Grant for interdisciplinary research environments

Application procedure

Applications for grants for interdisciplinary research environments are made using a two-step procedure. In Step 1, you as applicant shall submit an outline application for assessment. If your application is selected for Step 2, you shall submit a full application.

Step 1 (outline application)

In the outline application, the emphasis shall be on the novelty and originality of the research, and the interdisciplinary added value. The research plan shall be described briefly, but sufficiently clearly to allow the feasibility of the project concept to be assessed.

The Swedish Research Council will make a decision on the outline applications in May 2024. If your outline application is accepted, you will receive notice via email, including instructions for how to submit a full application in Step 2. Relevant information will automatically be transferred from the outline application to your draft for the full application.

Step 2 (full application)

The call for full applications will be open from 12 June to 20 August 2024.

Compared to the outline application, the full application must include the following:

• a more comprehensive research plan
• a more detailed justification of the interdisciplinary added value of collaboration
• a popular science description
• a description of ethical considerations
• a justification of sex and gender perspectives
• a full budget description

It is important that you read the instructions for what must be included in the application in Step 2 already when applying in Step 1. You cannot make changes in Step 2 that mean you no longer fulfil the requirements for the call.

Contrary to what applies to the outline application, the full application must also be signed by an authorised representative of the administrating organisation within 7 calendar days from the deadline for applications.

Information and support to make the planning ahead of application easier

Open publication of data relevant to COVID-19

If you are awarded a grant, you are expected to publish your research data and research results of relevance to COVID-19 with open access as quickly as possible. Determining what data can be published with open access shall always be based on applicable legislation. Please use the national pathogen portal External link, opens in new window.to make your data accessible when possible. Here you can also get practical support with data management and data sharing. The data portal, which is operated by SciLifeLab in collaboration with the Swedish Research Council, is linked to the European COVID-19 data portal. External link.

Practical tips and advice relating to register-based studies

Registerforskning.se External link.has practical information for those who are planning to use register data in their research projects, including a step-by-step guide. Here you can also find the metadata tool RUT (Register Utiliser Tool), which offers researchers detailed information at metadata level about the variables used in the Swedish registers and biobank sample collections linked to the tool. New registers are continually being added to RUT.

If the application includes a clinical study

Clinical Studies Sweden – regional support for your work

The six regional nodes that together form Clinical Studies Sweden offer various types of support for work on a clinical study. Examples include help with study protocols, permit applications, data management and statistics, infrastructures for implementation, and training in clinical research methodology. The nodes also have a good supply of knowledge, and can provide contacts with relevant regional resources, such as research units, quality register centres, biobanks, and cancer centres. More information about Clinical Studies Sweden and what you need to consider when conducting a clinical study can be found at kliniskastudier.se. External link.

Registering and reporting clinical studies

There are guidelines for study registration and result reporting for the clinical studies funded by the Swedish Research Council, which means that information about the study shall be registered in a public study register, and that a summary of the results shall be published in the register. More information is available here.

Requirements for applicants

The following requirements must be fulfilled for you to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.

Focus

With this call, the Swedish Research Council wishes to support research environments where theories, methodology, factual knowledge and/or data from differing disciplines are combined in ways that open up new research fields and research approaches. The research environment shall be interdisciplinary, and researchers from disciplines that have rarely collaborated shall participate and ask innovative research questions that require the combination of disciplines the application covers to be answered. The research problems shall be genuinely interdisciplinary, and not just include borrowing methods and perspectives from one discipline to another – the project needs to contribute to all disciplines included, and also to interdisciplinary research. The support for interdisciplinary research environments is aimed primarily at new interdisciplinary groupings.

The added value of the research environment and the scientific collaboration shall be clearly shown in the application, as shall how the planned research environment fulfils the requirement for interdisciplinarity. Please note that the research grouping (the applicant and participating researchers) must together represent at least two different disciplines.

Applicant

The applicant must be an individual researcher together with their organisation (a Swedish Higher Education Institution, HEI, or another Swedish organisation that fulfils our criteria for administrating organisations for Swedish Research Council grants). We must have approved your organisation as an administrating organisation for you to apply.

You must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree, awarded no later than the deadline for this call. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies.

You shall be the project leader and have scientific responsibility for the research activities described. The time you set aside for the project (your activity level, that is the percentage of a full-time equivalent) must be suited to the task and its implementation throughout the grant period.

