Mobility grants for early-career researchers

Date for doctoral degree

To be eligible to apply for a mobility grant, you must have completed your doctoral degree no earlier than 1 January 2018 and no later than 31 December 2021. The degree date on which Formas base this on is the date which you have fulfilled all requirements for a complete degree, such as compulsory courses, dissertation and approved doctoral thesis and been issued an official certificate for your doctoral degree. That is, the date when the certificate for your doctoral degree was issued by the university, usually with a stamp. A licentiate degree or other research competence corresponding to a doctoral degree is not accepted as a doctoral degree. Formas does not accept other certificates, such as the date of the completed dissertation or a certificate from your supervisor stating that all steps of your doctoral degree has been completed.

If you have a doctoral degree issued before the call closes, you must upload it in Prisma as an appendix with your application (Appendix 3).

Doctoral degree issued after the call closes

If your doctoral degree has not been issued before the call closes you need to enter the planned date for when you will have your doctoral degree issued by your university. If you receive your doctoral degree after the call closes, it is your responsibility as an applicant, to ensure that your doctoral degree is available to Formas' research officers responsible for the Mobility call or Formas registrar no later than 31 December 2021. A copy of the degree is preferably emailed to Formas’ persons responsible for the call or Formas' registrar. Your application will be rejected if you do not meet the requirement of when a doctoral degree should be issued or have not provided it to Formas in accordance with the guidelines in the call text.

If you do not have a doctoral degree at the time of application, you must upload information regarding the planned date for the doctoral degree awarded (see Appendix 3).

Doctoral degree from another country than Sweden

Your doctoral degree does not have to be issued in Sweden for you to be eligible to apply for the call.

Deductible time

Your doctoral degree can be approved for the Mobility call even though it was issued earlier than 1 January 2018. This only applies if you have not been able to conduct research during the period immediately following the doctoral degree due to an approved reason for deductible time. To claim deductible time, you must specify the approved reason(s) and time interval(s) in your CV in the application. The deductible time shall not be stated as a lump sum but shall be clearly specified in periods with dates and percentages of absence from research activities. Exceptions for deductible time can include parental leave, sick leave, military service, political duties, or other similar circumstances. Please note that we do not approve other employments, unemployment, or holidays as deductible time.

Formas do only perform eligibility checks on registered applications after the call has closed. So, you as an applicant are responsible to calculate the deductible time and see if the date of your doctoral degree will be within the approved time interval before you apply to the call. Your application can be rejected if it contains procedural errors in the mandatory information, regarding deductible time, required in the application form. Your application will be rejected if your claimed deductible time does not meet the approved reasons or the time interval requirements of a doctoral degree for the call.

Home organsiation – your administrating organisation

During a mobility project you as a project leader should be employed under secure employment conditions by a home organisation. The home organisation is the administrating organisation of your grant and pays out your salary, from this grant, throughout the entire project period. Mobility grants for early-career researchers may only be administered by a Swedish university, college or other Swedish public organisation that meets Formas’ criteria for administrating organisations.

Who can become an administrating organisation?

You do not need to be an employee of the home organisation at the time you apply for funding. However, you must have an employment agreement with the home organisation. The home organisation, in its role as an administrating organisation, certifies that they will accept your project by digitally signing your application after it is registered. The administrating organisation must digitally sign your application no later than seven calendar days from the last application day of the call. It is also mandatory to include an invitation from the home organisation in the application (see information for Appendix 2).

Host organisation(s)

The main purpose of the call is that you as an applicant must be active in new research environments where you can disseminate your knowledge and at the same time learn new tools and methods, find new directions for your research, and expand your networks. This takes place both at the home organisation and the host organisation, but more importantly at the host organisation(s).

In your application the project plan must include, at a minimum, one host organisation, there is no upper limit for number of host organisations. Approved host organisations are universities, colleges, or research institutes, they can be located abroad and/or in Sweden. At least one-third of the total amount of time for which a grant is sought must be spent at a home organisation and at least one-third of the total time sought must be spent at one or more host organisations. In your application you should indicate in which country or countries and at which university and institution you intend to spend your time at. Enter the number of months at each host organisation. Each individual stay at a host organisation must med at least three cohesive months.

An individual invitation from each host organisation must be included in the application. The invitations must contain a statement about your planned research and an assurance that the necessary facilities and resources will be made available (see information for Appendix 2). Host organisations should not charge any fees for premises, bench fees or similar. In your application you should combine all invitations from the host organisations to one appendix file.

