The purpose of animal welfare is for us humans to protect animals from harm and treat them humanely when we own, care for and handle them. Although there are several definitions of animal welfare, Swedish animal welfare legislation defines animal welfare as the physical and mental well-being of animals (Bill 2017/18:147). In other words, welfare is a complex state that is affected by a wide variety of factors that places demands on the animal welfare to be provided.

In addition, food-producing animals are affected by the national food strategy (2016/17:104), whose aim is to create a competitive food system with an increase in total food production. However, the Government stresses that while production must be promoted, it must not lead to poorer animal health or an increased use of antibiotics since these are incompatible with sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, in its research bill (2020/21:60), the Government assesses needs-driven research as a vital part of the food strategy.

To govern the protection, care and handling of the animals we own, Sweden has an Animal Welfare Act (2018:1192), an Animal Welfare Ordinance (2019:66), and animal welfare regulations targeting specific species. It is important that these regulations stay up-to-date and are grounded in research and proven experience.

This call aims to help generate results and solutions that promote animal protection and welfare for food-producing animals that are kept by humans in primary production, permanently or for a limited period. This means that when animal welfare is designed, social and environmental conditions must also be taken into account. Climate change and the spread of infectious diseases are some such factors, as are social, cultural and structural conditions. Examples of these are various power relations that can affect animal welfare, such as those between men and women and between the people responsible for the animals.

This call focuses solely on food-producing animals (terrestrial and aquatic), since primary production is a sector that has been heavily impacted by several global events in recent years. This has resulted in high prices for feed and inputs (for example, resulting from the pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as well as rising inflation). Research that provides direct benefits on the farm and makes a real difference in animal protection and welfare for food-producing animals, while maintaining or increasing competitiveness, is therefore highly encouraged in this call. For applied research, the combination of evidence-based research and research based on practice and proven experience are of great value. There is a need for collaboration and interaction among different stakeholders in academia, private-sector companies and the wider society. The projects must therefore be multi-stakeholder projects and consist of at least one party from a research-performing organisation and at least one party from the business sector, the public sector or civil society.

The projects can last up to 24 months and include a total maximum budget of SEK 2 million for a 24-month project. Project grants total a maximum of SEK 1 million SEK per year on average over the years stated in the application. Formas has earmarked SEK 20 million in funding for the call.

The call does not include the development of methods that replace animal testing (3R) but aims to increase animal protection and welfare in animals while they are kept by humans for primary production. The call also does not cover animals in sport or companion animals.

Research-performing organisations (higher education institutions or research institutes), companies (not sole proprietorships), public organisations and other organisations that meet Formas’ requirements for administrating organisations can apply for funding.

Important: Only legal entities can apply in the call. Therefore, sole proprietorship businesses cannot apply for funding or participate in this call.

This call will fund project teams composed of a project leader and participants from at least two different project parties, one from a research-performing organisation and one from the business sector, the public sector or civil society. The project team must include at least one researcher with a doctoral degree, but it does not have to be the main applicant (the project leader). Other participants do not need to have a doctoral degree.

• To ensure scientific quality, the project team must include at least one researcher who has a doctoral degree. However, this person does not have to be the main applicant (project leader).
• The main applicant must have a personal account in Prisma in order to register the project application. Project participants must have a personal account in Prisma to be able to submit CVs and any publications relevant to the application. Create a personal account in Prisma External link..
• An applicant is not allowed to submit the same application with different main applicants in this call, “Applied research for increased animal protection and welfare”. All completed applications that have the same content will be rejected.
• The main applicant can only submit one application in this call. However, you can be a project participant in several applications as long as the applicant’s total grant amount, distributed over the projects, does not exceed 100 percent.
• It is possible for applicants to simultaneously have an ongoing project grant from one of Formas’ other targeted national and international calls, the annual open call or both, as long as the an applicant’s total salary, distributed over the projects, does not exceed 100% funding.
• Private companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that want to apply for a grant from Formas are subject to state aid regulations. See the section “State aid regulations for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity”.
• The duration of the project must be either 12 or 24 months (one or two years).