You do not have to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of application, but you must be employed at the start of and throughout the grant period and any additional availability period. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent.

Number of applications and previous grants

The requirements described in this section only apply to you as applicant (project leader).

General information about overlaps between applications and grants

Your application must not cover costs for purposes that are already funded by the Swedish Research Council or any other funding body. Overlaps with other grants or applications may impact on the grant amount you are awarded, or be a reason for us to reject your application.

What grants may I apply for simultaneously from the Swedish Research Council?

You may only submit one application for this grant under this call. Further information about the grants you may apply for during the same year are shown in on the page Several grants simultaneously.

Applications for a research environment grant and project grant or career support

You may apply for this grant at the same time as you apply for a project grant or any of our forms of career support. Please note that any overlap between the applications will be taken into account in the weighted assessment of the need for resources.

Number of applications for a research environment grant

You may only submit one application under this call, and you cannot apply for any of our other grants for a research environment. On the other hand, you may be a participating researcher in more than one application.

What requirements apply if I already have a grant from the Swedish Research Council?

There are certain restrictions if you are the project leader of an ongoing grant, that is to say a grant with a grant period that overlaps the period of the grant the application relates to. Please note that the availability period, that is to say the time during which you have the right to use your grant, is normally longer than the grant period. You can find information about your ongoing grant in the “Approval of terms and conditions” you received from the Swedish Research Council.

If you already have an ongoing grant, then further information about the grants you may apply for are shown on the page Several grants simultaneously.

If you have already been awarded a project grant or career support:

You may apply for this grant for interdisciplinary research environments if you are the project leader of an ongoing project grant or one of our career support grants. A precondition for the application to be successful is that the grant awarded is not part of an application for a research environment grant, but it may be complementary.

If you have already been awarded a research environment grant

You may not apply for this grant if you are the project leader for an ongoing research environment grant. On the other hand, you may be a participating researcher in an application.

If you have already been awarded a grant under the distinguished professor programme, or are a researcher recruited under the Swedish Research Council’s call for international recruitment

If you have a distinguished professor grant or are a researcher recruited under the Swedish Research Council’s international recruitment call, you may not apply for a research environment grant if the grant period for the grant awarded overlaps the period for this call. On the other hand, you may participate in such an application.

Note: If you have been the project leader for previous grants from the Swedish Research Council that have ended, final financial reports for all of these must have been submitted within the permitted time frame in order for you to apply for a new grant. Please contact your administrating organisation if you are unsure whether all your final reports have been submitted.

What applies for applications to or grants from other funding bodies?

If your application to the Swedish Research Council relates to the same project concept as a grant you have already been awarded by, or are applying for to, another funding body, please describe this.

Participating researchers

You must include a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 6 participating researchers in your application. Participating researchers are other researchers with a doctoral degree or equivalent competence (not doctoral students) whose scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the planned research. They do not have to be employed by a Swedish HEI.

Participating researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application. Any doctoral students and other collaboration partners and their roles shall be described in the research plan (please see instructions under “Research plan” below).

Costs and grant amounts

You can apply for a grant for all types of project-related costs, such as

• salaries (including your own salary), however no more than corresponding to the person’s activity level in the project
• premises
• running costs (such as consumables, travel including stays at research facilities, publication costs, and minor equipment)
• depreciation costs
• costs for a graduate school (that is costs for lecturers, courses, and coordination of a graduate school)

The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by your administrating organisation. Grants must not be used for scholarships. If a doctoral student participates, project funds must not be paid out as salary during teaching or other departmental duties.

The minimum amount you may apply for is 3 000 000 SEK per year, including indirect costs. The maximum amount you may apply for is 5 000 000 SEK per year.

The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation will cover any costs in excess of the amount received.

Grant period

You may apply for a grant for a minimum of 4 years and a maximum of 6 years, starting in January 2025. The first payment will be made during January 2025 at the earliest.

The project leader shall submit an interim report no later than 28 February 2027, focusing on the collaboration between the participating researchers and the added value of the research environment, and on how the research fulfils the requirement for interdisciplinary collaboration between research teams with genuinely differing backgrounds. If the results do not correspond to the preconditions that the award of the grant was based on, the grant amounts for the remaining grant period may be reviewed.