Number of applications and ongoing project grants

• You are only allowed to register a maximum of one project application to Formas call Mobility grants for early career researchers when the call has closed. If you have more than one registered application in Prisma after the call is closed, all your applications in the call will be rejected.
• You are allowed to apply for project funding in the Mobility call even if you have ongoing project grants from one of Formas’ other calls.
• You are allowed to apply in both the call Mobility grant for early career researchers and the Annual open call for 2021. However, you cannot get funding for two similar projects.
• Note that the total salary amount for you as a researcher must not exceed 100 percent of full-time employment.

The costs for which you can apply for funding include your salary as well as overhead costs and direct premises costs in accordance with practices at the administrating organisation.

Grant amount

For the call “Mobility grants for early-career researchers”, there is no specific minimum or maximum amount required.

Salary

The salary must be at the level of your current salary or the corresponding starting salary at the administrating home organisation. The amount you can be awarded for salaries must never exceed 100 percent of full-time employment. This also means that someone who is already receiving full salary funding from another funder cannot receive additional salary funding.

You cannot include participating researchers (co-applicants) in your project application or apply for funding for other researchers or staff.

Indirect costs

You can apply for funding for your salary and for indirect costs, as well as for direct premises costs in accordance with the administrating organisation’s practices. 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 costs. You can ask your administrating organisation for help with this information.

Flat rate amounts to funded projects

Travel expenses and additional costs at host organisations

Formas covers travel expenses and additional accommodation costs for residency at the host organisations for the applicant and accompanying family members that have been specified in the application. The amount granted is a lump sum whose size depends on (i) the host country’s cost of living level and (ii) the number of accompanying family members specified in the application. This lump sum is based on information from the Swedish Agency for Government Employers. If you are awarded a grant, Formas will calculate these additional costs and add them to the amount granted. So, you should not apply for funding to cover these costs. It is not possible to make changes such as addition of accompanying family members or receive additional costs for changed destinations after the application is finally registered and the call has closed. The home organisation is also the administrating organisation of the funding received for travel expenses and additional costs at host organisations.

Project costs

You cannot apply for funds to cover project costs. For projects being funded Formas will add a flat-rate amount of 100,000 kronor per sought year for project-related expenses, the amount will be added if the project gets funded. Project costs refer to financing of, for example, interviews, analyses, fieldwork, publication in journals and databases that use Open Access, or participation in conferences, connected to the project applied for. Read more about eligible costs in Formas’ general terms and conditions for research and innovation grants. The home organisation is also the administrating organisation of the flat-rate funding received for project costs.

Project duration

• The total project duration must be at least 24 months and no longer than 48 months long. The project must be 24, 36 or 48 months long, that is two, three or four years.
• At least one-third of the total amount of time for which a grant is sought must be spent at a home organisation and at least one third of the total time sought must be spent at one or more host organisations.
• For host organisations, the total time for all stays at all the host organisations must reach at least one third of the total project time applied for.
• This means that a researcher can spend from 8 to 32 months at the host organisations, depending on the total amount of project time sought.
• The stays can be broken up into several periods, but each individual period must be a minimum of three cohesive months.
• Example: if you apply for project funding for 36 months, you must spend at least 12 months at your home organisation (the combined time should be at least 12 months, each individual stay must be at least three cohesive months) and at least 12 months at your host organisations (their combined time should be at least 12 months, each individual stay must be at least three cohesive months). The other 12 months you can allocate where they provide the greatest quality and are most effective for your research project and networking.
• Remember to make sure that your application have fulfilled all the time requirements regarding stays at your home and host organisations. Your application may be rejected if you have not met these requirements.
• Projects can start on 1 January 2022 at the earliest and is expected to start during the 2022 calendar year. Formas’ decision contains information about the period during which project funds will be paid out and how long the funds can be used.

You should write your application in English since the review panel consists of many international reviewers. For applications written entirely in Swedish, only the research program will be translated by professional translators into English. In such cases, it will not be possible for you to view or make linguistic adjustments to the application after it is translated and submitted to Formas’ review panel for assessment. The popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the abstract should be in both Swedish and English. Please note that you should always write the budget specification and your CV in English. Any Swedish budget specification or CV will not be translated but will instead be reviewed as is by the international review panel.

According to Swedish law, your application and its appendices are considered as general public documents once they have been submitted to us. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Before we disclose any applications, we always conduct a confidentiality assessment, but we can only hide information as legislated for in the Public Access and Secrecy Act (2009:400).

