The role of Swedish forests in the climate transition

WHAT CAN YOU APPLY FOR?

Research project that provide in-depth knowledge about the use of Swedish forests from the perspective of climate change and sustainability.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Principal applicants and co-applicants must have completed their PhD degree and be affiliated with a Swedish higher education institution, research institute or government agency that has a research assignment.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU APPLY FOR?

A maximum of SEK 16 million for a project duration of up to four years.

Given decision: 2021-10-26 14:00

Fund­ed pro­jects

Preliminary decisions. Please note that only decisions published in Prisma is a guarantee of granted funding.

Nearly 70% of Sweden’s land area is covered by forest in some form. Current decision-making on forests play a crucial role in our ability to achieve both national and global goals related to climate change and sustainability. In addition, forests are important for conserving biodiversity. How to best manage and utilise forests is the subject of much discussion, and many interest groups and stakeholders are staking claims for forest resources and opportunities. At the same time, the forests themselves are being impacted by climate change and other environmental changes caused by humans.

Policy-making on Swedish forests involves many different stakeholders and entails numerous conflicts of goals and interests that often require making difficult trade-offs and priorities. The purpose of this call for proposals is to provide the following:

  • Research that increases knowledge of the many different values the forest encompasses and that addresses conflicts of interest and goals within forestry.
  • Decision-making input for the forestry sector that helps to achieve the necessary climate change transition and contribute to societal value in a broader perspective.

Fundable research should deepen our understanding of forest use from a climate change and sustainability perspective and should inform policy-making in this area.

The call is aimed at researchers who hold a PhD degree and are affiliated with a higher education institution or research institute, or hold a research assignment at a government agency. Applications should be interdisciplinary, support multiple perspectives and give visibility to complex conflicts in values and goals. You can apply for a maximum of SEK 16 million for one project. The call has a total budget of SEK 140 million. The call is being implemented within the National Research Programme on Climate.

Information meeting

An online information meeting about the call is planned for March 3, 2021. The meeting will be held in Swedish but you can ask questions and get answers in English.

The use of forests is central for the necessary transition towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change. In Sweden, where nearly 70% of the land area is covered by some form of forest, forests play an important role in pursuing national and international climate commitments. The forest is also the habitat type that houses the most species in the country. How forests should be managed and used is thus a key question in climate change management as well as for biodiversity, and more knowledge is needed about the links between climate action and biodiversity measures. Many different claims are being made on forest resources and their potential uses, from their capability to bind and store carbon to producing construction timber, materials and fuels as well as preserving biodiversity and key ecosystem services. Yet forests will be affected by changes both in the climate and in biodiversity. It is difficult to predict the effects of such changes on a variety of ecosystem services, including forest growth and the ability to store carbon dioxide over time.

The demand for resources like forest raw materials and biofuels is constantly growing, both in Sweden and around the world, partly as a result of a greater need for these resources to replace fossil fuels and other products and materials that cause greenhouse gas emissions. The expected environmental benefits from such substitution vary depending on the area of use, and they involve major uncertainties. Forest use for timber and fuel production or carbon storage can also compete with other types of land use, along with the preservation of valuable ecosystems and biodiversity.

In addition to advancing the Swedish environmental quality objectives as well as sustainable growth and employment in Sweden, policy-making in the forestry sector must also address global goals like the Paris Agreement, the UN’s sustainable development goals and, at the EU level, the Green Deal. Forestry policy-making naturally needs to take a long-term perspective. Decisions taken today will impact the development of forests and the forestry sector for many decades to come. At the same time, there are climate targets with considerably shorter time horizons than this, such as the target for net-zero emissions by 2045. Although decisions on forest management are often taken at the tree stock or property level, a landscape perspective as well as regional and national perspectives are important for determining how the forest as a whole should be managed and utilised. In addition, Swedish forestry is greatly influenced by shared approaches and EU policy instruments, which do not always fully consider national circumstances, and by global trade systems and export opportunities. We need knowledge about how these considerations affect policy-making at national and regional levels in Sweden.

The Swedish Forestry Inquiry report from November 2020 places a special emphasis on questions of forest ownership in relation to a growing bioeconomy as well as the preservation of biodiversity, rural development, right of access, outdoor recreation and other businesses and livelihoods, such as reindeer husbandry and tourism. The inquiry committee notes a stark polarisation among these different interests, and it believes that goal conflicts require visibility if they are to provide input for informed policy decisions. Difficult priorities might need to be established that balance different goals around forest production, climate action, climate adaptation and other sustainability considerations.

