Water Wise Societies is now setting Sweden on the path towards the mission of sustainable water for all by 2050. Achieving the transition will require changes in both attitudes and behaviors and an increased acceptance of the necessary measures.
In this call, Water Wise Societies will therefore fund projects that will result in the development and use of innovative methods to create increased acceptance and change behaviors that facilitate the transition towards the mission. The projects will be carried out in collaboration between stakeholders and experts.
Water is a basic prerequisite for life and social development, but in Swedish contexts its value is often taken for granted. This call for proposals aims to raise awareness of the value of water and change the way individuals, organizations and communities use and manage water resources. Through increased understanding and commitment to change, implemented projects should contribute to one or more of the three sub-goals and ten missions within the Water Wise Societies mission.
Projects applying for funding should:
- Develop or test innovative approaches to acceptance and behavior change that increase understanding of the importance of sustainable water systems for people, society and nature. Methods that promote engagement and participation are also relevant in this call. The methods should be scalable and applicable in multiple situations and settings.
- Contribute to increased competence and strengthen the ability to adapt among actors in the water sector.
- Be implemented in collaboration between need owners and experts in relevant methods.
- Originate from and contribute to at least one of the ten Water Wise Society missions
External link..
Continued funding for larger and multi-year projects will be available to further develop projects and implement additional activities.
The offer is part of the Water Wise Societies External link. program, which is part of Impact Innovation, a joint initiative of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.
Impact Innovation and Water Wise Societies
Impact Innovation External link. is Sweden's major innovation initiative to tackle the challenges of our time and the future. In collaborations between actors in the private, public and non-profit organizations, Impact Innovation meets real technology and social needs with groundbreaking solutions. On the way to a sustainable and competitive Sweden, attractive to live in for everyone. Together we show what is possible, and lead the way internationally. Water Wise Societies is one of five programs run within Impact Innovation.
Water Wise Societies' mission "Sustainable water for all by 2050" means that water is available in the right quantity and quality, and that it creates good conditions for people, the environment, ecosystems and industries - despite a changing climate.
The program's sub-goals and associated missions, which together will contribute to achieving the mission, are
Resilient water supply and management in society
- Secure water supply and management
- Ensure good drinking water quality
- Adapting communities to floods and droughts
- Building and managing society in harmony with water
Wise water use
- Sustainable water withdrawals
- Reducing water use and leakage
- Recycle and reuse water and its resources
Healthy lakes, rivers and groundwater
- Reduce negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems
- Prevent and reduce the spread of hazardous substances
- Reduce eutrophication in lakes and rivers
The missions can be seen as transformational journeys that address the type of values and behavioral changes that the call aims to influence.
Read more about Water Wise Societies' missions External link.
Need for innovative approaches to acceptance, behavior change, participation and engagement
Water is essential for life and societal development, but in Swedish contexts its value is often taken for granted. In general, there is a low level of knowledge in society - and sometimes even among public and business decision-makers - about issues such as sustainable water withdrawals, how groundwater is recharged and the quality requirements for water use. This hampers the transition needed to achieve the 'Sustainable Water for All by 2050' mission and its associated targets and tasks. Key shifts in the field can be hindered by
- Mental resistance (e.g. to efforts to adapt communities to flooding through the construction of flood barriers and the like)
- Preconceived ideas (e.g. that you can drink from any tap)
- Lack of valuation of water (e.g. in industrial contexts or new housing developments)
- Insufficient participation and involvement (e.g. in water saving measures)
Several projects and initiatives in this field depend on activities to create acceptance and to bring about behavioral change, participation and commitment. Target groups for such activities can be:
- Municipal and business organizations including agriculture and forestry
- Decision-makers in the business community and at municipal, regional and national level
- The general public, for example via pupils in primary and secondary schools, associations or via public contexts such as festivals, museums and social media.
An example of when interventions or projects need to include methods for acceptance, behavioral change, participation and engagement could be a municipal administration that wants to improve local water flows and water quality. By working with methods that concretize and make visible connections between actions, behaviors and the status of water resources, insights are created that can then be translated into commitment, decisions and long-term sustainable changes. For example, working with visualization methods in collaboration with both decision-makers and residents can create an understanding of how local behaviors affect water flows and water quality. This, in turn, can lead to more accurate decisions and broader support for necessary actions.