The popular science description and project abstracts in Swedish and English will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open access project databases without a confidentiality review. Therefore, the contents of these fields should not contain sensitive information.

We at Formas are very keen to fund projects that maximise positive and minimise negative impacts on the environment and climate. We therefore encourage grant applicants to design their projects so that collaboration takes place primarily through online meetings and that any necessary travel takes place in a climate-smart way. We also suggest that you include measures that minimise energy use and other resource consumption, emissions and waste in project planning. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application.

Sustainability at Formas

Formas is tasked with working to achieve sustainable societal development. Crucial to such development is that it is equal and inclusive. Formas, therefore encourage grant applicants, to design projects so that they can contribute knowledge that reflects and is relevant to different groups in society. Formas also encourage applicants to consider that the project group has an even gender distribution and that it includes participants with different backgrounds and experiences. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application.

All limits for the maximum number of characters refer to characters including spaces. A recommendation is to choose the Arial font in font size 12 for the information you enter in all text boxes. Note, that if you write your application in a word processing program and then paste your application into Prisma, there is a risk the formatting will disappear. To ensure you do not risk losing valuable information, tables and figures with advanced formatting or formulas, should be uploaded as an appendix.

Your application must include a clear description of the project under the following sections:

Basic information

• Number of years applied for
• Project title in Swedish (max. 200 characters including spaces)
• Project title in English (max. 200 characters including spaces
• Popular science description in Swedish (max. 4 500 characters including spaces). The popular science description will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open access project databases without a confidentiality review. Therefore, the contents of this field should not contain sensitive information.
• Abstract in Swedish (max. 1 500 characters each including spaces).
• Abstract in English (max. 1 500 characters each including spaces).

The project abstracts will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open access project databases without a confidentiality review. Therefore, the contents of these fields should not contain sensitive information.

Research programme

• Aims and objectives of the proposed project, and a background description containing an overview of the research area (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 (max. 15,000 characters including spaces).
  
  Include the following points if you consider them relevant to the project:

• a short description of existing and future needs for basic equipment
• a brief description of national and international collaboration
• confirmation of compliance with international agreements and regulations

• Description of the projects’ societal value and planned communication with stakeholders/end users (max. 8 000 characters including spaces). Briefly describe the societal relevance of the research, how the project in the short or long term can contribute to sustainable development, how stakeholders and/or end users' needs have been taken into account in the design of the project and how the research and its results are communicated with and benefit stakeholders and end users.
  
  Support for addressing grounds of assessment for societal relevance and communication (pdf)
  
  
• References. List the in-line references pertaining to the above sections in a separate field (max. 5000 characters including spaces).

Budget

You report the project budget in Prisma Note that you should always write the budget and budget specification in English; any Swedish budget specification will not be translated but will instead be reviewed as it is by an international review panel. In Prisma, amounts should be written in full. For example, 1 million SEK should be written as: 1 000 000 SEK.

The budget should include:

• Salary including social fees for you as an applicant.
  Note that the total salary must not exceed 100 percent of full-time employment. This means that additional salary funding cannot be granted if you already receive grants or contributions with full salary funding.
  
• Percentage of salary refers to the percentage of the applicant’s full-time salary that is equivalent to the salary in the project.
• Activity level in the project refers to the percentage of full-time service a project participant contributes. It indicates whether the applicant contributes in-kind services or other funding for completing the project.
• Premises. You can apply for funding for premises if this is not already included in the overhead cost in the project budget. Specify premises costs in accordance with practices at the administrating organisation.
• Total applied/Subtotal regard costs already completed in previous budget tables and will be automatically transferred to this table.
• Indirect costs relate to overhead costs. Specify the indirect costs in the project budget in accordance with the practices at the administrating organisation. Explain and report the various overhead costs in the budget specification. The total overhead cost of the project should be entered into the budget table. Formas does not allow overhead for costs of premises.
• Total cost refers to a budget summary.
  

Budget specification. Provide a brief justification of the budget in words. Indicate how the amount applied for is divided into the amount per year and the total amount per organisation if several organisations are applying. Provide a brief justification for all salary costs and other costs. A description of the total project budget, including funding from other sources, should also be included. If you write in Swedish, please note that a budget specification provided in Swedish will not be translated and it will be a part of the international review panel’s assessment.