This call is part of the National Research Programme External link. on Climate. It aims to increase knowledge of the many values of Swedish forests and to help integrate this knowledge in policy-making. The call wishes to draw attention to the conflicts of interest within forestry which are hard to reconcile and can hinder the attainment of environmental, sustainability and climate change goals. The research funded will help to build knowledge about the role of Swedish forests in relation to climate change. International comparisons can be made and global perspectives studied as long as they are relevant for policy-making in Sweden.

It is important that decision-makers – including individual forest owners, government agencies, the public sector, the business sector and civil society – have access to scientific research and scenarios linked to different pathways that clarify potential synergies and goal conflicts. Research is needed that can bring together and address multiple perspectives simultaneously. Formas welcomes researchers from disciplines within science, technology, the social sciences and the humanities. This call seeks interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects that can cover multiple fields of expertise and shed light on different perspectives, thereby providing a wider overview of the research topic. It is up to the applicants to describe and justify how the composition of the project team demonstrates this multiple-perspective approach.

Communication and inclusion of users

Since current forestry policies will have a lasting impact, it is critical for knowledge generated by the projects to quickly produce real-world impact. The projects are therefore expected to present a well-developed plan for dialogue with relevant stakeholders and users of the research. The perspective of end users must be included in order to create an understanding of the complexity of the topic. As an initial step during the project’s first year, each project is expected to generate a review of previous research and knowledge gaps in their field of research, which will be made available to policy-makers and other potential users. The project description must include a plan for this and a description of how the review will be compiled and communicated, and it must clearly identify the main target groups. You can include resources in the project budget for the dissemination of the research review, such as the costs of printing, communication activities or support from a communicator. This should be described in the budget specification. Representatives from funded projects might be invited to take part in communication activities that are arranged by Formas.

Examples of expected research results

Below are examples of potential research outcomes of funded projects under the call. These examples are not comprehensive, and we welcome proposals in your application for the specific research outcomes the project aims to achieve.

  • Evidence-based decision-making support for prioritising different uses of the forest and forest raw materials, based on environmental benefits and other sustainable development goals.
  • A knowledge base for policy instruments and measures to increase the carbon sink in forests and in forest-derived products.
  • Increased knowledge of how different types of use and management of forests - including different forestry methods - can contribute to reduced climate impact through sequestration and storage of carbon in the forest and production of forest products that via substitution can replace fossil-dependent materials and products.
  • A better understanding of the potential for emission reductions and carbon storage, in the short and long term, by substituting other materials and fuels with forest raw materials.
  • Guidance on how to manage conflicts among different values and goals for economic, social and environmental sustainability in relation to forests.
  • Improved risk and uncertainty analyses of various possible development pathways and decisions.
  • Increased knowledge about climate action based on the protection or restoration of natural forest ecosystems for carbon storage (so-called nature-based solutions).
  • Improved visibility into the interplay between biodiversity and climate change for long-term sustainable forestry.
  • Evidence-based decision input for policy instruments and measures to preserve and improve biodiversity in forests.
  • Guidance on how to address the expected effects of climate change on forests in policy-making. This can include adaptation to the risks of damage posed by climate change, and measures to ensure that forests continue to contribute to carbon storage and substitution.

Scope

The research funded must aim to deepen our understanding of forest use from a climate change and sustainability perspective and must contribute to informed policy-making in this area. Applications must state how the proposed project contributes to achieving Swedish and global climate and environmental goals, as well as the related UN sustainable development goals. The research can address emission reductions, climate adaptation, or the interaction between climate change and biodiversity.

Projects that aim to develop specific forestry practices or forest products or fuels, or projects that do not clearly relate to climate issues, cannot apply for funding in this call.

The call is aimed at researchers who are affiliated with a Swedish higher education institution, research institute, or government agency that has a research assignment. The principal applicant and participating researchers must have obtained a PhD degree. Formas strives for a wide range of disciplines and approaches to achieve a diversity of research perspectives and different types of knowledge. We welcome applicants from a range of disciplines, and seek projects that include interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaboration. The projects are expected to include and involve policy-makers and public sector stakeholders, the business sector and civil society in a way that is relevant and appropriate for the topic.

Formas strives for an equitable, gender-balanced and inclusive development of society. Applicants should therefore design their project so that its results can benefit diverse people and groups. The project team should take into account gender balance and different backgrounds.