Another example is when formulating and implementing policies that require public engagement, such as drought restrictions. Young people's interest in water issues can be stimulated through methodologies to engage school students, such as gamification or artistic approaches. This in turn can impact their families and the local community. Through broad workshops, officials and decision-makers in public authorities and municipalities can create a ripple effect to change attitudes and behaviors.
By influencing citizens and decision-makers in the public and business sectors, both the public and organizations can be positively affected. A lasting change is created by people in different positions and in different parts of society understanding that sustainably managed water is a prerequisite for a sustainable society. This significantly increases the chances of implementing sustainable water management measures, while significantly reducing the lead times from development to implementation.
Despite the importance of actively working on acceptance, behavioral change, participation and engagement in the water sector, appropriate methods are sometimes lacking. Water Wise Societies believes that more methods need to be developed, tested and put into practice. When stakeholders are actively involved in learning processes and behavioural change, both individual and organizational competences grow. This contributes to increased ability to realize benefits in the efforts carried out in the water sector and within Water Wise Societies.
Note that the examples above are only intended to illustrate this approach in this call. What we are looking for is not limited to the areas covered by the examples. We are looking broadly and welcome applications in all areas that correspond to the basic intentions of the call.
To achieve Water Wise Society's mission of sustainable water for all, it is crucial that people, organizations and society both accept the actions and changes required and contribute positively to it through changing behaviors that enable and support the transition.
Therefore, methods to create acceptance, behavioral change, participation and engagement are needed. Such approaches should contribute to a better understanding of the importance of sustainable water systems for people, society, business and ecosystems including biodiversity. They are also important in concrete situations, for example when introducing new solutions or achieving a specific type of change needed to fulfill the Water Wise Societies mission.
The aim of the call is to contribute to the development and use of such innovative approaches based on situations relevant to the ten missions of the Water Wise Society External link.. This, in turn, will contribute to increased competence and strengthen the capacity for transformation of actors in the water sector.
The projects funded should be based on real needs in a real context. Therefore, at least one of the project partners needs to be a so-called need owner: an organization that needs acceptance, behavioural change, participation or increased engagement to solve a particular situation. Furthermore, it is crucial that projects include at least one project partner who is an expert in relevant methods and method development. The benefits arise from projects being anchored in collaborations between needs and expertise.
Innovative methods mean that methods to be developed or tested in the projects are new or at a conceptual stage. Methods that are used outside Sweden or in another sector, but which need to be developed and tested in order to be used in the water sector in Sweden, are also relevant.
The methods need to be scalable in order to be disseminated and used in several situations and environments even outside the specific situations of the projects. In this way, the projects can contribute to increased expertise on how work to create acceptance, behavioral change, participation and commitment is done and strengthen the ability of stakeholders to make the transition in the long term. Cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary projects can have great potential to deliver benefits depending on their context.
Examples include methods in communication, the use of artistic practices or methods that apply behavioral science principles to influence people's attitudes on issues such as water saving, reuse of resources from wastewater or climate adaptation measures.
Examples of methods may include, but are not limited to:
- Development of nudging methods to reduce water consumption in households.
- Use of gamification to engage young people in issues around circular water flows.
- Visualization of user or research data through artistic projects that raise public awareness of the value of water
- Workshops for municipal decision-makers combining behavioral science and policy development for climate adaptation.
- Visualization of water pathways, hotspots and key actors and their impacts in a digital twin to increase understanding, citizen engagement or inform decisions.
We do not fund:
- Technology development, but projects may include the use of new technologies to support innovative approaches.
Communication and dissemination of results
An important part of the call is that the methods and approaches developed within the projects not only reach their direct target group, but can also contribute to learning and dissemination within the Water Wise Societies programme. The results of the projects must therefore be communicated in a target group-adapted way and the projects are encouraged to engage a communicator with relevant expertise.
Projects are also expected to collaborate with the Programme Office to enable documentation and learning, for example by contributing examples, insights and experiences from the project that can be used in a programme-wide context.
We encourage applicants to make materials, methods and results available in a simple and usable way, as far as possible - for example through Creative Commons licensing or other appropriate solutions. However, this is not a requirement and will not be a decisive factor in the assessment of the application.
The target audience is a wide range of different actors in the system "from source to coast" in collaboration with actors representing expertise in acceptance, behavior change, participation and engagement.
There are several ways for organizations to participate in a project in this call:
- You can be a project partner and part of the project team applying to Formas.
- You can participate as, for example, a subcontractor or reference group member or similar.
