Network grant within educational sciences

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.

Applicant

The applicant for a network grant 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. The administrating organisation must sign your application in Prisma no later than 7 calendar days after the deadline for this call.

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 issue date of the degree registered in Ladok applies.

You shall be the project leader and scientifically responsible 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 further 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 applicants (project leaders).

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?

On the page Several grants simultaneously you can find information about the grants you may apply for during the same year.

Please note that as long as the applications relate to different collaborations, you can submit more than one application under this call for network grants, but if you are awarded several, then you must choose one of them. You may also be included as a participating researcher in other applications, as long as the applications relate to different collaborations. You may not apply for any other network grant for the same collaboration.

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 is found on the page Several grants simultaneously.

Please note that you may not apply under this call if you are the project leader for an ongoing network grant in educational sciences. If you have an ongoing exploratory workshop grant, then you may apply for a network grant, but for a different project concept.

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 minimum 1 and maximum 4 participating researchers in your application. Participating researchers are other researchers with doctoral degrees or corresponding qualifications (not doctoral students) who represent participating research teams at their respective HEIs. At least one of these shall be active at a foreign 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 collaboration plan (please see instructions under “Collaboration plan” below).

Costs and grant amounts

The grant relates to costs associated with international network building and collaboration, such as

• research and/or working stays between the collaborating partners
• joint seminars, courses or workshops aimed at further developing the joint research basis and the research agenda
• preparation/planning of joint research applications
• joint publications and other joint information dissemination
• joint conferences

The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by your administrating organisation. The grant may not be used for scholarships or salary costs.

The maximum amount you may apply for is 400 000 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 1 year and a maximum of 3 years, starting in January 2025.

The first payment will be made in January 2025 at the earliest.

What must the application contain?

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.

We prefer that you complete your application in English, but you may also use Swedish. The popular science description shall always be written in Swedish, however.

The information we request under each tab is described below.

Descriptive information

Abstract

The abstract shall include a brief description of 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 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 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.

Thematic classification

Educational sciences are divided up thematically into main areas. Here you shall state the theme that best describes the focus of the project. Please note that the thematic division is only used for follow-up purposes. A summary of all the areas and themes is available in the following document:

Thematic division of the educational sciences field. Excel, 13.6 kB. (Excel, 13.6 kB)

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.

Further 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 that you have identified?
• 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 (women/men). 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 you 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.

Collaboration plan

The plan may 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 collaboration 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 collaboration.

Research concept

Describe the research theme and the joint research questions within the collaboration. If you have stated that sex and gender perspectives are applicable, please describe how these will be included in the research idea.

Network description and mode of cooperation

Describe the following:

• Actual collaboration projects and joint research applications, and how these contribute to strengthening ongoing research at the participating HEIs.
• The contributions of the participating parties in relation to the research theme, and how they complement each other.
• The collaboration structure, that is to say the leadership and role allocation among the participating parties.

Forms for collaboration

Specify planned activities, for example:

• Research and/or work stays, joint seminars, courses or workshops aimed at further developing the joint research basis and research agenda.
• How senior and junior researchers will be involved in the collaboration.
• Preparation/planning of joint research applications.
• Joint publications and other joint information dissemination.
• Joint conferences.

Planned results

Specify clearly the planned result of the collaboration, for example the following:

• The added value of the network collaboration for the research and the research environments.
• The planned dissemination of results and new knowledge, co-production of publications and other contributions.
• How the collaboration will continue in operation after the end of the grant period.

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 scientifically responsible for implementing the proposed research 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 scientifically responsible for implementing the proposed research 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 research outputs

• 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

The budget shall cover the costs of all the activities planned within the network. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK. Describe the overall costs for the network by specifying the items below:

• costs of travel, accommodation and subsistence
• costs of organising seminars, courses and workshops
• costs of joint publications
• costs of joint conferences
• other 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.

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 scientifically responsible for implementing the proposed research 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 employments
• Post-doctoral visits (also state as employment 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 lecture invitations, leadership positions, positions of trust, membership of scientific organisations 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

Scientific quality is the fundamental criterion when the Swedish Research Council allocates grants to research. Your application is evaluated in competition with the other applications on the basis of the following evaluation criteria.

Evaluation process

Your application for network grant within educational sciences is evaluated by a review panel where the members are from the Nordic countries.

At least three members review and grade your application individually. If extra competence is needed, your application might also be evaluated by an additional, external, reviewer. The entire review panel (not including any external reviewers) then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and to make a proposal for a decision to the Committee for Educational Sciences.

Review panel

Following the grant decision your application will receive an individual final statement containing the grades and a summary of 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 application is made based on four basic criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Novelty and originality, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). In addition to the basic criteria, your application is also evaluated based on the additional criterion Relevance for the call. 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 and Relevance for the call, which is assessed on a three-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:

• To what degree are the purpose and long-term goal of the network clarified and well justified?
• Are the joint research bases of the participating HEIs/research environments described clearly (theme, theory, method etc.)?
• To what degree do the collaboration projects contribute to research of high scientific quality?
• To what degree do the collaboration projects contribute to internationalisation and mobility?
• Are the planned results from the network collaboration sufficient and adequate?
• 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?
• How are issues relating to sex and gender perspectives justified and handled in the research plan?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what degree can the concrete collaboration projects contribute to innovative research?
• To what degree does the network contribute scientific added value to research?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what degree does the applicant have good merits within the subject area and in terms of leading major international collaboration projects?
• To what degree do the participating researchers have good merits for the research theme?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• To what degree does the network have a clear organisation for collaboration and leadership?
• In what way do the roles of the participating parties contribute to the implementation?
• What plans have been made for participation by junior and senior researchers?
• Are the planned activities clearly specified and fit for the purpose?
• Are the costs reasonable and well justified in view of the purpose and design of the project?
• Does the applicant adequately consider relevant legal and formal requirements for the proposed research, such as ethical permits and guidelines?

Relevance to the call (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• To what degree does the application concern a network within educational sciences?
• To what degree is the application relevant to the call in other respects?

Overall grade (1–7)

The above subsidiary criteria are weighed together into an overall grade (1-7). Normally, the scientific quality of the application should be given the most weight in the overall assessment. The criteria novelty and originality and merits may only in exceptional cases outweigh weaknesses in scientific quality, and then only minor weaknesses.

It is a prerequisite for being awarded a grant within educational science that the proposal is feasible, and that the applicant has a solid and relevant competence for the purpose.