Idea development: Future research for animal protection and wellbeing

You submit your application to Formas through our application system, Prisma. There, you enter the information required for your application. To do this, you need a personal account.

Apply for a personal account in Prisma. External link.

All character limits refer to characters including spaces. Please use the default font and default font size for the information entered in the text boxes in Prisma.

The application must include a clear description of the project in the following sections:

Basic Information

• Project Duration: 24 months is pre-set in Prisma
• Project title in Swedish and English (200 characters each)
• Popular science description in Swedish (4,500 characters). If the project is granted funding, the popular science description will be published in open project databases without a confidentiality review. The content of this field should therefore not contain sensitive information.
• Summary in Swedish and English (2,500 characters each). If the project is awarded funding, the summaries will be published in open project databases without a confidentiality review. The content of these fields should therefore not contain sensitive information. The summary must include the following information:
  • The project’s novel and bold purpose and objectives
  • The project’s interdisciplinary approach, in terms of theories, methods, and/or data.
  • The project’s expected results and contribution to further research in the field.

Project Description

• Use of AI in the application (1500 characters). Describe which AI tools you have used for this application, where in the application they were used, and for what purpose. You do not need to describe the use of AI solely for basic spelling or grammar checks.
• Novelty and boldness (8,000 characters).
  • Describe the project’s purpose and objectives.
  • Describe the idea the project aims to develop and to what extent it challenges or goes beyond established research on animal protection and animal welfare.
  • Describe the current state of knowledge and the state of the art in the project idea’s field, nationally and internationally, including ongoing research.
• Relevance and potential (8,000 characters).
  • Describe and justify the project’s relevance to the call’s specific thematic focus.
  • Describe and justify the project’s potential to contribute to new and broader perspectives, lines of inquiry, and fields of study, in the short and long term.
• Workplan and competence (8,000 characters).
  • Describe how the project is planned to be implemented in terms of timeline, work packages, process management, forms of collaboration, etc. Justify how the project’s design supports idea development and learning in line with the project’s purpose and objectives.
  • Describe who will carry out the project, what experience and expertise they bring to the table, as well as in which parts of the project and to what extent they will participate.
  • Describe how the project is designed to actively contribute to good research practice, both in the project’s implementation and in terms of the planned results.
• References cited in the project description are listed in a separate field (8,000 characters).

Budget

You must report the project budget in Prisma. In Prisma, the full amount requested must be written out in full; for example, 1 million kronor is written as: 1,000,000 kronor.

The budget is described as follows:

Salaries, including social security contributions for each project participant. Salaries may be requested for researchers, doctoral students, and other staff to the extent that they are working on the project. The amount you may be granted for the salary of an individual researcher, doctoral student, or other staff member may never exceed 100 percent of a full-time position. This also means that someone who has full salary funding for the entire duration of the project cannot receive additional funds for salary. Researchers who are fully retired cannot receive funding for their own salary.

Percentage of salary refers to what percentage of the applicant’s full-time salary corresponds to the salary in the project.

Project activity level refers to the percentage of a full-time position that the participant contributes. It indicates whether the applicant contributes in-kind or other funding to complete the project.

Operating costs refer, for example, to consumables, travel, and conferences. This may also include costs for publishing in open access journals and databases. Formas only grants funding for certain author fees. Read more under the heading “Publication Costs External link..” If you are applying for consulting services, these must be budgeted under this item in the application. Specify operating costs in accordance with the practices of the administrating organisation.

Research institutes and government agencies applying for funding of three million kronor or more may also apply for up to 30,000 kronor for an auditor’s certificate from a certified/approved auditor. Audit certificates from internal auditors are accepted for government agencies. Universities and colleges are exempt from the audit certificate requirement. Read more under the heading “Audit Certificates for Grants Exceeding 3 Million Swedish Kronor External link..”

Equipment and depreciation costs. Specify equipment and depreciation costs for equipment if relevant to the application.