We believe that projects can benefit from unexpected perspectives and the participation of people who are rarely involved in the design of the methods that are the focus of this call, such as young people or socio-economically weak groups.
The project team should include both needs owners and experts.
Some examples of actors that can constitute need owners are:
- Municipalities, regional or national authorities and public companies
- Businesses that use or provide water
- Civil society that uses or provides water
Examples of actors that can contribute with expertise on methods are
- Research organizations and institutes
- Training and educational organizations, including museums
- Cultural actors
- Industry working on methods to create acceptance, behavioral change, participation and engagement, such as PR or communication agencies
- Civil society as opinion leaders
If you apply together, you do so as project partners, with one of you acting as the main applicant (the actor coordinating the project). All projects applying for funding from Formas must also have a responsible project manager and be carried out by the persons specified in the application.
It is up to the project to put together the most suitable project team, which affects the assessment based on the assessment criteria stated under the heading How does the assessment process work? However, we want the project team to
- Include at least two (2) project partners.
- Be composed of at least one organization representing needs owners and at least one organization representing expertise on acceptance, behaviour change, participation and engagement methods.
All partners in the project team must be legal entities. This means that sole proprietorships cannot participate as project partners.
The organizations included as project partners must participate in the design of the project and contribute to its implementation. They must be actively involved and committed to the project and share the project's risks and results. This means that the organizations are included as an active party in the project plan and that it is clearly shown in the project budget which costs will be incurred by the party in question; either through grants from Formas, own or other funding or a combination of these.
Project groups funded in this call must participate in and contribute to Water Wise Societies' so-called transition arena. It is an arena for experience exchange and co-creation run by the Water Wise Societies program office for the program members. We also want the project groups to maintain a continuous dialogue with the Water Wise Societies program office or another actor appointed by the program office throughout the duration of the project.
Formas works for equal, gender-equal and inclusive social development. This means that applicants should design the project team with gender balance in mind. Consideration should also be given to the distribution of influence in the project.
Before you apply
The project party submitting the application is called the lead applicant or coordinating party.
It is not allowed to submit the same application with different main applicants to the Impact Innovation: Acceptance and Behavior Change in Water Wise Societies 2025 call for Sustainable Water for All. All final registered applications with the same content will be rejected.
It is possible for the main applicant to simultaneously have an ongoing project grant from one of Formas' other calls as long as the applicant's total salary, distributed over the projects, does not exceed 100 percent funding.
The main applicant organization (coordinating party) must be able to receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out to an approved project. The organization that will receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out if the project is approved is called an administrating organisation.
Formas distinguishes between administrating organizations that can apply for all Formas calls, and administrating organizations that can be approved to receive funds for an individual project. The main applicant organization must have an organizational account and be approved as an administrating organization under one of these two forms.
State aid rules apply when Formas provides grants to companies and others engaged in economic activities. The rules exist to protect competition in the EU's internal market.
An organization that offers any kind of service or product on a market is considered to be engaged in an economic activity. It doesn't matter how the organization is financed, whether it's public or private, or whether it's for profit. Nor does it matter what legal form the organization takes. For example, whether it is a limited company, a partnership, an economic association, a non-profit association or a foundation.
Some organizations have both economic and non-economic activities (for example, when a university conducts contract research). If such an organization intends to involve its non-economic activities in the project, a certificate to this effect must be signed by the authorized representative of the organization and attached to the application.
Certificate of separation of accounts or subordinate economic activity
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Experimental development
In this call, Formas will apply Article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER, EU Regulation No 651/2014) and de minimis aid (Commission Regulation (EU) No 2023/2831).
When the support is based on GBER, the level of support depends on the type of project and the size of the activity. In this call, Formas assesses that the type of project will fall within the category "experimental development".
The size of the organization and the type of activity determines how much of the costs we can fund, i.e. the maximum level of support. The size of the activity is assessed based on the EU definition of small and medium-sized enterprises.
| Activity | Aid intensity for small enterprises | Aid intensity for medium-sized enterprise | Aid intensity for large enterprises |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experimental development with cooperation bonus | 60% | 50% | 40% |
Aid of minor importance (de minimis)
In this call, we can also provide de minimis support, also known as de minimis aid. We can fund up to 100% of a project partner's costs.
An organization can receive a maximum of €300,000 over a three-year period in this form of support, regardless of the funder and project. This means that if the same organization has received smaller grants in other projects from other funders in the past, this will affect the amount of funding available in this call.
