, coordinate and administer doctoral projects, courses and other joint activities to be carried out within the graduate school
- work closely with the business community in both the planning and implementation of the graduate school to ensure its business relevance
- have a dialogue with, among others, the programme office for the Biosociety External link. research and innovation programme for the mobilisation of bioeconomy actors and how their needs are to be met in the graduate school
- have a dialogue with Formas for follow-up, planning for future stages, etc.
Contact information
For questions about the content of the call