What must the application contain? (Step 1)

Please refer to the application form in Prisma in parallel with reading the instructions below, which describe the call-specific content of the application. More information on what to do in practical terms is available in our Guide for applicants.

International experts are involved in the scientific assessment of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete your application in English, apart from the popular science description, which you must write in Swedish.

The information we request under each tab is described below.

Descriptive information

Abstract

In the abstract, please describe in brief the following:

• What is to be done: purpose and aims
• How the research will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and scientific methods
• What is important about the planned research

The abstract shall provide a summary picture of the purpose and implementation of the research. Please use wording to ensure persons with another subject specialisation can understand the information.

The description may cover a maximum of 1 500 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one third of an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other applications or grants

Describe briefly the different projects and their relationship if

• you are applying for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council
• you are receiving an ongoing grant from the Swedish Research Council with a grant period that wholly or partly overlaps with the grant you are now applying for
• there are applications or grants relating to the same project concept/purpose with the Swedish Research Council or other funding bodies (from you or another researcher).

In all cases, you should also justify why you are submitting one or several further applications. If there are no other applications or grants, please state so.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Specific area

Please state if your project relates to research in the area of viruses and pandemics. Describe how your project is relevant for and promotes the development of this field.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Research description

Research plan

The research plan in Step 1 shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief description of the research task. It may cover a maximum of 3 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images.

The research plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

Purpose and aims

State the overall purpose and specific aims of the research project.

State-of-the-art

Summarise briefly the current research frontier within the field or area covered by the project. State key references.

Significance and scientific novelty

Describe briefly how the project relates to previous research within the area, and the impact the project may have in the short and long term. Describe also how the project moves forward or innovates the current research frontier.

Project description

Describe the project design under the following headings:

• Theory and method: Describe the underlying theory and the methods to be applied in order to reach the project goal.
• Time plan and implementation: Describe summarily the time plan for the project during the grant period, and how the project will be implemented. Describe also any crucial risks or obstacles that may impact on the implementation, and your plan for managing these.
• Project organisation: Clarify how you and the participating researchers will contribute to the implementation of the project. Explain in particular how the time allocated by you (that is, your activity level) as project leader is suitable for the task, including the relationship with your other research undertakings. Describe and explain the competences and roles of the participating researchers in the project, and also other key persons (including any doctoral students) who are important for the implementation of the project.

Interdisciplinary added value

Describe how the planned research environment fulfils the requirement for interdisciplinary added value. The description shall include:

• How the planned research environment makes it possible for the researcher grouping, together and in close collaboration, to undertake research tasks that are more comprehensive and challenging than would be possible if the researchers worked individually.
• How the planned research environment fulfils the requirement for interdisciplinarity, and why theories, methods, factual knowledge and/or data from the various disciplines are necessary, and how they will be combined.
• How the proposed research can be expected to lead to ground-breaking knowledge and open the door to new research fields and research approaches.
• How the environment will be built up and developed, and how it significantly improves the education, training and career opportunities for junior researchers, postdocs and doctoral students working in the environment.

The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11.

Description of merits

Describe how the merits you state in your CV and list of publications and other research outputs confirm your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Publications and other research outputs

The applicant’s publications and other research outputs

Please attach your list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list may cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

Sort the outputs under each heading in reverse chronological order, so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. Please only include articles or equivalent that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name order shall be identical to that of the published work. You cannot supplement the application with outputs after the deadline for the call.

1. Selection of research outputs.

List the 10 publications or other outputs that are the most important for confirming your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. Describe how you contributed to each output, and its relevance to the research project described (maximum 4 lines per output). Highlight your name in bold in the author list/corresponding.

2. Relevant peer-reviewed research outputs from 2016–2024.

In this part, the outputs listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they were published during the period in question. Sort them with your name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under headings (type of output) in the following order:

• Original articles
• Conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications
• Edited volumes
• Research review articles
• Books and book chapters
• Artistic work
• Other outputs that do not fit under any of the headings above. Please note that intellectual property rights shall be shown in the CV section of the application.

3. Relevant non peer-reviewed research outputs from 2016–2024.

In this part, the outputs listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they were published during the period in question. Sort them with your name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under the respective headings (type of output) in the following order:

• Artistic work
• Publications including popular science books/presentations
• Preprints
• Other outputs that do not fit under any of the headings above. Please note that intellectual property rights shall be shown in the CV section of the application.