Before you apply

Everything you need to know when applying. For example what the application shall contain, how the application is registered in the application system Prisma, information about administrating organizations, evaluation criteria and the assessment process.

Download the call text as pdf , 321.5 kB..

The principal applicant and other participating researchers must hold a PhD degree and have completed their degree by 1 February 2021. Others working in the project, such as PhD students or communicators, do not need to have a PhD degree.

The principal applicant must be (or, through the project, must become) associated with an administrating organisation that has been generally approved by Formas. Generally approved administrating organisations are usually Swedish universities, colleges, research institutes or government agencies with research assignments. Read more about administrating organisations.

The project can include participating researchers or other project participants who are employed by an organisation outside of Sweden. Any choice to include experts outside of Sweden should be justified in the project application. The administrating organisation is responsible for transferring funds to foreign organisations in accordance with the administrating organisation’s rules and guidelines.

In this call, Formas does not grant funding to organisations engaged in economic activity. However, all types of organisations are welcome to contribute co-funding to the project. Co-funding can consist of time, money or other resources and should be reported in the budget specification.

You can seek funding in this call even if you have an ongoing project that is being funded by Formas. However, total funding may not exceed 100% of your salary.

An individual is not allowed to be the principal applicant for more than one application in this call. However, there are no restrictions on how many applications an individual can be a co-applicant for. However, the total grant awarded must not exceed 100% of the salary for an individual.

When you apply for project funding, you can apply for a grant to cover both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include costs for salaries, equipment and travel. Indirect costs are costs that are shared with others in your organisation, such as for administration, IT and renting of premises. Indirect costs are sometimes called overhead.

The project grant amount you seek must be a minimum of SEK 12 million and a maximum of SEK 16 million. The project must run for a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 4 years. Applications with a requested amount or project duration that does not fall within the above range will be rejected by Formas at an early stage and will not proceed to review.

The project must start by 1 November 2021. Funds can be sought for the period 2021–2025. The application’s budget must indicate how the funds will be used in the project. For administrative reasons, Formas can apply a payout plan that differs from the application’s allocation of the budget over time. The funds must be used within 12 months of the end of the project.

We recommend that you write your application in English, since the review panel that will assess your application is international. You can write your application in Swedish, but it will then be translated into English prior to assessment. You will not be able to read the translation or change it before it is assessed.

Your budget specification will not be translated. So, please write the budget specification in English, even if you write the other sections in Swedish and submit your application in the Swedish version of our application system Prisma.

According to Swedish law, your application and its appendices are considered as general public documents once they have been submitted to us. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Before we disclose any applications we always conduct a confidentiality assessment, but we can only hide information as legislated for in the Public Access and Secrecy Act (2009:400).

The popular science description and project abstracts in Swedish and English will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality review. Therefore, the contents of these fields should not contain sensitive information.

We at Formas are very keen to fund projects that maximise positive and minimise negative impacts on the environment and climate. We therefore encourage grant applicants to design their projects so that collaboration takes place primarily through online meetings and that any necessary travel takes place in a climate-smart way. We also suggest that you include measures that minimise energy use and other resource consumption, emissions and waste in project planning. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application at this time. Please read about Formas’ own sustainability work External link..

How to apply

You apply for a grant in our application system, Prisma. In Prisma, you must create a personal account where you will add the information you need for your application.

Your application must include a clear description of the project under the following sections:

Basic information

  • Number of years applied for: The number of years must not be less than 3 or exceed 4.
  • Project title (in Swedish and English): Max. 200 characters per project title, including spaces.
  • Popular science description (in Swedish): Max. 4,500 characters, including spaces. If the project is awarded a grant, the popular science description will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality review. The contents of this field should therefore not contain sensitive information.
  • Abstract (in Swedish and English): Max. 1,500 characters per abstract, including spaces. Project abstracts for awarded projects will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality review. Therefore, the contents of these fields should not contain sensitive information.

Project description

Read the background and the call’s purpose and focus carefully before you write the project description. Also take note of the assessment criteria under “How does the assessment process work?”.

