Grant for recruiting international visiting researchers to Sweden
Organisation applicants only
The purpose of the grant is to give higher education institutions and other research organisations the opportunity to develop and strengthen a research field by recruiting, in the near future, a prominent researcher with current employment and research activities outside Europe. The grant is to cover expenses for the recruitment and for salary for employment in Sweden during a limited period.
- Subject area: Humanities and Social Sciences, Clinical Therapy Research, Artistic Research, Medicine and Health, Natural and Engineering Sciences, Educational Sciences
- Support form: Research environment and collaboration support
- Grant form: Visiting researcher grant
- Focus: International recruitment
- Applicant: Organisation applicants only. One representative of the host organisation shall be invited to be the project leader for the application.
- Participating researchers: No other researchers may be invited to join the application.
- Grant period: 12 months
- Grant amount: 2 million SEK
- Budgetary framework: Total of approximately 30 million SEK
- Start of grant period: No earlier than 1 May 2026 and no later than 1 March 2027
- Application period: Rolling, starting on 11 February 2026 14.00/2 pm – 10 November 2026 (14.00/2 pm)
- Publication of grant award: Rolling, following handling and decision
Please note:
- Please read our information on public access to information and secrecy in grant applications before you start with your application.
- In this call, the organisation is the applicant, please read more in Prisma’s User manual.External link. To access the call in Prisma, a link is required that is obtained by emailing the Swedish Research Council’s contact person.
- The call is open for rolling submission of applications. This means that when an application from the applicant is registered, it will automatically become fully registered and sent to the Swedish Research Council for handling and rolling review. However, expect a processing time of up to 2 months from the time the application is registered to the publication of the decision.
- The grant does not cover recruitments that are already funded within other visiting researcher or mobility programs, for example within Horizon Europe.
- The researcher must not already be established in Sweden, for example, be the holder of a research grant from the Swedish Research Council.
- Our definition of Europe is based on the country guide provided by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (in Swedish)
Specific instructions for the call
In addition to reading the call text, you also need to consult our Guide for applicants.
Application procedure
To access the call in Prisma, a link is required that the applicant can obtain after contact by email to the Swedish Research Council’s contact person (Maria.Jakobsson@vr.se).
For a person to access the call and start the application process, they must be authorised to create organisation applications on the organisation’s Prisma account, please refer to Prisma’s User manual for applying in calls for organisations.External link. If they will not be the project leader and responsible for completing the application, they must invite the project leader to the application once the process has been started (see under the heading “Applicant” below, and under the tab “Participants” in the application form).
Requirements for applicants
The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for the organisation to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks, and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.
Focus and recruited visiting researcher
The visiting researcher that the grant relates to shall be a prominent researcher who at the point of application
- has been established with research activities outside Europe since at least 2 years
- has a career age of at least 5 years after PhD/equivalent foreign degree
- is not already established in Sweden.
The application shall confirm that the researcher is aware of the application, and also what a successful application entails. If the proposed researcher declines to accept, the HEI cannot propose a replacement for the same application.
The researcher is expected to take part in the department’s research and contribute to strengthening the existing research environment, with the ambition to establish their research activities at the organisation in the long term.
The visiting researcher awarded the grant shall be employed by the HEI/organisation throughout the visit.
Applicant
The applicant for the grant must be a Swedish HEI or another Swedish organisation that we have approved as an administrating organisation for grants from the Swedish Research Council.
The application to recruit a visiting researcher shall include a named representative (project leader) of the department wishing to act as host for the visiting researcher. The project leader shall be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further additional availability period.
When the application is registered and signed in Prisma (see below), the organisation and the recruiting department undertake to be responsible for the local hosting and all practical arrangements associated with the researcher’s relocation to Sweden.
Number of applications and previous grants
General information about overlaps between applications and grants
The 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 awarded, or be a reason for us to reject the application.
The researcher in question may also be nominated in an application for the Swedish Research Council’s visiting professorship grant, but the organisation must choose between the grants if both are awarded.
There is no limit to the number of applications an organisation may submit, but a single researcher may only be proposed in one application and by one HEI. Submitting a new application for the recruitment of a visiting researcher in a rejected application in the 2025 call is allowed.
Participating researchers
No participating researchers may be included in this application.
Costs and grant amounts
The grant is a standard amount of 2 000 000 SEK per year covering a 12 month full-time visit in Sweden. The grant may be used for the researcher’s salary during their stay in Sweden and may also fund costs relating to the researcher’s relocation, such as moving expenses, rent of housing, travel between Sweden and the home country, and some research expenses caused by the relocation. Costs for accompanying family members may also be included.
The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by the administrating organisation. Grants must not be used for scholarships.
The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation will cover any costs in excess of the amount received, including any long-term salary costs.