The call welcomes applicants from administrating organisations for all types of calls External link. in Prisma, meaning higher education institutions and research institutes, and applicants from companies and other organisations that can become administrating organisations for an individual project External link.. The administrating organisation is the organisation that receives and administers the funds that Formas disburses for an awarded project. You can apply to become an administrating organisation in Prisma. However, it is important to do this well in advance of registering the project application and no later than 24 May 2023 so that Formas has time to process your request. See also under the section “Main applicants from organisations that can become administrating organisations for an individual project” on page 13.

• The administrating organisation is a coordinating project party that manages the application for all project parties in Prisma, via the project leader.
• The administrating organisation is the organisation that receives and administers the funds that Formas awards to a project and distributes these funds to other project parties as decided by Formas.

When you apply for project funding, you can apply for a grant to cover both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include staff expenses, equipment, travel, buildings and land, consulting and licensing expenses, and other direct costs including travel costs. 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.

Formas’ grants can be used to finance research, development and innovation that is partly conducted outside Sweden, but the research must be initiated and led from Sweden. Note that companies or other organisations engaged in economic activity outside Sweden cannot receive grants in this call. The administrating organisation (in this case, the coordinating project party) must be located in Sweden and approved by Formas. This organisation is responsible for hiring any foreign staff if necessary or reimbursing costs for activities or services outside Sweden, in accordance with the administrating organisation’s guidelines.

In Formas’ call “Applied research for increased animal protection and welfare”, a project can be awarded a maximum of SEK 2 million for a 24-month project. The duration of the project must be 12 or 24 months (one or two years).

The maximum total grant amount is SEK 1 million per year on average over the years stated in the application. You can therefore apply for more than SEK 1 million one year as long as the amount you request for another year of the project is less than SEK 1 million. If the total amount applied for exceeds an average annual amount of SEK 1 million per year, the application will be rejected.

The project start date is predefined in Prisma and cannot be changed. Periodic financial reports must be submitted during the project. Project funds can be used for up to 12 months after the end of the project. After that, a final financial report must be submitted within three months.

We recommend that you write your application in English, since the review panel that will assess your application is international. If you do write your application in Swedish, a professional translator will translate into English only the section describing the research programme. You will not be able to change the translation before the application proceeds to assessment. However, the popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the abstract should be in both Swedish and English. Your budget specification and CV will not be translated. So, please write these in English, even if you write the other sections in Swedish and submit your application in the Swedish version of our application system.

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).

Formas has limited possibilities to keep personal data confidential. Therefore, your application should not contain sensitive personal data or the personal data of anyone who is not included in the application.

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

Formas is eager to fund projects that maximise the positive and minimise the negative impacts on the environment and climate. We therefore encourage 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. Project planning should include measures that minimise energy use and other resource consumption, emissions and waste. However, this will not be part of an application’s assessment at this time.

Please read about Formas’ own sustainability work External link..

Formas is tasked with pursuing a sustainable development of society. Crucial to such a development are equal opportunities and inclusion. We therefore encourage applicants to think as much as possible about designing the project so that it can provide knowledge that reflects and is relevant to different groups in society. We also encourage you to consider gender balance in the project team and including participants with different backgrounds and experiences.

All limits for the maximum number of characters refer to characters including spaces. We recommend that you choose the Arial font in font size 12 for the information you enter in all text boxes.

Note that if you write your application in word processing software and then paste it into Prisma, the formatting might disappear.

So, tables and figures that contain advanced formatting or formulas should be uploaded as an attachment in order to prevent the loss of valuable information.

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

Basic information

• Number of years for which the application applies.
• Project title in Swedish (max. 200 characters including spaces).
• Project title in English (max. 200 characters including spaces).
• Popular science description in Swedish (max. 4,500 characters including spaces).
• Abstract in Swedish (max. 1,500 characters including spaces).
• Abstract in English (max. 1,500 characters including spaces).

The popular science description and 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 assessors’ criteria in this call text before you describe the following parts of the project.