Ethical considerations

You must specify whether there are specific ethical concerns in your project. If so, you must describe the relevant ethical considerations and how they will be managed. Examples include research that uses personal data, or experiments on humans or animals. If you are researching people, human tissue or sensitive personal data, you must obtain ethical approval from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. In the case of animal testing, you must also have ethical approval. You can apply for this via the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-service. You must state in your application whether you have ethical approval or not. If you do not have it, and your application is granted funding, you must have ethical approval before the described experiments begin. Even if your research is not expected to involve ethical approval, you should write this in your application, and justify how and why.

Classifications

Formas uses project classifications only in internal analyses and supporting documentation on an overall level. The classifications are made when the applicant states the subject area, SCB codes and at least one sustainable development goal the project can contribute to.

• Subject area. Select at least one and a maximum of three subject areas and add a sub-heading.
• Research subject (SCB code). Select at least one and a maximum of three SCB codes with two sub-levels that together form the entire code.
• Keywords. Select at least one and a maximum of three keywords describing the project.
• Sustainable development goals. Select a minimum of one and a maximum of three Sustainable Development Goals that fit your project. When selecting more than one goal, set the goals in order of priority. The goal that is most relevant to the project should be stated in the first box. As the meaning of the goals is sometimes narrower than what the title indicates, we encourage you to follow the link and read in more detail about the goal/goals you intend to specify to ensure that the intended research contributes towards achieving that particular goal.
  
  Read more about the Sustainable Development Goals on the UN Development Programme website.
  

Administrating organisation – the organisation receiving the grant

An administrating organisation is the organisation that receives the grant from Formas when a grant is awarded. In this call, only applicants who have an approved administrating organisation for all types of calls can register an application. Prisma contains a default list of approved administrating organisations.

• Select your approved administrating organisation from the drop-down list.
• Select your project site in the drop-down list.

CVs

The applicant retrieves the data from their personal profile in Prisma. Applicants should review their CV in Prisma in good time to ensure that it is complete and up to date.

The CV information should include:

Education
Postgraduate (doctoral), undergraduate and graduate level.

Professional history
Current position and relevant previous longer-term positions, postdoctoral residencies, research exchange visits relevant to the described research project. Specify any longer breaks in research, for example parental leave, sick leave, military service or political duties. To claim deductible time, the time shall not be stated as a lump sum but shall be clearly specified in periods with dates and percentages of absence from research activities. Please read further in the section on deductible time.

Merits and awards

• Supervision. Doctoral students, postdoctoral students, and exam project students; add as an individual and/or as a group. When adding a group, state the total number in each respective category. When adding an individual state the total number in each respective category and 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. 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:
  

• Any citation measures must be stated without self-citations and from which database these are retrieved.
• Any citation measures must be stated without self-citations and from which database these are retrieved.
• 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.
  
• 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).

• Intellectual property: For example, patents and open source software that you have developed (max. 10).

List of publications

The applicant should list up to ten of their most relevant publications. Note that the publications should be linked from the applicant’s personal profile in Prisma. This is time-consuming and should be done at an early stage when the call has opened, not during the final stage of the call. You must report the publication summary in Prisma under Other merits.

Appendix

Three appendixes are mandatory (Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Appendix 3). There is an optional appendix (Appendix 4) that can be uploaded if it is relevant to the application. All appendixes should be written in English.

Appendix 1. The applicant’s scientific development, added value of the research environments and travel plan for the project

In this appendix you should describe how your project and the research environment at the home and host organisation(s) will contribute to your scientific development, and a travel plan for the project.

Template for Appendix 1

Fill in the following information in the appendix:

Applicants name

• Applicants name

Accompanying family members

• Number of accompanying family members (partner/husband/wife and number of children).

Information about home and host organisation(s)

• Name of home organisation. Name, e-mail and telephone to Head of Department or equivalent at the home organisation. Departmental contact person at the home organisation (Name, e-mail and telephone).
• Name of host organisation. Name, e-mail and telephone to Head of Department or equivalent at the host organisation. Departmental contact person at the host organisation. Fill in the information for each host organisation (Name, e-mail and telephone).

Travel plan and dates of the visit(s) to the host organisation(s)

• Name of host organisation. Starting date and ending date for each visit. Number of months. Remember that each visit has to be a minimum of three cohesive months. Total number of months at the host organisation(s).