Participating researchers’ publications and other research outputs

Attach all participating researchers’ publication lists joined together into a single file.

The list for each researcher shall include the 10 publications or other research outputs that are the most relevant for the implementation of the activities described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins. The name of the researcher in question shall be highlighted in bold and also be included in the page header of each list.

The outputs may be of the following types and must be published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name order shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Peer-reviewed:

• original articles
• conference contributions
• edited volumes
• research review articles
• books and book chapters
• artistic work
• other outputs

and

Non peer-reviewed research outputs.

Budget and research resources

Amount applied for

Please state the amount per year applied for, including indirect costs. The amount applied for will be shown under “Operating costs” in the table summarising the overall cost of the project.

Justification of the budget applied for

Justify briefly each cost applied for in your budget. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here you shall invite participating researchers and any participating administrators to your application.

CV

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma. The information/merits shall confirm your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. Participating researchers must upload their own CV information to the application.

The following information (where available) must always be included in each CV:

Education:

First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.

Work

• Current employment (including information on employment format)
• Longer relevant employment
• Post-doctoral visits (state also as employing if applicable)
• Researcher exchanges of relevance to the research described
• Any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on your opportunity to gain merit as a researcher.

Merits and awards

• Docentship/associate professorship
• Persons you have supervised (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the number of persons in each category and list the names of the maximum 10 most relevant)
• Relevant grants you have received in competition (list maximum 10)
• Your most relevant prizes and awards (list maximum 10)
• Any other merits of relevance to the application, such as invitations to lecture, leader assignments, representative assignments, membership of scientific associations and similar.

Intellectual property rights:

For example, patents and open access computer programs developed by you; state up to 10 of your most relevant.

What must the application contain? (Step 2)

Please refer to the application form in Prisma in parallel with reading the instructions below, which describe the call-specific content of the application. More information on what to do in practical terms is available in our Guide for applicants.

International experts are involved in the scientific assessment of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete your application in English, apart from the popular science description, which you must write in Swedish.

The information we request under each tab is described below.

Descriptive information

Abstract

In the abstract, please describe in brief the following:

• What is to be done: purpose and aims
• How the research will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and scientific methods
• What is important about the planned research

The abstract shall provide a summary picture of the purpose and implementation of the research. Please use wording to ensure persons with another subject specialisation can understand the information.

The description may cover a maximum of 1 500 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one third of an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Popular science description

Describe the planned research in such a way that a person who is not a researcher can understand it. Do this by answering the following questions:

• What is the research about?
• Why is it important to research this?
• In what way may the new knowledge be important?

The popular science description is important when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council.

The text must be in Swedish and may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other applications or grants

Describe briefly the different projects and their relationship if

• you are applying for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council
• you are receiving an ongoing grant from the Swedish Research Council with a grant period that wholly or partly overlaps with the grant you are now applying for
• there are applications or grants relating to the same project concept/purpose with the Swedish Research Council or other funding bodies (from you or another researcher).

In all cases, you should also justify why you are submitting one or several further applications. If there are no other applications or grants, please state so.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Specific area

Please state if your project relates to research in the area of viruses and pandemics. Describe how your project is relevant for and promotes the development of this field.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Research description

Ethical aspects

Legal and formal requirements

State whether the research covers the handling of personal data, experiments on animals and/or studies involving humans.

If the research covers any of the above, you must also describe/state the approvals and permits your research project requires, and how you plan to obtain these. Describe any other permits that affect your application, such as whether parts of the research will be done in a country other than Sweden. If no approvals or permits are needed, please state so.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

More information is available on the page Conducting ethical research.

Ethical considerations

Reflect on the ethical issues that may arise for your project, and describe these. You must also describe how you plan to address ethical dilemmas that may arise. Please justify why the research should be carried out against the background of the ethical issues you have identified. Examples of issues to reflect on:

• How do your research questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues?
• What (direct) risks (physical, mental, or integrity) will research persons or animals be exposed to?
• What long-term risks may arise from the research? Is there any risk that the research may be used in a way that is detrimental to animals, nature/the environment, or society (whole or parts of the same) in other respects?
• Is the research expected to contribute to other values over and above the knowledge gain? If so, to whom?
• How do you weigh up the risks (in particular short-term risks) against the value (which is often more long-term) of the research?