• Project’s relevance and potential (max. 8,000 characters, including spaces). Describe the goal of the project and how it relates to the purpose and focus of the call. Describe the research that underpins the project and why it is important to conduct the project. What impact will the expected results have on the protection and welfare of food-producing animals? Also describe how the expected results will help to make livestock businesses more competitive.
• Project implementation (max. 15,000 characters including spaces). Describe how the work in the project will be carried out. Specify the project plan, including tasks, and schedule. Specify a plan for how the project’s results will achieve real-world impact. Also reflect on how gender equality and diversity have been integrated in the project.
• Project parties (max. 8,000 characters including spaces). Describe the expertise of the project participants and its importance for the project’s implementation and real-world impact of the results. Describe the participation of the parties and the interaction with relevant stakeholders and users. Also reflect on how gender equality and diversity have been taken into account in the composition of the project team.
• List the in-line references pertaining to the above sections in a separate field (max. 5,000 characters including spaces).

Budget and other information

The main applicant is responsible for filling in the application using information from their own organisation and the other participating project parties. Depending on the organisational affiliations of the parties, different rules apply for funding the project costs of the parties.

Note that sole proprietorships cannot be awarded a grant under this call or participate as a party in projects seeking funding in Formas’ calls. Companies that do not have a Swedish corporate identity number cannot be granted funding as a party in this call, but can participate in-kind.

Note that you should also write the budget and budget specification in English; any Swedish budget will not be translated but will instead be assessed as is by the international review panel. In Prisma, write out the total amount you are applying for in kronor using digits. For example, SEK 1 million should be written as: 1 000 000 kronor.

Information to be stated for all project parties

The following mandatory information must be completed for each party in the project by the coordinating project party (administrating organisation). It is not possible to register the application without this information being filled in.

• Name of the organisation
• Corporate identity number
• Address, postal code, city, country
• Annual turnover (the total sales or turnover of the higher education institution, research institute, company or organisation during the previous fiscal year), stated using digits. Example: 3 500 000.
• Balance sheet total (the sum of either the assets page or liabilities and equity from the company’s or organisation’s balance sheet), stated using digits. Example: 5 500 000.
• Number of employees
• Contact person
• E-mail of contact person
• Name of the workplace, address, postal code, city and country where most of the work will be carried out.

Costs for the coordinating project party and project participants

• Personnel costs: Eligible staff expenses for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity may be estimated at a maximum of the actual cost. Note that the total salary amount 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 other funder cannot receive additional funding for salary. Researchers who are in full-time retirement cannot, in addition to their pension, receive additional funding for their own salary without first reducing their pension by a corresponding percentage.
• Funding is available to cover actual salary costs for time spent on the project. This applies both to companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity (which are subject to EU state aid rules) as well as other types of organisationsEquipment, land and buildings: The maximum amount you can be granted for equipment and equipment depreciation costs is SEK 500,000.
• Consultancy and licensing costs: For the costs of consultancy services and licenses to be eligible for funding, they must be purchased or licensed from external providers at market prices, and their services and scope must be stated in the project description. Costs for consultants and licenses must be stated in the budget excluding VAT.
• Other direct costs: Other direct costs can include the cost of consumables, travel, conferences and publication fees for open-access journals and databases.
• Indirect costs (overhead): Higher education institutions and research institutes may charge a markup for indirect costs according to the applicable full-cost pricing method. Other project participants may charge a markup for indirect costs of up to 30 percent of their eligible staff expenses.

Financing for the coordinating project party and project participants

There are four types of funding an applicant can specify in the application:

1. Applied funding from Formas: Indicates the amount requested from Formas under the call. The amount cannot exceed the total costs. If the amount sought is less than the total costs, the remaining amounts will be automatically calculated and reported under “Self-finance”.
2. Other funding (state): If Formas or another public funder has provided funding for related research projects. Enter the name of the funding organisation if other funding will be received.
3. Other funding (private): If another private company or organisation has provided funding for the project. Enter the name of the funding organisation if other funding will be received.
4. Self-finance: If the project party contributes its own funding, this is calculated automatically and displayed in this field. Self-financing is calculated as costs less the grant amount sought and other public or private funding received.

Budget specification

Justification of budgeted personnel costs for project participants

Here, you specify the average hourly cost for budgeted staff expenses. This refers to salaries including social security contributions and other mandatory charges associated with salaries. Salaries can be applied for researchers, doctoral students and other staff for whom there is an employment relationship, i.e. non-purchased positions (max. 500 characters including spaces).

Justification of the total project budget

Here, you specify further information by explaining the budget in your own words. Explain the overhead costs in the application according to the practice of the higher education institution or public organisation that is the project party.