Grant period
The grant can be applied for for a 12 month visit, starting no earlier than 1 May 2026 and no later than 1 March 2027. Please note that the start date will automatically be shown as 1 January 2027 on the form in Prisma and cannot be changed. The actual start date for the visit shall therefore be stated in the Abstract and under the heading “Research description”. The visit must be timed so that it can be concluded during the availability period of the grant, that is, 18 months.
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 contents of the application. More information on what to do in practical terms is available in our Guide for applicants.
The application may be written in English or Swedish.
The information we request under each tab in the application form is described below.
Descriptive information
Under this tab, in addition to what is asked for below, please also state the visiting researcher’s name, current HEI and country as the project title (such as “Anna Smith, XX University, USA”).
Abstract
The abstract shall include a brief description of the following:
- the visiting researcher’s name, current HEI and country
- start (dates) of the visit
- the visiting researcher’s planned research programme
The abstract shall provide a summary of the visiting researchers’ stay. Please use wording to ensure that 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.
Research description
Research programme
The research programme shall consist of brief but complete information about the recruitment. It may cover a maximum of 4 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images. References may be provided either throughout or at the end of the programme. All sources must be provided with complete information; links alone are not sufficient.
The research programme must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:
- The researcher and their research. Present the visiting researcher and their research.
- Justification. Justify the visiting researcher’s visit, and describe the ambition to establish their research activities at the organisation in a longer term.
- Contribution to research. Describe how the visiting researcher may contribute to Swedish research within the area in question.
- Plan for department participation. Specify the planning of the visiting researcher’s participation at the host department and other departments in Sweden.
Recruited visiting researcher
Please state the following:
- Name, title, date for completed doctoral degree/equivalent foreign degree, current position and workplace of the nominated researcher
- The competence the researcher is expected to bring to the host department
- Information about the start date and duration of the visit
- A plan for the researcher’s employment at the recruiting organisation during and after the grant period
- The department(s) or corresponding where the visiting professor will be active, and the name of the representative (head of department or corresponding) of the department(s).
The visiting researcher’s CV and list of publications/outputs
Please attach a brief CV with contact details (email address) and current position/title of the visiting researcher. The CV shall cover a maximum of 3 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.
Please also attach a list of relevant publications and other research outputs for the years 2018–2026. The list shall cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, and shall be divided up under these two headings:
1. Peer-reviewed research outputs
May cover
- Original articles
- Conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications
- Edited volumes
- Research review articles
- Books and book chapters
- Intellectual property
- Artistic work
- Other outputs
2. Non peer-reviewed research outputs
May cover
- Publications including popular science books/presentations
- Preprints
- Intellectual property
- Artistic work
- Other outputs
Please also note that no CV data or publications shall be entered elsewhere in the application.
Certificate from the visiting researcher
The certificate shall confirm that the visiting researcher understands the terms and conditions for the grant, and that they confirm the recruitment to the HEI/corresponding with the ambition of establishing their research at the same. The certificate shall be signed by the visiting researcher and cover a maximum of 1 A4 page.
Budget and research resources
The grant is a standard amount and you therefore do not need to enter any budget applied for in the application form.
Justification of the budget applied for
Describe briefly the costs that the grant is intended to cover. 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 site of the visiting researcher.
Participants
Here the person invited to be the project leader for the application may invite participating administrators. Please note that participating researchers may not be invited in this application.
How your application is assessed
The application is evaluated in competition with the other applications on the basis of the following evaluation criteria.
Evaluation process
The application is evaluated by a review panel with broad subject expertise. If there is a need for further competence, the application may also be assessed by external reviewers. The review panel will submit a proposed decision to the Swedish Research Council’s Director General. Following the grant decision, the application will be given an individual statement that includes a grading and a summary of the panel’s discussion and assessment.
Evaluation criteria and guiding questions
The evaluation of applications is based on the proposed visiting researcher’s scientific merits and international standing, as well as the relevance for the purpose of the call in terms of how well the visiting researcher can contribute to the development of both the activities of the host department and Swedish research within the area in question. Both criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale.
For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the evaluation of the application. These can also function as guidance when writing the application.
Scientific merits and the visiting researcher’s position internationally (1–7)
- How strong are the visiting researcher’s scientific merits?
- How strong is the visiting researcher’s international standing?
Relevance to the call (1-7)
- To what extent does the project promote the development of research within the area in question?
- To what extent can the visiting researcher and the proposed project contribute to the development of Swedish research within the area in question, during and after the visit?
- How well worked-out is the plan for the visiting researcher’s participation at the host department and other departments in Sweden?
- To what extent can the visiting researcher contribute to the development and renewal of the host department’s activities during and after the visit? Examples are programme activities, education/teaching, supervision, conferences etc.