Address all the criteria in your application. You must describe the following components in your application:

  • Goals and purpose, background description containing a review (overview) of the research field, and the project’s relevance to the purpose and focus of the call. Maximum 7,000 characters including spaces.
  • A project description that explains how the research question and the composition of the project team are aligned with the purpose and focus of the call; and the project’s role in developing the research field, current research and other ongoing research in similar fields. You should also state and explain the methodology, implementation, plan for scientific publication, and plan for disseminating the results including the initial research review. The method must be systematic and science-based. Explain the project plan including the resources and expertise required to carry out the work. Include a schedule. Maximum 15,000 characters including spaces.
  • An explanation of the project’s societal relevance. This involves how the project addresses important societal or sectoral issues within the call’s focus, how it can promote sustainable development, and how it takes into account the needs of different stakeholders and/or users. Maximum 8,000 characters including spaces.
  • A description of how communication and dialogue are planned with relevant stakeholders and/or users during the project. Maximum 8,000 characters including spaces.
  • References, maximum 5,000 characters including spaces.

Budget

You report the project budget in Prisma. In Prisma, write out the total amount you are applying for in kronor using digits. For example, 1 million kronor should be written as: 1 000 000 kronor.

The budget should include:

  • Salaries including social fees
    You can apply for funding to cover salaries for researchers, PhD students and technical staff. Social security contributions should be included. The total amount of the salary for a single researcher, PhD student or other staff must not exceed 100 percent of full-time employment. This also means that someone who is already receiving full salary funding from any funder cannot receive additional funding for salary. Researchers who are full-time pensioners cannot receive funding for their own salary.
  • Dedicated time for this project
    Activity level in the project refers to the percentage of a full-time position that the participants contribute. It indicates whether the applicant is contributing in-kind or other funding to complete the project.
  • Running costs
    Operating costs can include the cost of consumables, travel, conferences and publication fees for open-access journals and databases.
  • Equipment costs and depriciation costs
    Specify equipment costs and depreciation costs for equipment used in the project, if relevant. The total maximum amount you can be granted for equipment and equipment depreciation costs is 500,000 kronor.
  • Premises
    You can apply for funding for the cost of premises if this is not already included as overhead in the project’s budget.
  • Indirect costs
    When you specify the overhead costs in the application, do so according to the practice of the college, university or public administration that will manage the funds. If funds are to be transferred from the administrating organisation to another organisation involved in the project, the overhead cost of the receiving organisation can be applied to the funds transferred. Explain and report the different overhead costs in the budget specification. The total overhead for the project should be entered in the budget table. Formas does not grant funding for overhead costs that you write off for equipment or premises. For funds to be transferred from the administrating organisation to another organisation involved in the project, the overhead cost of the receiving organisation can be applied to the funds transferred. Explain and report the different overhead costs in the budget specification. The total overhead cost for the project should be calculated and entered in the budget table.
  • Budget specification
    In your own words, explain how the budget will be used (maximum 7,000 characters including spaces). State how the grant amount you are applying for will be distributed each year, as well as the total amount per organisation if several organisations are applying. Also describe how the funds will be used for communication with relevant users. Please note that a budget specification provided in Swedish will not be translated but will be a part of the international review panel’s assessment.

Ethics

You should specify whether or not there are specific ethical concerns in your project. If so, state what these ethical concerns are and how you plan to manage them. Examples include research that uses personal data or research involving experiments on humans or animals. If you do not have ethical concerns, you still need to state why.

If you are conducting research on people, human tissue or are processing sensitive personal data, you must obtain ethical approval from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. If you are conducting an animal experiment, you also need to obtain ethical approval. You can apply for approval through the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s online service.

You should state in your application whether or not you have obtained ethical approval. If you have not obtained such approval and you are awarded a grant, you must obtain it before the described studies begin.

Classifications

Formas uses project classifications in analyses and supporting documentation on an overall level. The classifications are made when the applicant states the subject area, SCB codes and at least one sustainable development goal the project can contribute to.

  • Subject area (at least one and a maximum of three)

Select the project’s subject area and add a sub-heading.

  • SCB code (at least one and a maximum of three)

Select at least one research topic and two sublevels that together form the entire code.

  • Global sustainable development goals (at least one and a maximum of three)

Select up to three sustainable development goals (SDGs) the project can help to achieve, in order of relevance.

  • Keywords (at least one and a maximum of three)

Enter at least one and a maximum of three keywords describing the project.

Administrating organisation – the organisation receiving the grant

An administrating organisation is the organisation that receives the grant money from Formas when a grant is awarded. Applicants under this call must be administrating organisations that are approved by Formas. See Who can become an administrating organisation?

  • Prisma contains a default list of approved administrating organisations.
  • Select your administrating organisation in Prisma and add your project’s department or institution.
  • A registered application is automatically sent to the administrating organisation after the call closes. The administrating organisation then has seven business days to digitally sign the application.