Please provide a de minimis certificate when you submit your application. This is required for us to be able to grant this support.
Certificate on de minimis aid External link.
Transparency statement
Applicants who would receive state aid when carrying out projects, in the event that the project application is granted funds from Formas, need to be aware that the requirements for transparency reporting of granted state aid have been tightened in 2023. This means that state aid over EUR 100,000 to a project partner in a project (or if it concerns primary agricultural production or the fisheries and aquaculture sector EUR 10,000), must be publicly reported within the EU. Formas is responsible for this transparency reporting. The applicant is deemed to be aware of this transparency reporting requirement and to have agreed to such public reporting above the applicable thresholds.
More on state aid rules
Here you can read more about the state aid rules that apply when Formas gives grants:
Our funding is subject to rules that govern the types of costs we can fund, known as eligible costs. For a cost to be eligible, it must be
- necessary for the activities of the project
- properly accounted for and separate from the organization's other costs.
An organization cannot claim someone else's costs as its own.
When applying for funding for a project, you can apply for both direct and indirect eligible costs.
Direct costs are costs that would not have been incurred if the project had not been carried out.
- Staff costs: salaries, social security contributions and other staff fees.
- Equipmentcosts buildings land: instruments, equipment and rent for premises other than the normal place of business
- Consultancy and licensing costs: consultancy services, know-how and patents purchased or used under license from a third party.
- Other direct costs: for example, materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project.
- Indirect costs: costs that are not incurred as a direct result of the project but can nevertheless be related to it, for example, for administration, regular premises and IT.
Indirect costs are sometimes referred to as overhead costs or general overheads.
- HEIs may add indirect costs according to the full cost principle they apply.
- The following organizations, when participating in the project with non-economic activities, may charge indirect costs up to 45% of their eligible staff costs
- Research organizations that are limited liability companies or partnerships in which the government directly or indirectly exercises legal control, or foundations in which the government appoints one or more board members.
- Government agencies (other than higher education institutions) that are required by their instructions to conduct their own research.
- Other project partners may add a maximum of 30 percent to their eligible personnel costs for indirect costs. Formas does not grant funds for overheads on costs that you write off for equipment or for premises.
Eligible costs must therefore be clearly linked to the project for which you are applying for funding and finance activities in addition to regular activities.
Costs incurred to participate in the Water Wise Societies Transition Arena are eligible costs.
Here you can read more about what costs Formas funds:
What you can apply for funding for
Costs Formas finances with the support scheme (pdf)
, 234.8 kB.
This call for proposals is open to projects with a maximum duration of 12 months. The maximum grant for each project is SEK 1 000 000 and a maximum of 80% of the total eligible costs of the project as a whole.
Projects must start on October 1, 2025 and end on September 30, 2026. The project start date is pre-set in Prisma and cannot be changed. Project funds may be used 4 months after project completion. Final financial reports must then be submitted within three months.
You can choose to write your application in Swedish or English. However, the popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the summaries must be in both Swedish and English.
Under Swedish law, your application (including attachments) is considered a public document when it is received by us. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Information can only be concealed if it is covered by confidentiality under the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).
Formas has limited possibilities to cover personal data with confidentiality. Therefore, the application should not contain personal data for anyone other than the participants in the application.
The popular science description and the project summaries in Swedish and English will, if the project is awarded funding, be published in open project databases without a confidentiality check. The content of these fields should therefore not contain sensitive information.
We currently see no problem with you as an applicant using AI as an aid when preparing your 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 project is implemented as you have described. You certify this when the application is registered. As an applicant, you must follow good research practice in the application procedure, which means that plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of content in the application must not occur.
At Formas, we are very concerned that the projects we fund are carried out in a way that maximizes positive and minimizes negative impact on the environment and climate. We therefore encourage applicants to design the project so that collaboration takes place primarily through digital forms of meeting and that necessary travel is carried out as climate-smart as possible. We also suggest that you already in the project planning include measures that minimize energy use and other resource consumption, emissions and waste. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application.
Please read about Formas' own sustainability work.
Formas is tasked with working to achieve sustainable social development. Crucial to such development is that it is equal, equitable and inclusive. We therefore encourage applicants to design the project as far as possible so that it can contribute knowledge that reflects and is relevant to different groups in society.
How to apply
All information on what to include in your application and how to apply can be found here.
If the call text has been modified after publication, the changes are indicated under revision history.