Also indicate whether you will have consultancy costs, which consultant will be engaged and the scope of the consultant’s participation. Also indicate which project party or parties is responsible for the consulting costs. Formas does not grant funding for overhead costs that you write off for equipment or premises. Please clearly describe all costs related to the project activities (max, 9,000 characters including spaces).

How the main applicant fills in and verifies the budget and specifies other information

Coordinating project party

1. Fill in the information for the coordinating project party.

• State the company or organisation including related details.
• State the workplace location where the majority of the project will be conducted including the related details.

2. Fill in the costs for the coordinating project party.

• Click Edit.
• The columns displaying the years come from the calculated project time under Basic Information. To edit the project duration, go back to Basic Information in the application.
• Fill in the costs for each type of cost and year.
• Total costs are automatically calculated in the Total fields.

3. Fill in the funding amounts for the coordinating project party.

• Click Edit.
• Fill in the requested grant from Formas, per year.
• If applicable, fill in any funding received from another public funder.
• If applicable, fill in any funding received from a private funder.
• Self-financing is calculated automatically based on what is stated in the cost and financing section.
• Total funding is calculated automatically in the Total fields.
• Enter the name of the funding organisation if other funding will be received.
• The aid intensity is calculated automatically as a percentage.
• The co-funding level is calculated automatically as a percentage.
• In the justification field, state how you calculated the average hourly expense for budgeted personnel costs.

Project party

1. Click Add project party to add the parties that will participate in the project besides the coordinating project party (the administrating organisation).
2. For each project party, complete the information, budget and funding sections in the same way as described for coordinating project parties. See the section “Coordinating project party” above. Information for the project party is filled in regardless of whether or not you apply for a grant (funding) from Formas. If the project parties are not applying for funding from Formas but are participating in-kind, budgeted costs must be stated for these parties. So, enter “0” in the field “Applied for grant from Formas” under the Financing section.
3. Note that any subcontractors to the applicant are not a project party in the application.

At the bottom, the total costs of the project and the total funding for the project are automatically calculated from the totals added together from the budget tables of the coordinating project party and other project parties.

Check how you filled in the budget tables well in advance before registering your application. Applications with incorrectly completed budgets can be rejected. Check all budget tables per project party, including coordinating project party, as well as the tables for project costs and project funding, which aggregate totals from the tables for each project party based on the following information you have entered:

• All the project parties involved in the project.
• The requested grant amount from Formas for the project parties who wish to receive a grant from Formas.
• Any other funding for the project parties, if applicable.
• Self-financing under the state aid rules for companies and other organisations, if applicable.

State aid regulations for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity

Private companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that want to apply for grants from Formas must follow specific regulations on state aid. The regulations are based on the principle of EU law, which states that aid to private enterprises normally distorts competition but that certain exemptions are allowed.

The aid intensity that Formas can offer depends on the size of the organisation and the type of activities in the project. The organisation’s size is assessed using the EU definition of small and medium-sized enterprises. Activities will primarily be assessed on the basis of Article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation EU 651/2014.

The Formas website contains more information about the State aid regulations – for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity External link..

Conditions governing the aid intensity a project party (including coordinating project party) that is a company or other organisation engaged in economic activity may receive:

1. Identify the type of organisation – company, association or other organisation engaged in economic activity – that is subject to the state aid rules. The factor that determines if the beneficiary is considered to be engaged in an economic activity is whether the organisation offers products or services on a market.
2. Identify the size of your organisation. User guide to the SME definition External link.
3. Identify which paragraph in the aid regulations your project concerns. This call will apply the definition of industrial research.
4. Table paragraphs and aid intensities External link.
5. In the table, check which aid intensity (applied for funds from Formas plus other public funding) your organisation can receive to cover the costs it incurs in the project. Also check which part of the cost, and how much, should be covered by your own funds.
   

Ethical considerations

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 not, briefly state why not.

If you are conducting research on humans or human tissue or are processing sensitive personal data, you must submit an application for ethical review to the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and have it approved. If you are conducting an animal experiment, you also need to obtain approval from a relevant animal ethics board. 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 a valid ethical approval. If you have not obtained such approval and you are awarded a grant, you must obtain it before the described studies begin. Even if you do not expect your research to involve ethical concerns, you should state this in your application and briefly explain why not.