Project participants

  • The principal applicant invites participating researchers to the application in Prisma.
  • A participating researcher is a PhD researcher who is considered to be a co-applicant for the project.
  • You can also have participating administrators who are not involved in the project but help you fill in the application form.
  • Each participant must have created a user account in Prisma.
  • Principal applicants invite people to participate in the application process by searching for their given name, surname and email address in Prisma (note that exact spelling of names and email addresses is required).
  • Note that invited participating researchers must transfer their CVs and publications to the application so that the principal applicant can register the application when it is completed. See the next section, “CVs”.

CVs

You must include the project manager’s CV in the application. CVs from up to 10 participating researchers who have received their PhD can also be added to the application, but CVs from other people working in the project should not be included. However, the skills of additional participating researchers can be described in an appropriate section in other parts of the project application.

The project manager and up to 10 participating PhD researchers retrieve the data for their CVs through their personal accounts in Prisma. Add the following information to the application:

  • Education: Postgraduate, undergraduate and graduate level.
  • Professional experience: Current employment and major relevant prior positions, postdoctoral stays, postgraduate exchanges that are relevant for the research, and any significant gaps in the research (such as parental leave, illness, military service or political duties).
  • Qualifications and merits:
  • Lectureships
  • Number of advisor engagements: Doctoral students, postdocs, graduate theses; specify the total number for each category and name the most relevant ones (10 maximum)
  • Grants received in competition: Specify the most relevant ones (10 maximum)
  • Awards and distinctions: Specify the most relevant ones (10 maximum)
  • Other merits:
    • Here, the main applicant and participating researchers shall give a brief summary of their publications over the latest five-year period (maximum 800 characters including spaces) and, if the applicant’s active research period is longer than five years, an additional summary of those previous years (maximum 800 characters including spaces).

      This summary should include the following:
    • The number of publications of various types, such as articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, books and other monographs, conference papers and popular science contributions.
    • Any citation metrics should be given, excluding self-citations and the database they are retrieved from.
    • The summary should not contain information about the H-index, the journal impact factor, or any other type of metric used to rank publishers or journals.
    • Other qualifications relevant to the application, such as documented experience of collaboration and research communication (maximum 10).
  • Intellectual property: For example, patents and open source software that you have developed (10 maximum).

List of publications

The principal applicant and participating researchers should list their most relevant publications. Up to ten publications can be specified per person. The publications should be linked from the applicants’ personal profiles in Prisma.

Appendices

If you need figures, tables or images to describe the project, you can upload them as attachments here. A maximum of one PDF attachment of 4 MB can be uploaded.

After submitting your application

We first verify whether your application falls within Formas’ areas of responsibility and the scope of the call. If it does, it continues on to a review panel for assessment. If it does not, it is rejected.

Any applications containing errors in basic requirements will be rejected. Any of the following errors in basic requirements will result in a rejection of your application:

  • The administrating organisation has not signed the application.
  • The total grant amount sought is less than SEK 12 million or higher than SEK 16 million.
  • The specified project duration is less than 3 years or more than 4 years.
  • The PhD date of the principal applicant or participating researchers is later than 1 February 2021.
  • The application is incomplete. Required information is missing on the application form or in the appendices.
  • The project does not fall within one of Formas’ areas of responsibility (environment, agricultural sciences and spatial planning).
  • Applicants who have previously received funding from Formas but have not submitted their scientific or financial reports on time must submit their reports before the call closes.

Applications will be assessed by an international review panel that is qualified to cover the current theme in the call. Applications are assessed based on their contents. It is therefore important to write the application as clearly as possible and include all important and relevant information. Each application is read and assessed by several members of the panel. The review panel is composed of active researchers as well as individuals outside academia with the expertise necessary to evaluate the relevance of the research. The review panel is appointed by Formas.

Discrimination, such as on the basis of sex, is prohibited in the assessment of applications. The scientific quality and relevance of the proposed research take precedence over aspects of gender equality in the awarding of funding. But in cases where applications have the same assessment scores, the underrepresented sex is given preference.

Read more about Formas’ assessment process.

The applications are assessed based on the following criteria.

Research question

The review panel will assess your application with regard to the following:

  • Scientific relevance of the purpose
  • Originality and novelty of purpose, theory and hypotheses
  • Possibility of scientifically significant results
  • Alignment of the purpose with the purpose and focus of the call.