Your application to Formas is made in our application system Prisma. There you enter the information needed for your application. The application contains questions about the project, participating project partners and budget.
To the application, you attach an appendix with your project description and an appendix with the CVs of the project's key actors. Use the templates provided for these appendices - see the section Project description and CV and curriculum vitae for templates and more information.
At the same time as the application is sent to Formas, a non-confidential summary should be sent to the Water Wise Societies Program Office via e-mail utlysningar@waterwisesocieties.se. The content of the attachment sent to the Program Office must be freely disseminated and published and must not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information. The template for the summary to Water Wise Societies can be accessed via the call website.
Organizational account
The coordinating party (main applicant) is responsible for all administration in Prisma. This party must be stated throughout the application as the coordinator/fund manager. The organization needs to have an organization account at the time of application, as the call is listed under organization account in Prisma.
Organizational calls are only visible when you log in to the organizational account. First click on the organizational account tab and then go to the link for organizational calls. See Prisma user support for instructions on how to find the call in Prisma.
Find the call in Prisma External link.
The organization that will receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out if the project is approved is called an administrating organisation in Formas' application system.
Formas distinguishes between administrating organizations that can receive funds in all Formas calls, and administrating organizations that can be approved to receive funds for an individual project.
Applicants from administrating organisations approved for all Formas calls
Universities, colleges, most research institutes and government agencies with research assignments are approved as administrating organisations for all Formas calls and already have an organizational account.
Applicants from administrating organisations that need to be individually approved
Most other public and private organizations need to be individually approved as administrating organisations in this call.
Organizational account for organizations that can become administrating organisations for an individual project
- If the organization already has an account in Prisma, please contact the responsible research officer Anna Gellerstedt via e-mail anna.gellerstedt@formas.se to be added as a possible administrating organisation for this call. Please state the organization number in your message. This also applies if the organization has been approved as administrating organisation for a project in one of Formas' previous calls.
- If your organization does not already have an account in Prisma, an appropriate representative (organizational account manager) must apply for an organizational account on the Prisma website. In the motivation for the application, state that you want to apply for the call Impact Innovation: Acceptance and Behaviour Change in Water Wise Societies 2025 for Sustainable Water for All, the type of organization and the organization number. It is important that the main applicant applies for an organizational account for the intended coordinating project partner (administrating organisation) in good time if such an account is not available in Prisma, but no later than 2025-05-27.
Apply for an organizational account in Prisma. External link.
- If you do not know whether your organization has an account in Prisma, contact the responsible research officer anna.gellerstedt@formas.se before applying for a new account. Enter your organization number.
The application must be initiated through the coordinated party's organizational account. The person responsible for the organizational account will then automatically become the project leader. This can be changed by the person responsible inviting another person to become the project leader. If another person is to be the project manager, they need a personal account in Prisma. If the person responsible for the organizational account will be the project leader, no personal account needs to be linked to the application.
See more information on the Prisma support page External link.
If a personal account needs to be created, the person must apply for it by 2025-05-27.
Apply for a personal account in Prisma External link..
Residence - create a structure to describe the organization
In order to register an application, a domicile within the organization must be specified; a domicile can be, for example, an institution or a department. The organizational account manager should build a two-level structure of units and sub-units (domiciles). If the organization has no departments, specify a sub-unit with the same name as the organization.
In order to register an application, a domicile within the organization must be specified. The organization must have at least one domicile in its structure. Residence means the department/institution/unit within the organization that is applying. The indication of the residence is mandatory when the application is to be submitted by the applicant.
The organizational account manager must build up a structure with units and sub-units (domiciles) in two levels. This is done in the drop-down menus for the Account Manager and the Project Home. The locations that the applicant can choose are taken from the organizational structure through the settings you as an organizational account manager have made on the organizational account.
If the organization has no departments, enter a sub-entity with the same name as the organization.
Information on how to do this can be found in Prisma's user support External link..
Describe what your organization looks like (create a structure) External link.
The application should be written in Swedish, while the summaries should be in both Swedish and English. CVs can be written in Swedish or English.
All limits for the maximum number of characters refer to characters including spaces. A recommendation is to choose Arial font in font size 12 for the information entered in all text boxes.
Please note that if you write your application in word processing software and then paste your application into Prisma, the formatting may be lost.
Tables and figures with advanced formatting or formulas should be uploaded as attachments in PDF format to avoid losing valuable information.
The application should include a clear description of the project under the following sections:
Basic information
- Number of years/months applied for.