Premises. You may apply for funding for premises costs if they are not already included in the overhead costs in the project budget. Specify premises costs in accordance with the practices of the administrating organisation.

Total requested/Subtotal refers to costs already specified in the preceding budget tables and which will be automatically transferred to these items.

Indirect costs refer to overhead costs. The terms and conditions for indirect costs vary between different organizations. Read more under Indirect costs External link.. If funds are to be transferred to another participating organisation, the receiving organisation’s overhead rates should apply to those transferred funds. Explain and report the various overhead costs in the budget specification. The total overhead cost for the project must be stated in the budget table. Formas does not grant funds for overhead on costs that you write off for equipment or premises.

Other costs refer to funds that are not applied for but are relevant to completing the project. An example is co-funding from partners or if the project receives funds from other sources.

Total cost refers to a budget summary.

Budget specification (7000 characters) refers to a written explanation and justification of the budget. The budget specification is part of the evaluation. Indicate how the requested grant is distributed in terms of amounts per year and total amounts per organization if funds are to be transferred to another organization. Provide a brief justification for the salary costs listed in the budget. All other costs must be justified, such as participation in conferences, fees for open access to publications and data, and so on. A description of the project’s total budget, including funding from other sources, must also be included.

Ethics (2000 characters)

You must indicate whether there are any particular ethical aspects to the project. If so, you must describe the ethical issues involved and how you plan to address them. This could, 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 sensitive personal data, you must submit an application for ethical review to the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and obtain approval. If the research involves experiments on animals, you must also obtain approval from an animal ethics committee. You can apply for this via the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s e-service.

You must state in your application whether or not you have valid ethical approval. If you do not have ethical approval and your application is granted funding, you must obtain ethical approval before the described experiments begin.

If your research is not expected to involve anything that requires ethical approval, you must state this and explain how and why.

Classifications

Formas uses the project classifications in analyses and documentation at an overall level. The applicant makes the classifications by specifying the subject area, research field (SCB code), at least one global sustainable development goal to which the project can contribute, and keywords.

• Subject area. Select at least one and a maximum of three subject areas and add a subheading.
• Research field (SCB code). Select at least one and a maximum of three research fields and two sub-levels that create the combined code.
• Global sustainable development goals. Enter at least one and up to three global sustainability goals that the project can contribute to, in order of priority according to degree of relevance. More about the meaning of the goals. External link.
• Keywords. Enter at least one and up to three keywords that describe the project.

Administrating organisation – the organisation that receives the grant

This call for proposals sets specific requirements for the administrating organisation. As a project leader, you need to verify that your organization is among the approved administrating organisations.

• Verify that your administrating organisation is approved for this call for proposals.
• Select your administrating organisation from the drop-down list.
• Select your country of residence from the drop-down list.

Participating researchers

• A maximum of four participating researchers may be invited to each application.
• All participating researchers must have created their own personal account in Prisma to be invited to Prisma.
• The project leader invites participating researchers to the application by searching for their first and last names and email addresses in Prisma. The spelling must be exact.
• In order for the project leader to register (submit) the application, all invited participating researchers must have accepted the invitation to participate and filled in the required fields correctly.

Participating administrators

• The project leader can invite participating administrators by searching for their first and last names and email addresses in Prisma. The spelling must be exact.
• Participating administrators are not involved in the project; they are individuals who assist you in filling out the application form.
• Participating administrators cannot submit the application; the project leader must do so.

Academic Profile (2,000 characters per person)

In the academic profile, the project leader and participating researchers describe their respective competencies and experiences in greater detail than in the project description. Please provide concrete examples and refer to relevant qualifications and/or publications that you have included in the CV section.

Only project leaders and participating researchers may write an academic profile. For other project participants, a description of competencies and experience may be included in the project description. This also applies to project participants who have not yet been named, for example, if a doctoral student is to be recruited. In that case, describe the expertise the person will contribute to the project.