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: Select at least one and maximum of three subject areas and add a subheading.
• Research subject (SCB code): Select at least one and a maximum of three research subjects and two sublevels that together form the entire code.
• Sustainable development goals: Select a minimum of one and a maximum of three sustainable development goals (SDGs) that best fit your project. When selecting more than one SDG, specify them in priority order. Since the meaning of the goals is sometimes narrower than what its name indicates, we encourage you to read more about the meaning of the SDGs External link.you intend to specify to ensure that your research contributes to achieving them.
• Keywords: Enter at least one and a maximum of three keywords describing the project.

Administrating organisation – the organisation receiving the grant

In Prisma, the coordinating project party is called an administrating organisation because this is the organisation that will receive and administer the funds Formas pays out to awarded projects.

• Select the administrating organisation from the dropdown list. If you cannot find the organisation that will be the main applicant, see “Organisation account for organisations that can become administrating organisations for an individual project” under “How to apply”.
• Select the project site from the dropdown list. If you cannot find the correct domicile, see “Project site – create a structure to describe your organisation” under “How to apply”.

Project participants

• The main applicant invites participating researchers/participants who can add and edit their CVs and publications via Prisma. The main applicant and participating researchers/participants fill in the fields that are applicable.
• Each participant must have created their own user account in Prisma.
• The main applicant adds the project participants, regardless of whether they are participating researchers or other participants, using the feature Invite participating researchers. The applicant invites participating administrators to be part of the application process by searching for their given name, surname and email address (the exact spelling of names and email addresses is required).
• Note that invited participating researchers must accept the invitation to become a participating researcher and transfer their CVs and publications to the application so that the main applicant can register the application when it is ready. See the next section, “CVs”.
• The main applicant can also add a participating administrator who is not part of

project but that helps to fill out the application in Prisma. This is done through the invite participating administrator feature. Search for the administrator’s given name, surname and email address (the exact spelling of name and email address is required).

IMPORTANT: The main applicant cannot register their application if there are any unanswered invitations to participating researchers or participating administrators. In that case, they must first be removed.

CVs

The CV should contain:

Education. Undergraduate, graduate and any post-graduate education.

Professional history. Current job and previous jobs that are relevant. Any relevant postdoctoral stays and research exchanges as well as significant gaps in research (such as parental leave, illness, military service or political duties).

Merits and awards:

• Docentur (lectureships)
• Supervised persons: State any PhD students, postdocs and graduate thesis students you have supervised; add either as an individual person or as a group. When adding a group, enter the total number for each category. When adding an individual person, name the most relevant ones (max. 10).
• Research grants awarded in competition: Specify the most relevant ones (max. 10).
• Awards and distinctions: Specify the most relevant ones (max. 10).
• Other merits, including summary of publications: Here, the main applicant (if a researcher) and participating researchers should provide a brief summary of their publications over the past five years as well as the total number of publications if the applicant’s active research period exceeds five years (max. 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.
• Under “Other qualifications,” you can list other qualifications that are relevant to the application, such as any popular science publications or proven experience of collaboration and research communication (max. 10).

Intellectual property: For example, patents and open source software that you have developed (max. 10).

List of publications

Participating researchers and the main applicant (if a researcher) should list up to ten of their most relevant publications. The publications should be linked from the applicants’ personal profiles in Prisma. You must present the publication summary in Prisma under “Other qualifications”.

Appendix

Appendix for illustrations. 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. Note that the following should not be attached as an appendix here: CVs, letters of intent or other documentation proving collaborations. Collaborations should only be described in the project description.

First, Formas verifies that the focus of the application falls within the call’s areas. If it does, it will proceed to assessment by the review panel. If it does not, it is rejected.

The following requirements will be verified in this call:

• The administrating organisation has signed the application and has not rejected it. This must be done within seven calendar days after the call closes.
• The total amount sought for the project does not exceed the maximum stated amount.
• Procedural requirements have been met and application is complete, meaning that it contains all the information required in the application form or appendix, such as a correctly estimated budget.
• The basic requirements as described in “Applicant and project team requirements” and “Requirements for administrating organisations and coordinating project parties” have been met.
• None of the project participants are sole proprietorships.
• All project participants are reported under the sections on budget and other information.
• Whether an applicant who received funding in any of Formas’ previous calls did not submit their final scientific or financial report on time. These applicants are invited to submit their reports before new funding can be granted.