- Project title in Swedish and English (200 characters including spaces)
- Popular science description in Swedish (4 500 characters including spaces). The popular science description will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open project databases without a confidentiality check. The content of this field should therefore not contain sensitive information.
- Summary in Swedish and English (1 500 characters including spaces each). The project summaries will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open project databases without a confidentiality check. The content of these fields should therefore not contain sensitive information.
Project description
Please attach to your application an annex with your project plan. Use the template provided, maximum 10 pages. Please note: If the number of pages exceeds 10 pages, the extra pages will not be read or assessed/ the application will be rejected.
The project description is uploaded as a file and the size cannot exceed 10 MB.
Please read the background text and the purpose and focus of the call carefully before filling in the template. Before filling in the project description, please also read the assessment criteria under How the assessment process works External link..
The application is assessed on what is stated in the application, so the project description must clearly address all the assessment criteria. In the assessment, great emphasis will be placed on how well the applications provide a complete picture of both the problem and the proposed solution, the involvement of the need owners in the project and how the project makes its impact assessment of proposed measures.
If you want to attach pictures, tables, figures, etc. to the application, these must be included in the 10 pages allowed.
Budget and other information
The project's costs, funding and other information about all organizations participating in the application must be reported in Prisma. In Prisma, the entire amount applied for is printed, for example SEK 1 million is printed: SEK 1 000 000.
Companies and other organizations that carry out economic activities can apply for and be awarded grants in accordance with the description in the section Rules for state aid to companies and other economic activities.
The following information must be provided.
Information on the main applicant organization and each project partner
This is mandatory information that must be filled in per party for all partners in the project. The information is collected and filled in by the main applicant. The lead applicant's organization must be the same as the one indicated as administrating organisation.
- Name of the organization
- Organization number
- Address, postal code, town, country
- Annual turnover (refers to the total turnover or sales of the university, college, institute, company or organization during the current fiscal year, stated in figures, for example 3,500,000)
- Balance sheet total (refers to the sum of the asset side or the sum of liabilities and equity in a company's or organization's balance sheet, expressed in figures, e.g. 5 500 000)
- Number of employees
- Contact person
- E-mail of contact person
- Name of workplace, address, postal code, postal town, country where the main part of the work will be carried out.
Costs
Fill in the costs for personnel; development, buildings and land; consultants, licenses, etc.; other direct costs; and indirect costs.
The information is provided by party, year and type of cost.
See section Costs you can apply for funding for or Costs Formas funds with the grant scheme for more information on eligible costs.
Types of funding
Four types of funding can be specified in the application:
- Grant applied for from Formas: Indicates the amount applied for from Formas under the call. The 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 Own funding.
- Other support (public): If funds for related projects have been obtained with funding from Formas or another public funding body
- Other support (private): If funds from another private company or organization contribute funding to the project.
- Own funding: If the project partner contributes its own funding to the project, this is automatically calculated in the field for own funding.
Justification of staff costs in the budget
Here you specify the average hourly cost of budgeted staff costs. Staff costs refer to salaries including social security contributions and other compulsory contributions linked to salaries. (Maximum 500 characters including spaces.)
Budget specification
Here the main applicant explains the budget in words. Here, the overhead costs applied in the application are stated. Formas does not grant funds for overheads on costs that you write off for equipment or premises.
Here you also state any consultancy costs and the extent of the consultant's involvement. Also state which project partner(s) is/are responsible for the consultancy costs. Applicants are encouraged to be clear in describing all costs in relation to the activities of the project (maximum 9 000 characters including spaces).
Classifications
Formas uses the project's classifications in analyses and documentation at an overall level. The classifications are made by the applicant specifying the subject area, research topic (SCB code), at least one global sustainable development goal to which the project can contribute, and keywords.
- Subject area
Select the subject area of the project and add a subheading.
- Research topic (SCB code)
Select at least one research topic and two sublevels that create the merged code.
- Global Sustainable Development Goals
Specify at least one and up to three global sustainable development goals that the project can contribute to in order of priority according to degree of relevance.
More on the meaning of the goals. External link.
- Keywords
Enter at least one and up to three keywords that describe the project.
Trustee - the organization receiving the grant
The organization that will receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out to approved projects is called the administrating organisation.
- Select the administrating organization in the drop-down list. If you cannot find the organization that will be the main applicant, see the heading Organization account under the section How to apply.