CV

Only project leaders and participating researchers may add a CV to the application. Project leaders and participating researchers retrieve the information from their respective personal accounts in Prisma and add it to the application.

In this call for proposals, only certain fields in the CV section are enabled. This is to create more equitable conditions for individuals with different academic career paths to describe their expertise and experience.

The following information regarding the CV must be included in the application:

Education

• Doctoral education
• Undergraduate and graduate education

Work experience

• Current employment and relevant previous long-term employment
• Any extended breaks in research (e.g., parental leave, illness, military service, or political assignments). Formas has limited ability to keep personal data confidential, so please avoid providing, for example, the names of children, medical conditions, place of service, or the name of a political party.

Achievements and awards

• Associate professorship
• Other qualifications. Here, list the qualifications you consider relevant to the project. List qualifications where you have made a significant contribution and that clearly demonstrate that you possess the knowledge, competence, and experience referred to in the project description and academic profile. This may include, for example, documented experience in idea development, project management, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work, open science, research communication, collaboration, etc. You may list a maximum of 10 qualifications.

Publications

Here, you list the publications you consider relevant to the project. List publications where you have made a significant contribution and that clearly demonstrate that you possess the knowledge, expertise, and experience referred to in the project description and academic profile. The publications may be scientific articles, reports, books, or other materials relevant to your field of research. You may list a maximum of 10 publications.

Attachments

You may only include figures, tables, maps, or images that are necessary to support your project description. Figure captions should be kept to a minimum. Supplementary materials must be uploaded as a PDF file no larger than 4 MB. You cannot upload multiple files.

The following requirements will be checked in this call:

• That the administrating organisation has signed the application within seven calendar days after the call has closed.
• That the application has not been rejected by the administrating organisation.
• That the focus of the application falls within Formas’ areas of responsibility.
• That the focus of the application falls within the scope of the call.
• That the application is complete, meaning it contains all required information.
• That the appendices contain only visual material necessary to support the project description and that figure captions are kept to a minimum.
• That the application includes a requested grant of at least 2 million Swedish kronor and a maximum of 3 million Swedish kronor.
• That the requirements for project leaders, project participants, and organizations under “Requirements for You and Your Organization” are met:
  • The administrating organisation is approved for the call for proposals.
  • The project leader has a workload of at least 20 percent.
  • At least one and no more than four participating researchers are involved in the project.
  • The project leader and all participating researchers have obtained a doctoral degree by the closing date of the call.
  • A maximum of 15 percent of the requested grant is used to fund project participants based in countries other than Sweden.
  • The application budget does not include funds for individuals employed by companies or other organizations engaged in economic activities, and who are participating through this employment
• The project leader responsible for other projects or activities funded by Formas has submitted all required reports on time.
• That the application does not involve any research collaborations with Russia and Belarus.

All applications are evaluated by an external review panel based on the information provided in the application. Therefore, it is important that the application is as clear as possible in its content and that all important and relevant information is included.

Who will evaluate your application?

The review panel will primarily consist of active researchers with expertise in the various fields covered by the call’s purpose and focus. The reviewers come from different parts of the world. Therefore, be sure to clearly outline all aspects and contexts that a reviewer needs to understand in order to follow what you want to do and why.

Reviewers are primarily recruited as experts in a field, rather than in a specific subject, theory, or method. Therefore, write your application so that someone with general expertise in your field can understand what you want to do and why.

Scores and Priority

Reviewers first conduct an individual assessment of the applications assigned to them. This involves rating the evaluation criteria on a seven-point scale, where 1 is the lowest rating and 7 is the highest. They also assign a priority score (1–3) based on how competitive they consider the application to be.

Standardized grades

Once all reviewers have finished, Formas standardizes the grades. We do this to account for the fact that reviewers use the seven-point scale in different ways.