If no ethical issues are raised, please justify this. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Sex and gender perspectives

Please state whether sex and gender perspectives are applicable in your planned research, and justify your decision. Please note that we are not asking for information about the composition of the research team (men/women). Read more about sex and gender perspectives in research content.

The following applies:

• If you answer “Yes”: Please justify your answer, and describe also how your take account of sex and gender perspectives in the research plan. If you have stated that sex and gender perspectives are applicable, but still choose not to include them in your research plan, you will need to justify this here.
• If you answer “No”: Please justify your answer.

The justification may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Research plan

The research plan in Step 2 shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the research task. It shall cover a maximum of 10 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images.

The research plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

Purpose and aims

State the overall purpose and specific aims of the research project.

State-of-the-art

Summarise briefly the current research frontier within the field or area covered by the project. State key references.

Significance and scientific novelty

Describe briefly how the project relates to previous research within the area, and the impact the project may have in the short and long term. Describe also how the project moves forward or innovates the current research frontier.

Preliminary and previous results:

Describe briefly your own and the participating researchers’ previous research and pilot studies within the research area that make it probable that the project will be feasible. If no preliminary results exist, please state this. State also whether the project continues to build on research and scientific results from a grant awarded previously by the Swedish Research Council.

Project description

Describe the project design under the following headings:

• Theory and method: Describe the underlying theory and the methods to be applied in order to reach the project goal.
• Time plan and implementation: Describe summarily the time plan for the project during the grant period, and how the project will be implemented. Describe also any crucial risks or obstacles that may impact on the implementation, and your plan for managing these.
• Project organisation: Clarify how you and the participating researchers will contribute to the implementation of the project. Explain in particular how the time allocated by you (that is, your activity level) as project leader is suitable for the task, including the relationship with your other research undertakings. Describe and explain the competences and roles of the participating researchers in the project, and also other key persons (including any doctoral students) who are important for the implementation of the project.

Provide the following information also. If a heading is not relevant to your application, please state this under the heading.

Equipment:

Describe the basic equipment you and your team have at your disposal for the project.

Need for research infrastructure:

Specify the project’s need for international and national research infrastructure. If you choose to use other infrastructure than those supported by the Swedish Research Council, and that are thereby open to all, you must justify this (also applies to local research infrastructure).

Interdisciplinary added value

Describe how the planned research environment fulfils the requirement for interdisciplinary added value. The description shall include:

• To what extent the planned research environment is a new interdisciplinary grouping with researchers from genuinely differing scientific backgrounds, and from genuinely differing disciplines.
• How the planned research environment makes it possible for the researcher grouping, together and in close collaboration, to undertake research tasks that are more comprehensive and challenging than would be possible if the researchers worked individually.
• Why theories, methods, factual knowledge and/or data from the various disciplines are necessary to combine to answer the scientific question in the project, and how they will be combined.
• How the collaboration between the participating researchers creates synergy effects, both in the interdisciplinary research and in the individual research fields.
• How the proposed research, by using an interdisciplinary approach, can be expected to lead to ground-breaking knowledge and open the door to new research fields and research approaches.
• How the environment will be built up, developed and managed, and how it significantly improves the education, training and career opportunities for the junior researchers, postdocs and doctoral students working in the environment. Describe how a graduate school, if you plan to include such, will be linked to the research environment.
• How the research environment will strengthen and increase the quality of research within the research areas in question at the HEIs, and also in Sweden and internationally.

The description may cover a maximum of 8 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately two A4 pages in Arial, font size 11.

Description of merits

Describe how the merits you state in your CV and list of publications and other research outputs confirm your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Publications and other research outputs

The applicant’s publications and other research outputs

Please attach your list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list may cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

Sort the outputs under each heading in reverse chronological order, so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. Please only include articles or equivalent that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name order shall be identical to that of the published work. You cannot supplement the application with outputs after the deadline for the call.

1. Selection of research outputs

List the 10 publications or other outputs that are the most important for confirming your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. Describe how you contributed to each output, and its relevance to the research project described (maximum 4 lines per output). Highlight your name in bold in the author list/corresponding.

2. Relevant peer-reviewed research outputs from 2016–2024

In this part, the outputs listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they were published during the period in question. Sort them with your name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under headings (type of output) in the following order:

• Original articles
• Conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications
• Edited volumes
• Research review articles
• Books and book chapters
• Artistic work
• Other outputs that do not fit under any of the headings above. Please note that intellectual property rights shall be shown in the CV section of the application.