Prior to grant decisions, Formas conducts credit checks on all project parties that are companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that may be relevant for awarding a grant.

Applications will be assessed by an international review panel that is qualified to cover the theme of this 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 end users. The panel is qualified to assess the research excellence and implementation, the real-world impact, and communication with stakeholders or users. The review panel is appointed by Formas. Read more about Formas’ assessment process External link..

The applications are assessed based on the following criteria.

Relevance

• The project can significantly contribute to the purpose and focus of the call.

• The design of the project and the expected results have taken into consideration the relevant needs and conditions of different groups in society.
• The project’s expected results can make a significant real-world impact.

Potential

• The project is of high scientific quality and is innovative.
• The problem formulation and purpose of the project are clear, logical and in line with the purpose and focus of the call.
• The expected results of the project and/or proposed solution are at the forefront of the field, i.e. in relation to the state of the art.
• The project has significant potential for scalability, dissemination or both.

Implementation

• Planned activities and methods are realistic and appropriate for achieving expected results during the project.
• The time frame and budget are realistic and appropriate in relation to the purpose and objectives of the project.
• The plan for how the results of the project are to be utilised is well described and appropriate.
• Ethical considerations are well described and the plan for how to handle these is appropriate.
• Gender perspectives are well integrated into the implementation of the project

Project organisation

• The project’s organisation and overall expertise of the project team are appropriate for implementing the project, including real-world impact of the project’s results.
• The project will be carried out in collaboration with relevant stakeholders or end users. The involvement of the project participants is clearly described and appropriate considering the project objectives.
• The project team (key stakeholders) as well as the distribution of influence is well balanced between women and men. Relevant for project teams of more than 3 people.

Formas is expected to reach a decision on 14 November 2023 concerning which projects are awarded funding. Decisions will be announced the following day at the latest on Formas’ website, and information that a decision has been taken is later sent via email from Prisma. Decisions are available in Prisma. Grant award decisions cannot be appealed.

In order for Formas to pay out grants for approved projects, the following is required:

• The project leader and administrating organisation (coordinating project party) must sign the approval of terms in Prisma.
• Administrating organisations must create an agreement covering project implementation and financing with each project party. See the form Project party approval External link., and submit copies to registrator@formas.se.
• The project parties that have been granted de minimis aid must submit a statement of de minimis aid to registrator@formas.se. See the form Statement of de minimis aid External link. (in Swedish only).

All awarded projects must report on finances and project results to Formas three months after the end of the appropriation period. For projects longer than 18 months, a financial statement must also be submitted to Formas annually. All reports are submitted in Prisma.

The financial report for projects in this call follow the same structure as the application. Costs and financing are reported according to the same structure as the application.

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.

Formas’ recommendations for data management plans External link.

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

Coordinating project party

An organisation that coordinates the project and is an administrating organisation, meaning it receives funding from Formas and transfers the funds to other organisations that are project beneficiaries, reports the project according to instructions, and notifies Formas of any changes.

Note that only Swedish organisations can be coordinating project parties.

Project party

An organisation that implements the project, regardless of whether it receives funding (i.e. it provides its own funding). A subcontractor is not a project party.

Note that companies or other organisations engaged in economic activity outside Sweden cannot receive grants in this call. However, they can participate as project parties if they contribute in kind.

Main applicant

A person appointed by the coordinating project party as the project leader.

Project participant

A member of the project team such as a participating researcher or participating non-researcher.

Administrating organisation

The organisation that receives funding from Formas and transfers the funds to other organisations that are project beneficiaries, reports the project according to instructions, and notifies Formas of any changes.

Administrating organisation for all types of calls

An organisation that can seek funding from Formas in all types of calls. These are higher education institutions, research institutes and government agencies with research assignments.

Administrating organisation for an individual project

An organisation that can apply for funding from Formas through individual calls and receive funding for an individual project. These are private companies, associations, trade associations, boards of directors, funds and municipalities.

Project site

A project site can be an institution, department or project specialisation.