- Select the residence in the drop-down list. If you do not find the right residence, see the heading Applicants from Trustees who need to be individually approved under the How to apply section .
CV and curriculum vitae
It is mandatory to attach the CV of the project leader. We would also like you to add the CVs of the other key persons involved in the project. All CVs should be put in one document and submitted as an annex. Use the provided template, maximum 1 page per person.
Annexes
Attach the project description annex and the CV annex. If you need to submit a certificate of de minimis aid or a certificate of non-financial activity, this should also be submitted as an annex.
Please note: If additional annexes are submitted, they will not be read or assessed.
Once completed, the application must be registered, submitted and signed by the Organization Account Manager. The signing of a registered application is done by the Organizational Account Manager, and can be done in two ways:
- If the Organizational Account Manager is the same person as the Project Manager, he/she registers the personal application and signing is done by default upon registration.
- If the project manager is a different person than the organizational account manager, the project manager completes the application and then the asset manager (the organizational account manager or user with the role of application manager) must register and submit the application. Signing of the application is then done by default upon registration.
The project manager can access the check and register tab at any time during the application process. This will list any missing mandatory information or other reasons that may prevent the application from being registered.
NOTE! When the application period has expired, the application can only be completed in special cases at the request of Formas.
After you have submitted your application
Formas first checks that the application meets the formal requirements set out in the call. If the application does not meet the requirements, it is rejected.
The following requirements will be checked in this call:
Requirements for the organizational form of project partners
- All project partners must be legal entities. Natural persons or sole proprietorships cannot participate as project partners.
- The main applicant (coordinating) party must be a Swedish legal entity and operate in Sweden.
Requirements for the project team
- The project group must include at least two project partners.
Requirements for the application
- The application must be written in Swedish.
- The application must be complete, i.e. it must contain all the information that is mandatory and follow the instructions given in the section This is what your application must contain. You can do this by using the mandatory templates for project description and CV.
- The application must include all requested annexes.
- Multiple applications with the same content may not be submitted.
- Lead applicants may submit only one application under this call.
- The administrating organization must have signed the application, which must be done within seven calendar days after the call closes).
- The application must not have been rejected by the administrating organisation.
All applications are assessed by an external review panel on the basis of what is described in the application. Each application is reviewed by several reviewers. The review panel is composed of representatives from academia and relevant stakeholders in society. It is therefore important that the application is as clear as possible in its content and that all important and relevant information is included.
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
Relevance
- The project can significantly contribute to a better understanding of the importance of sustainable water systems for people, society and nature through innovative methods to create acceptance, behavioral change, participation and engagement. ´
- The project is based on and will contribute to at least one of the ten Water Wise Society missions.
- The design of the project and its expected outcomes have taken relevant account of the needs and circumstances of different groups.
Potential
- The extent to which the innovative approaches to be developed or tested have the potential to contribute to one or more of the Water Wise Society's missions. This includes:
- The potential of proposed approaches to generate acceptance, behavior change, participation and engagement.
- The extent to which the methods are scalable and possible to apply in multiple situations and settings.
- The extent to which the project can contribute to increased competence and capacity for change among actors in the water sector.
- How well the project positions itself against already existing solutions and initiatives.
- The extent to which ideas and solutions are defined with a gender equality perspective in mind and can thus contribute to increased gender equality.
Implementation
- The extent to which the project is based on a credible project plan and budget where activities are linked to project objectives and desired outcomes and long-term impacts.
- Whether the project partners are actively involved and committed to the project, and whether the degree of cooperation between project partners and involvement of other relevant actors is appropriate in relation to the project's purpose and objectives.
- How well described and appropriate is the project's plan for dissemination and exploitation of results.
- How well gender equality aspects are integrated in the project plan.
Stakeholders
- The extent to which the project team includes the organizations that need to be involved for the implementation of the project, including the exploitation of the project results.
- Whether the project team includes at least one stakeholder and at least one expert in relevant methodologies.
- Whether the project is carried out in collaboration with relevant stakeholders or users.
- The extent to which the project manager and other key staff have the skills and capacity to implement the project.
- The composition of the team (key persons) in terms of gender balance, and the distribution of power and influence between women and men.
In a competitive situation, an overall portfolio perspective will be taken into account regarding the different missions of Water Wise Societies as well as the composition of the stakeholder groups (that they include different types of actors and sectors). The portfolio perspective can only be applied after all applications have been assessed on their own merits and ranked.