The assessors also look favourably upon:

  • Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches as they relate to the current research question.

Method and performance

The review panel assesses the following:

  • Feasibility and suitability of the scientific method
  • The novelty of the method
  • Whether the execution plan and timetable are well-defined and realistic
  • Whether the publication and communication plan is well-defined and realistic
  • The coordination of the project and research team
  • Suitability of the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches
  • Whether the proposed research requires ethical considerations and how the applicant plans to take these into account
  • The reasonableness of the budget in relation to the project’s organisation and expected results.

Of these points above, the feasibility and suitability of the scientific method carry the most weight.

Scientific competence

Here, the review panel weighs the following:

  • Scientific quality of publications
  • Ability to complete the project according to plan
  • Supervisory experience
  • Project management experience
  • National and international activities, including projects, networks, assignments, honorary assignments, and participation in or arranging workshops or conferences
  • Interest, experience and ability to communicate the research and research results with stakeholders and users
  • Strength and competitiveness of the research team.

The review panel assesses the quality of scientific publications with respect to standards within each discipline. The assessment focuses on the content and quality of the publications rather than on where they were published.

Publications are only part of what is factored into the criteria of scientific excellence. In their assessment, the reviewers also consider other forms of results achieved and experience. This includes, for example, the dissemination of knowledge, training, patents, products, or impact on policy.

The assessment takes into account relevant reasons for any gaps in research, such as parental leave or sick leave, that might have had an impact on the applicant’s overall productivity. So, the results and experience described by the applicant are assessed in relation to periods of active research.

Societal value of research question

The review panel will assess how well you motivate how your proposed research addresses the following four considerations:

  • The research question relates to important societal or sectoral issues within the call’s focus.
  • The project can contribute in the short or the long term to sustainable development.
  • In the project’s design, applicants consider the needs of different stakeholders and/or users.
  • The purpose of the research is aligned with the purpose and focus of the call.

Taking into account the needs of stakeholders or users can include references to directives, environmental objectives, the UN’s sustainable development goals and related targets, and discussions with the relevant stakeholders or users.

The terms “stakeholders” and “users” are broadly defined as actors who can benefit from the research results or enable their future use in society. This includes actors outside or inside the research community (depending on whether the project is of a more basic or more applied nature), nationally or internationally.

Communication with stakeholders or users

The review panel assesses whether the application contains the following:

  • A description of relevant stakeholders and/or users
  • A concrete and realistic plan for (a) the project’s involvement of relevant stakeholders or users and (b) the project’s plan for communicating the research and its results with the stakeholders or users.

Communication with stakeholders and users can take place in different ways and with different timeframes, depending on the research question. However, it should include various forms of dialogue with stakeholders and potential users of the research.

The terms “stakeholders” and “users” are broadly defined as actors who can benefit from the research results or enable their future use in society. This includes actors outside or inside the research community (depending on whether the project is of a more basic or more applied nature), nationally or internationally.

The Formas Research Council expects to decide which projects will be awarded funding on 27 October 2021. Decisions will be announced the following day at the latest on Formas’ website and later sent via email from Prisma. Grant award decisions cannot be appealed.

All awarded projects must submit a report to Formas containing financial and project results within three months of the end of the availability period. For projects longer than 18 months, an annual financial statement must also be submitted to Formas each year. Also, a project status report must be submitted after 18 months. Reports are submitted in Prisma.

Formas may impose requirements on how projects must be reported in terms of content and results to enable distribution and application. In such cases, the award decision will contain more information about this. Formas may also require you to participate in conferences and similar events in order to create synergies and platforms for learning and knowledge sharing.

Results of research funded by Formas must be published using open access.

Open access to research results and data External link.

If you receive funding from us, you must have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. This plan does not need to be submitted to Formas, but should be presented on request. We recommend that you follow the proposal developed by Science Europe on what a data management plan should contain. For more information about the proposal, see the Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management External link..

By signing our grant terms and conditions, you certify that a data management plan will be in place before research begins and that it will be maintained.

Formas shares information about awarded grants to SweCRIS, a national database of grant-funded research that was instituted by request of the government.

Apply

A digital application is submitted in the Prisma application system. Guidelines and information about what your application should contain can be found in the call text.

Read more about how to apply in Prisma.

Download the call text as pdf , 321.5 kB..

Contacts

For questions about the content of the call

For administrative questions and questions about Prisma

Updated:26 October 2021
Page manager: Henrik Pompeius