Call for nominations: Olof Palme Visiting Professorship in Sweden

The Swedish Research Council’s grant for visiting professors aims to give higher education institutions the opportunity to develop a subject area by recruiting an internationally prominent professor during a limited period.

The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for the organisation to be duly qualified to apply for the grant. We carry out checks to ensure unqualified applications are rejected from further processing.

Focus and nominated candidate

The holder of the Olof Palme professorship shall be an internationally prominent researcher focusing on areas of importance for the striving towards peace in a broad context. This may include research into international policy, peace and conflict research and the comparison of social institutions. It may also relate to research into the fundamental causes of conflicts, and into societal development that in various respects promotes peace and human security.

The researcher proposed for the visiting professorship shall be the holder of a professorship or corresponding at the time of application, and must not already be active in Sweden. The researcher must also be aware of the nomination and what acceptance of the professorship entails. If the nominated candidate declines to accept the professorship, the HEI cannot propose a replacement.

The visiting professor is expected to participate in the department’s seminar activities and also to visit other departments across the country within their research area.

The visiting professor awarded the professorship shall be employed by the administrating organisation throughout the visit.

Applicant

The applicant for the grant must be a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) that has been approved as an administrating organisation for grants from the Swedish Research Council. The application with a nominated candidate for the visiting professorship shall include a named researcher (project leader), who represents the department wishing to act as host for the visiting professorship. The project leader shall be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any additional availability period, unless the Swedish Research Council approves an exception.

When the application is registered and signed in Prisma (see below), the HEI and the nominated department undertake to be responsible for the local hosting and all practical arrangements associated with the visiting professor’s visit to Sweden, if the visiting professorship is awarded.

Number of applications and previous grants

There is no limit to the number of applications a single HEI may submit. However, any individual candidate may only be nominated in one application.

Participating researchers

No participating researchers can be included in this application.

Costs and grant amounts

A grant of maximum 850 000 SEK including indirect costs may be applied for a visiting professor who will visit Sweden for up to 6 months. For a visit lasting between 7 and 12 months, a grant amounting to maximum 1 700 000 SEK including indirect costs may be applied for.

The grant is intended to cover salary costs including social security contributions and insurance, rent of housing and travel to and from Sweden. The amount of the grant is affected by factors such as accompanying family members and local housing costs. The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation, as the employer responsible, will cover any costs in excess of the standard amount received.

Grant period

The visit to Sweden shall last no less than six months, and no longer than one year. The visit may be divided up into more than one period.

The professorship shall start during 2021. The entire grant amount will be paid during 2021, irrespective of when during the year the start occurs.

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

The evaluation of the applications consider the proposed visiting professors scientific merits and position internationally together with the relevance for the call regarding how well the visiting professor can contribute to the development of both the host institutions´s activities and Swedish research in general in the relevant field.

Your application is evaluated by a review panel where the members are Swedish researchers.

Review panel

At least three members review and grade your application 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 Scientific Council for Humanistic Sciences.

The applicant receive an individual final statement that reflects the review panel´s discussion of the scientific quality and relevance of the application.

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The evaluation of the visiting professor scientific quality and position internationally 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.

Scientific merit and position internationally of the visiting professor (1-7)

Guiding questions

• How strong are the nominee´s scientific merits?
• How strong is the nominee´s position internationally?

Relevance for the call: The motivation for the stay, especially how well the visiting professor can contribute to the development of the host institution´s activities and Swedish research in general in the relevant field (1-7)

Guiding questions

• To what extent is the project relevant to the focus area and how does the project promote the development of peace efforts in a broad sense?
• How well motivated is the nominee´s stay?
• Is there a plan for the nominee´s participation at the host institution and other institutions in the country? How can the nominees contribute to the development of the host institution´s activities?
• How can the nominees contribute to the development of Swedish research in general in the relevant field?