Description and motivation on how the research project fulfill the aims of the call

• The purpose of the call is to
  (1) enable researchers to formulate their own research questions based on societal challenges within Formas’ areas of responsibility and
  (2) encourage researchers who have recently completed a doctoral degree to visit new research environments. In the new research environment, you as a researcher early in your career can disseminate your knowledge while learning new tools and methods, discovering new directions for your research, and expanding your networks.
• Describe how the proposed project will contribute to the overall aim of Formas Mobility grants and how the focus of the project differs compared to the research conducted during your PhD studies (max 2 000 characters).

Added value of the research at the home organisation

• Describe and motivate the choice of home organisation and how the research environment at the home organisation will contribute to the development of your research career (max 2 000 characters).
• Please read the calls specific Grounds of assessment for the added value of the research environments.

Added value of the research at the host organisation(s)

• Describe and motivate the choice of host organisation(s) and how the research environment at the host organisation(s) will contribute to the development of your research career (max 2 000 characters for each host).
• Please read the calls specific Grounds of assessment for the added value of the research environments.

Appendix 2. Invitation from home organisation and host organisation(s)

A. Invitation from home organisation/administrating organisation

The invitation should include a statement on the planned research and an assurance that the necessary facilities and resources will be made available for the applicant. The invitation from the home organisation should include:

• An invitation from the Swedish administrating organisation (home organisation) with a commitment to approve your application and to manage the project funds.
• Information regarding the applicant’s employment form and that you can conduct your planned research at the home organisation during the whole project.
• How the home organisation will fulfil the project’s needs for premises, equipment, and other infrastructure.
• The invitation shall be addressed to you as applicant, cover the period shown in this call
• After the application has been registered and the call closed the administrating organisation confirms this undertaking by digitally signing the application in Prisma. The signing should be conducted within seven working days after the call closed.
• The invitation shall be from the head of department, or equivalent, where the research will be carried out.
• A maximum of one PDF attachment of 4 MB can be uploaded.
  

B. Invitation from the host organisation(s)

The invitation should include a statement on the planned research and an assurance that the necessary facilities and resources will be made available for the applicant. The invitation from the host organisation should include:

• A description that you are welcome to conduct your planned research there and that they will be your host organisation
• The invitation shall be addressed to you as applicant, and be from the head of department, or equivalent, where the research will be carried out.
• The name and contact details of the person signing the document shall be included (first name, last name, telephone number and email address). Please also state the faculty of the host department and the postal address.
• The invitation shall apply for the period shown in this call
• How the applicant’s proposed research fits into the research and expertise of the department or research team involved
• An insurance that the department will fulfil the applicant’s need for premises, equipment, and other infrastructure
• How the research environment will support the development of the applicant’s scientific career, networks and competence
• You should combine all invitations from the host organisations to one appendix. A maximum of one PDF attachment of 4 MB can be uploaded.
  

Appendix 3. A copy of you issued doctoral degree

To be eligible to apply for a mobility grant, you must have completed your doctoral degree no earlier than 1 January 2018 and no later than 31 December 2021. The degree date on which Formas base this on is the date which you have fulfilled all requirements for complete degree, such as compulsory courses, dissertation and approved doctoral thesis and been issued an official certificate for your doctoral degree. That is, the date when the certificate for your doctoral degree was issued by the university, usually with a stamp. A licentiate degree or other research competence corresponding to a doctoral degree is not accepted as a doctoral degree. Formas does not accept other certificates, such as the date of the dissertation or a certificate from your supervisor stating that all steps of your doctoral degree has been completed.

Your application will be rejected if you do not meet the requirement of when a doctoral degree should be issued or have not provided it to Formas in accordance with the guidelines in the call text.

• Upload a copy of your issued doctoral degree, maximum 4 MB.
• If you do not have a doctoral degree when the call closes, you must upload information regarding the planned date for when you will be awarded your doctoral degree (write the date in a word file and upload it as Appendix 3)
• If you receive your doctoral degree after the call closes, it is your responsibility as an applicant, to ensure that your doctoral degree is available to Formas' research officers responsible for the Mobility call or Formas registrar no later than 31 December 2021. A copy of the degree is preferably emailed to Formas’ 'persons responsible for the call or Formas' registrar.
  

The following appendix can be uploaded if it is relevant to the application (it is not mandatory):

Appendix 4. Illustrations

If you need figures, tables, or images to describe the project, you can upload them together in appendix 4. A maximum of one PDF attachment of 4 MB can be uploaded. Please note that a CV should not be attached as an appendix.