3. Relevant non peer-reviewed research outputs from 2016–2024

In this part, the outputs listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they were published during the period in question. Sort them with your name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under the respective headings (type of output) in the following order:

• Artistic work
• Publications including popular science books/presentations
• Preprints
• Other outputs that do not fit under any of the headings above Please note that intellectual property rights shall be shown in the CV section of the application.

Participating researchers’ publications and other research outputs

Attach all participating researchers’ publication lists joined together into a single file.

The list for each researcher shall include the 10 publications or other research outputs that are the most relevant for the implementation of the activities described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins. The name of the researcher in question shall be highlighted in bold and also be included in the page header of each list.

The outputs may be of the following types and must be published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name order shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Peer-reviewed

• original articles
• conference contributions
• edited volumes
• research review articles
• books and book chapters
• artistic work
• other outputs

and

Non peer-reviewed research outputs.

Budget and research resources

Project personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active in the project, that is, you, any other researchers, doctoral students and other personnel. Please also state the salary you are applying for, for yourself and/or other personnel in the project, both as a percentage of a full-time salary and as actual annual amounts (including social security contributions). Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

Other costs

Describe any other costs of the project (premises costs, running costs and depreciation costs). Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

You may include depreciation costs for equipment to be used in the project, provided that

• the equipment has an economic life of at least three years
• the equipment has an acquisition value above a certain amount
• the need cannot be satisfied through use of national or international infrastructure supported by the Swedish Research Council and thereby open to all.

You may only include the proportion of depreciation costs that corresponds to the use of the equipment in the proposed project, and you may not include depreciation costs for equipment that is wholly funded by other grants. Please contact your administrating organisation for information about what is included in local research infrastructure, acquisition values or how to calculate depreciation costs.

Total cost of the project

Prisma will automatically add up your budget items in a table. The total amount you are applying for shall also include indirect costs. You will have to add these to the table yourself. Here you can also add any additional costs that the project entails (for which you are not seeking funding under this call).

Indirect costs follow the model that your administrating organisation uses. Please contact your administrating organisation if you have any questions about what constitutes indirect and direct costs.

Justification of the budget applied for

Justify briefly each cost applied for in your budget. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other funding

Please state your or any other researcher’s funding for the project over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here you shall invite participating researchers and any participating administrators to your application. Please note that the participating researchers invited in the outline application will be transferred automatically to the full application, but that they must complete their CV information themselves in the application (see below).

CV

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma. The information/merits shall confirm your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. Participating researchers must upload their own CV information to the application.

The following information (where available) must always be included in each CV:

Education:

First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.

Work

• Current employment (including information on employment format)
• Longer relevant employment
• Post-doctoral visits (state also as employing if applicable)
• Researcher exchanges of relevance to the research described
• Any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on your opportunity to gain merit as a researcher.

Merits and awards

• Docentship/associate professorship
• Persons you have supervised (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the number of persons in each category and list the names of the maximum 10 most relevant)
• Relevant grants you have received in competition (list maximum 10)
• Your most relevant prizes and awards (list maximum 10)
• Any other merits of relevance to the application, such as invitations to lecture, leader assignments, representative assignments, membership of scientific associations and similar.

Intellectual property rights:

For example, patents and open access computer programs developed by you; state up to 10 of your most relevant.

How your application is assessed

Your application for interdisciplinary research environment grant is evaluated by a review panel where the members are international researchers. If extra competence is needed, your application might also be evaluated by an external reviewer.

Review panel

The applications will be assessed in a two-step process, where the applicant in the first step submits an outline application. Two evaluation criteria are used to assess your outline application (for more information, see below). At least three members review and grade your outline application individually. The entire review panel then meets and discusses and prioritizes the applications. Applicants whose outline application is assessed to be of the highest quality will be invited to submit a full application to be reviewed in the second step. All outline applications will receive two grades and a decision on whether or not the applicant is invited to submit a full application.

In the second step the full application is evaluated according to several evaluation criteria (see below). Statements from external experts may be used as part of the process. After the applications are assessed individually, the entire review panel meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and finally to make a proposal for a decision to the Swedish Research Council. The full applications receive an individual final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Here you will find a more comprehensive description of the Swedish Research Council's assessment of applications.