Ranking and portfolio perspective

Applications are then ranked based on standardized grades and priority points. We then apply a portfolio perspective. This means that we examine whether the highest-ranked projects collectively contribute a desirable diversity of perspectives and research questions. For example, this might involve ensuring that not all projects focus on the same type of animal or animal group or adopt the same kind of systemic perspective or conflict of interest. If there is a need to strengthen a particular perspective or research question, we may use this to fine-tune the ranking among applications that have the same standardized grades and priority points.

Applications are evaluated based on the following criteria and on a seven-point scale, where 1 is the lowest score and 7 is the highest. All criteria are weighted equally.

Novelty and boldness

• To what extent does the project idea challenge or go beyond established research on animal protection and animal welfare?

Relevance and potential

• How relevant is the project in relation to the call’s specific thematic focus?
• What potential does the project have to contribute new and broader perspectives and lines of inquiry, in the short and long term?

Workplan and competence

• To what extent is the project’s design appropriate for idea development?
• To what extent are the project team’s collective expertise and activity levels appropriate for the project’s purpose and objectives?

Grading rubric

The grading rubric is developed to support reviewers in applying the grading criteria consistently. The grading rubric describes what is required to meet a certain grade for each of the grading criteria. The rubric describes four grades. However, reviewers can use the entire seven-point scale in their assessments, through selecting also grades that fall between the four described grades when relevant. For, example, the grade Excellent (6) is defined as being between Very good (5) and Outstanding (7).

The grading rubric is also intended to provide guidance to those preparing an application to Explore, through articulating expectations in relation to different grades. The rubric is only available in English.

Please, find the grading rubric here (pdf) pdf, 161.6 kB.

Currently, our reviewers are not permitted to use AI tools to assist in evaluating applications. This is due to several reasons, including a high risk that uploaded information could be shared or leaked. There are also concerns regarding confidentiality and processing of personal data. Uploading an application – or parts of it – to an AI tool or similar service would constitute unauthorised disclosure of information. This restriction applies not only to AI tools but also to many other data storage and sharing services.

Decisions on which projects will receive funding are expected to be made on September 22, 2026. We will publish the decisions no later than the following day on the Formas website, and you will receive an email notification when the decision is available in Prisma. Grant decisions cannot be appealed.

All funded projects must submit a financial and results report to Formas three months after the end of the grant period. For projects lasting longer than 18 months, a financial status report must also be submitted to Formas annually. All reports are submitted via Prisma.

How to report expenses and results External link.

Formas may impose specific requirements for reporting project results and outcomes to support dissemination and utilization. These requirements will be stated in the grant decision. Formas may also require participation in conferences or similar activities to foster synergies and enable learning and knowledge exchange.

Results from research funded by Formas must be published with open access.

You must also have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. If you receive funding from us, you must prepare such a plan. The plan does not need to be submitted to us, but you must be able to present it on request. By signing our terms and conditions for grants, 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 up-to-date open data on applications, funded activities, and calls for proposals via an API. The data in the API follows a common data standard (GDP) adopted by the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas, Forte, the Swedish Research Council, and Vinnova. Portions of the data from the applications will be made available as open data. The data includes information about organizations and individuals who apply for and receive funding through the funders’ calls for proposals. For applications that have not yet been decided or that have been rejected, certain personal and organizational details are anonymized.

Read more at Open Data - Formas External link.

Formas regularly transfers data from approved applications to the Swecris External link. database, which is managed by the Swedish Research Council on behalf of the government. The following data from approved applications are transferred to Swecris and made available as open data:

• Project title in Swedish
• Project title in English
• Summary in Swedish
• Summary in English
• Estimated project duration (start and end dates)
• Total amount granted
• Name of coordinating organisation in Swedish
• Name of coordinating organisation in English
• Organisation number for coordinating organisation
• Research field SCB code
• Name of applicant and participants
• Gender of applicant and participants
• ORCID for applicants and participants.