We first verify whether your application falls within Formas’ areas of responsibility and the scope of the call. If it does, it continues to a review panel for assessment. If it does not, it is rejected and will not be evaluated.

Your application can also be rejected if:

• It contains procedural errors or is incomplete, meaning that it lacks the necessary information in the application form or the appendix. The basic requirements that must be met in this call can be found under Applicant and organisation requirements.
• It has not been signed or is rejected by the administrating organisation.
• The main applicant has not finalised their reporting for completed projects in any of Formas’ other calls.
• It contains procedural errors in the mandatory information, regarding deductible time, required in the application form.

The applications are assessed by a review panel, specific for the call, based on what is described in the application. It is therefore important that the application is clear, and that all important and relevant information is included.

The application assessment process

The review panel is problem oriented and broadly defined in order to cover Formas’ different areas of responsibility. Each panel includes both active researchers and users of research results who are qualified to assess the potential societal benefit. A majority of the review panel members are researchers. The review panel members have the expertise required to assess applications within the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences and engineering sciences within Formas’ areas of responsibility. The panels can also review multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research.

Grounds of assessment

Applications are assessed with respect to scientific quality and societal relevance. This includes the following five grounds of assessment:

Grounds of assessment for scientific quality

• Research question
  - Scientific relevance of the purpose.
  - Originality and novelty of the purpose, theory and hypotheses.
  - Possibility of significant scientific results.
  
• Method and performance
  - Feasibility and suitability of the scientific methods.
  - Well-defined and realistic work plan.
  - Coordination of the project and the research group.
  - The appropriateness of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, where relevant.
  - Where the proposed research requires ethical considerations, how these are taken into account.
  - Reasonability of the budget in relation to the implementation of the project.
• Scientific competence
  - Scientific quality of the publications.
  - Ability to carry out the project according to the project plan.
  - Experience of supervision.
  - Project management experience.
  - National and international activities, including projects, networks, commissions, honorary commissions, participation in or organisation of workshops and conferences.
  - Interest in, experience and ability to disseminate research and research results with stakeholders/end users.
  - Strength and competitiveness of the research group.
  
• Added value of the research environments
  
  Contribution from the research environments to the applicants’ scientific development
  - How will the environment´s contribute to the applicant’s career and support the applicant to become a future research leader?
  - Will the applicant have the opportunity to learn, for instance, new tools, methods and techniques?
  - Will the environment’s support access to valuable networks?
  
  The research environments’ relevance for the project
  - Will the project have access to, for instance, infrastructure, research subjects and field trials?
  - Will the project have access to the specific collaborations and academic strengths needed?
  

Grounds of assessment for societal relevance and communication

• Societal value of the research question and communication of the result
  - The research question involves important social/sectoral issues, nationally and/or internationally.
  - The project has the potential over a short-term or long-term perspective to be utilised and contribute to sustainable development nationally and/or internationally.
  - Stakeholder/end user needs have been taken into account in the design of the project.
  - A concrete and realistic plan for both, scientific publishing and communication of results with relevant stakeholders and/or end users throughout the project’s duration.
  

All five grounds of assessment must be addressed in the application, and we advise applicants to clearly relate their application to these grounds of assessment. We also strongly advise applicants to structure and write the application clearly and accurately, as the review is based solely on the information contained in the application.

Formas’ Scientific Council is expected to reach a decision on 26 October 2021 concerning which projects will be granted funding. Decisions will be announced the following day, at the latest, on Formas’ website. Information that decisions have been made will be sent out via email from Prisma. The applicant’s decision is available in Prisma. Decisions about funding grants cannot be appealed.

The final financial and scientific reports for projects granted funding must be submitted to Formas within three months of the end of the availability period. For projects longer than 18 months, financial statements must be submitted each year.

How to report expenses and results

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

Open access to research results and data

You need to have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. If you receive funding, you need to develop a plan for data management. The plan should not be sent into us but you should be able to present the plan upon request. We recommend that you follow the guidelines for data management plans developed by Science Europe. Read more about the guidelines in the report Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management.

SweCRIS

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

• Ethical policy
• Formas Conflict of Interest Policy
• Formas’ review process
• Formas’ own sustainability work
• Good to know before you apply
• Guidelines on conflicts of interest in Formas’
  operation
• How it works
• Prisma
• Prisma online user support
• Support for addressing grounds of assessment for societal relevance and communication (pdf)
• Sustainable Development Goals
• Who can become an administrating organisation?