Our examiners are currently not allowed to use AI tools to support the examination of applications. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, there is a high risk that information uploaded will be disseminated. There are also risks related to confidentiality and the processing of personal data. Uploading an application or information from an application to any kind of AI tool is an unauthorized disclosure of information. This applies not only to AI tools but also to many other services and tools for storing and sharing data.
Before making a decision, Formas conducts an overall assessment of the organizational and financial status of those who receive funding. We use information that we obtain from credit reports.
For us to grant funding, this applies:
- Organizations seeking funding for staff costs must be registered as an employer with the Swedish Tax Agency.
- Organizations must not be insolvent, or undergoing liquidation or corporate restructuring. They must also not have unpaid debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
- Limited companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital.
- If requested, SMEs must be able to demonstrate that they have the financial means to carry out the project according to their budget in the application. They cannot use public grants or own funds intended for other projects to cover project costs in this call.
Decisions on which projects are granted funding are expected to be made on September 16, 2025. We will publish the decisions no later than the following day on Formas' website and you will receive an email when you can view the decision in Prisma. Decisions on grants cannot be appealed.
If we approve your application, you must comply with our grant conditions. These conditions include, among other things
- That you must sign a specific document agreeing to your participation and committing to carry out the project.
- reporting to us on the progress, costs and results achieved
- How the results will be used and how scientific publication will take place.
Read more in Formas' general terms and conditions for research and innovation grants External link. and Formas' supplementary terms and conditions for multi-partner projects External link..
Formas also has some specific conditions in this call, which include how the projects should be reported in terms of content and results to enable dissemination and utilization:
- The project must be represented by at least one project partner at the Water Wise Societies transition arena and other activities organized within the program, estimated at two to four (of which a maximum of two physical) occasions per year. The costs of such participation are eligible.
- The project must maintain a continuous dialogue with the Water Wise Societies Programme Office or any other actor designated by the Programme Office throughout the duration of the project.
- In information about the project and in any publication of project results, it must be stated that the work was carried out within the Impact Innovation program Water Wise Societies - an initiative of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.
- In connection with the final reporting of the project to Vinnova, a summary of the project results must be sent to the Water Wise Societies program office according to the template available at impactinnovation.se External link.. The summary may be freely disseminated and published on the websites of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas, Vinnova, Impact Innovation and the program office. The summary may not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information.
The specific conditions will be stated in the project decision in the event of funding. We may also decide to add additional specific conditions for individual projects. These will be set out in the decision.
Reporting back on granted projects
All approved projects must report back to Formas on finances and project results three months after the end of the provision period. All reporting is done in Prisma.
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 produce such a plan. The plan does not have to be submitted to us, but you must be able to present it on request. By signing our grant conditions, you certify that a data management plan will be in place before the research starts and that it will be maintained.
Formas transfers information about awarded grants to SweCRIS, a national database of grant-funded research established on behalf of the government.
Information meetings
On 10 April at 10-11 we organized an information meeting about the call.
On 27 May at 11.00-12.00, we will organize an information meeting about the call with a focus on formalities, rules and Prisma.
Guidance meeting
If you are interested in applying to the call, you now have the opportunity to book an individual guidance meeting with the Water Wise Societies Program Office to get support in the application process. During the online meeting, you can discuss how your idea fits into the program's framework, get tips on how your application can meet the call's expectations and ask questions about the call's focus and requirements. Guidance meetings can be booked between April 25 and May 24.
The call for proposals is part of the Impact Innovation initiative backed by the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova. Impact Innovation is a stakeholder-driven and long-term effort to contribute to global competitiveness through transition for sustainable development.
Revision history
If the call text has changed since publication, the changes are indicated here.
2025-05-13: Clarification that the possibility of continued funding applies to larger and multi-year projects to further develop projects and implement additional activities.
2025-05-21: The following paragraph has been removed as it is not relevant to the call:
Lead applicants may only submit one application under the Impact Innovation: Acceptance and Behavior Change in Water Wise Societies 2025 call for Sustainable Water for All. However, it is possible to be a co-applicant in several applications as long as the applicant's total salary, distributed over the projects, does not exceed 100 percent funding.
Contact information
For questions about the content of the call
For administrative and Prisma questions
For questions regarding the background and desired impact of the call
Staffan Filipsson, Water Wise Societies
Phone: 08-506 00 22
Fredrik Larsson, Water Wise Societies
Phone: 072-725 03 73