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The evaluation of the scientific quality of your outline application is made based on the criteria below. Each criterion is assessed on a seven-grade scale. For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the panel members’ evaluation of your application. These can also function as guidance for you when you write your application.

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the project address new interesting scientific questions?
• To what extent does the proposed research environment show potential for research breakthroughs and ground-breaking research?
• To what extent does the research, through its approach and collaboration, have the potential to open the way to new research fields and research approaches?

Interdisciplinary added value (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the applicant show that the proposed research environment is a new interdisciplinary grouping with researchers from genuinely different scientific backgrounds, and from genuinely differing disciplines?
• To what extent does the research task defined in the application require collaboration between the applicants in order to succeed?
• In what way does the collaboration between the applicants create synergy effects, and how do the applicants’ differing competences contribute to added value for research, both in the separate research fields and in the interdisciplinary field?

For the full application, the evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is made based on four basic criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Novelty and originality, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). The purpose of using several components is to achieve a multi-faceted evaluation. The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is assessed on a three-grade scale. In addition to the basic criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion (Interdisciplinary added value) on a seven-grade scale.

For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the panel members’ evaluation of your application. These can also function as guidance for you when you write your application.

Scientific quality of the proposed research (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Do the scientific questions aim to develop ground-breaking interdisciplinary research and is the project design of sufficient quality to achieve or significantly approach this goal?
• To what extent are the design of the project and its questions of the highest scientific quality?
• To what extent is the project description sufficiently clear and systematic, for example in its definition of the research problem, its theoretical basis, and the summary of previous results within the research area?
• To what extent is the proposed research design suitable for achieving the aims of the project?
• To what extent are the methods for any data collection and analysis well described and suitable?
• When applicable, how are issues relating to sex and gender perspectives justified and handled?
• Are the ethical considerations for the proposed project properly described and addressed? Does the applicant adequately consider risk/value/suffering for humans, animals, nature and/or society?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the project address new interesting scientific questions?
• To what extent does the project include new ways of combining theories, methods, factual knowledge and/or data from different disciplines for approaching important scientific questions?
• To what extent does the proposed research environment show potential for research breakthroughs and ground-breaking research?
• To what extent does the research, through its approach and collaboration, have the potential to open the way to new research fields and research approaches?

Merits of the applicants (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent do the project participants have sufficient research experience and expertise within the area the application relates to?
• To what extent has the previous research conducted by the project participants contributed new knowledge within the research area?
• To what extent have the project participants displayed an ability for independent and creative scientific work?
• How good are the project participants’ scientific production, impact and other merits in a national and international perspective, in relation to the research area and the project participants’ career ages?
• To what extent do the project participants have the relevant and supplementary competence required to carry out the research task?
• To what extent does the applicant (in the event the application includes doctoral students) have any experience of supervising doctoral students?
• To what extent does the applicant have any experience of leading major research projects or research environments?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent is the design of the project realistic, including the time plan?
• Is there access to competence, materials, equipment, research infrastructure and other resources required for the implementation of the project?
• Are the division of work and collaboration between the participants in the project clearly described?
• How good is the balance between the feasibility and risks of the project and its potential gains? (High risk/high gain)
• Does the applicant adequately consider relevant legal and formal requirements for the proposed research, such as ethical permits and guidelines?

Interdisciplinary added value (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the applicant show that the proposed research environment is a new interdisciplinary grouping with researchers from genuinely differing scientific backgrounds, and from genuinely differing disciplines?
• Does the applicant describe convincingly how the combination of theories, methods, factual knowledge and/or data from the different disciplines can be expected to lead to ground-breaking knowledge?
• Does the applicant describe convincingly how the project participants plan to jointly build up, develop and manage the interdisciplinary research environment?
• To what extent does the research task defined in the application require collaboration between the applicants in order to succeed?
• To what extent will the proposed project strengthen and increase the quality of research within the research areas in question at the HEI(s), and also in Sweden and internationally?
• In what way does the collaboration between the applicants create synergy effects, and how do the applicants’ differing competences contribute to added value for research, both in the separate research fields and in the interdisciplinary field?

Overall grade (1–7)

The above subsidiary criteria are weighed together into an overall grade, which reflects the review panel’s joint evaluation of the application’s scientific quality. As a guidance for the review panel’s assessment, the novelty and originality as well as the interdisciplinary added value are the two most important criteria.