Forte Junior Researcher Grants on Health, Working Life and Welfare

This call for proposals shall contribute to increasing the knowledge in Forte’s areas of responsibility: health, working life and welfare. In total, around SEK 300 million is reserved for the period 2020–2023.

The deadline for applications is 5 February 2019 at 14:00.

Focus

The annual open call is open to applications within Forte’s overall areas of responsibility: health, working life and welfare. The purpose of the call is to allow for analysis of advanced knowledge and to contribute to such knowledge in designated research areas or issues. The research that receives funding shall be of high academic quality and have good potential to benefit society in the short or long term. For more detailed descriptions of the research areas that we support, see our page Review panels in the annual open call.

Grant types

Three types of grants are available within this call. The terms and conditions, amount limits, and entry requirements for each type of grant can be found under the respective headings below.

Only one application per grant type is allowed. However, the same principal applicant cannot apply for both a project grant and a junior research grant. If you are applying for a junior research grant but do not move forward in the application process, your application will be considered a three-year project grant application without you needing to specifically state this.

It is possible to apply for a project grant and a postdoc grant, or a junior research grant and a postdoc grant. However, the applications cannot refer to the same project.

! Note that the maximum amounts below include indirect costs.

Junior research grant

Junior research grants are grants for junior researchers. They can be applied for up to six years after completing your doctoral degree. The grant is essentially the same as a three-year project grant plus a fixed amount of SEK 1million for a fourth year. The grant shall cover at least 40 percent of the junior researcher’s salary.

Grant amount: Maximum of SEK 5 million for the first three years. The fourth year has a fixed amount of SEK 1million. In total, you may apply for a maximum of SEK 6 million.

Eligibility: To apply for a junior research grant, you must have obtained a doctoral degree between 5 February 2013 and 5 February 2019. If you completed your doctoral degree before 5 February 2013, you can deduct time for parental leave, military service or similar. Instructions regarding this can be found below in this document.

The application process

All applications are to be submitted via the Prisma application and review system. Conditions for you to be able to submit your application:

• You must create a personal account in Prisma
• Each person included in the application as a participating researcher must also create a personal account in Prisma
• CVs and details of publications by applicants and participating researchers must be saved in each applicant’s/researcher’s personal account
• Your university or university college must have an organisation account in Prisma

In order for your application to be considered, the final reporting for your previously approved projects must have been submitted. This only applies to grants where the deadline for final reporting has passed. Any previously granted extensions of project duration, and consequently of reporting deadlines, will be taken into account.

For more information on how to fill in the applications form, see instructions for each respective grant form on the call’s website.

Two-step application

The application process for project and junior research grants is divided into two steps. In step 1, the applicant submits a project outline to Forte. After a consideration process, a selection of outlines will be accepted, and these applications are welcomed to submit a full application in step 2.

Postdoc grants are applied for in a one-step process. The first step of the process decides which applications move on, but no new application is needed.

Difference between project outline and full application

In the outlines, emphasis should be on the research questions, and the knowledge that already exists in the field. The study design, methods for data collection and analysis should be described clearly to allow for an assessment of the feasibility of the project. The project’s relevance as well as gender and diversity perspectives are described both in the outline and full application but should be kept brief in the outline. In the full application, you should also describe the project’s utilisation, dissemination and cooperative activities, as well as interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches.

The full application should also include a more detailed description of the study design, its methods for data collection and analysis. The project’s work plan and theoretical foundation shall also be described, along with a relevant literature review.

There may be no major deviations between outline and full application with regards to the design of the study and the amount applied for.

The review process

The applications are assessed by Forte’s review panels, which are composed of Nordic researchers and Swedish community representatives. Funding decisions are made by Forte’s board.

In the application process, you will be asked to choose appropriate panels for your application. However, we reserve the right to allocate the application to another panel. Our panels are:

Health:

• Epidemiology and population-based studies
• Health promotion and behaviour
• Health care and Health care organisation

Working life:

• Labour market
• Work organisation
• Work and work-related health

Welfare:

• Social policy and social change
• Social relations
• Social care and social work

Forte’s assessment criteria for project outlines

Scientific quality:

• Purpose, research questions, added value in relation to previous research in the area and the originality of the project
• Study design, methods for data collection and analysis
• Gender and diversity perspectives in the content of the research

Relevance:

• Relevance in relation to societal needs and Forte’s areas of responsibility

Feasibility:

• Project leader’s and research group’s research competence
• Staffing and budget, assessed based on reasonableness

Guidelines on how Forte handles applications where part of the research is to be carried out abroad

Forte is positive towards international research collaborations. Forte’s area of responsibility covers complex societal challenges in which international research collaborations can provide important contributions.

Forte’s grants can be used to finance research where certain parts are carried out in other countries. However, the research shall be initiated and led from Sweden or be a clear part of the collaborative research.

Applications involving international collaborations are assessed against the same criteria as other research applications and by our review panels.

In assessing research applications, the reviewers in Forte’s review panels shall assess if any foreign section of a project brings added value to a project or is a prerequisite for a project with, for example, a global or comparative approach.

It is the principal applicant’s responsibility to: find out how his or her administrating organisation stands on financing research where certain parts are carried out in other countries; and, find suitable collaboration procedures in each specific case.

It is the grant’s administrating organisation, i.e. principal applicant’s home institution in Sweden, that determines and is responsible for, if necessary, appointing foreign personnel or paying for activities or services carried out in other countries.

Deductible time

If you are applying for a type of grant with special career length requirements, you may apply for an exemption due to deductible time. The deductible time should have occurred after the doctoral degree was completed.

Acceptable reasons for deductible time includes parental leave, work as labour union or student union representative, military service or illness (personal illness or care for an ill relative). Note that we do not accept other employment, unemployment, or vacation as deductible time.

Confirm your deductible time by sending a certificate to forte@forte.se no later than 12 February 2019. Your e-mail should specify the reference number of your application (available in Prisma after the application deadline, meaning that your application should have a reference number on the morning of 6 February). For parental leave, a certificate from Försäkringskassan must be submitted. In special cases where this is not possible, a certificate from the employer can be submitted instead. It is important that you check the box for deductible time, indicating that you are submitting certificates separately.

Open access

Results from research funded by Forte shall be published with open access. Forte gives all approved project grants and junior research grants in the annual open call a standard grant of SEK 30,000 for open access publishing.

SweCRIS

Forte transfers information of issued grants to SweCRIS, a national database on grant-funded research set up at the request of the government.

Time plan

Step 1 of the call closes 5 February 2019, 2 PM (CET)

Decisions about who moves on to step 2 is published April 2019

Step 2 of the call closes 15 May 2019, 2 PM (CET)

Forte’s board decides on financing October 2019