Frequently asked questions and answers

You may not apply for grants from the Career Grant for Early-career Researchers 2024 call if:

You are the main applicant (project manager) for an ongoing project grant in 2025, i.e., that the project has a grant period during 2025, for a project awarded funding in either the Mobility Grants for Early-career Researchers call, or Research Projects for Early-career Researchers call. Note that the grant period is not the same as the availability period.

Project applications will be rejected for the Career Grant for Early-career Researchers call from applicants that are project managers for an awarded project grant from the Mobility Grants for Early-career Researchers call or the Research Projects for Early-career Researchers call where the grant period includes 2025.

It is the date on your degree certificate. In the case that you have validated your degree in Prisma, it is the degree date registered in Ladok.

If you have a degree certificate from abroad, it is the date on which the degree was awarded by the university that applied, usually with a stamp. This is when you have fulfilled all the requirements for a completed degree, such as compulsory courses, defence of doctoral thesis, approved doctoral thesis and received a final certificate of your doctoral degree.

A licentiate degree or other research expertise equivalent to a doctoral degree does not count as a doctoral degree. Formas does not accept other certificates, such as the date of your defence of doctoral thesis, or a certificate from a supervisor that all tasks have been completed.

No, it is only possible to apply using one track. Choose the track that corresponds to your real career age. Type in periods of deductible time in whole months when filling in information for your application in Prisma to show that your career age corresponds to the track you are applying for. If you apply for a track that does not correspond to your stated career age, your application will be rejected.

You may only submit one application in this call. You need to select one of the tracks to apply for. You cannot submit an application for each track. If you submit two or more applications to the call, all of your applications will be rejected.

No. For this application, you cannot include co-applicants or apply for funding for doctoral students.

You may apply for three-year (36 months) or four-year (48 months) projects.

No, projects must last the whole year, i.e., 36 or 48 months.

You need to have at least an average degree of activity of 60% of a full-time position for the entire duration of the project.

The purpose of this call is to give promising early-career researchers like yourself appropriate opportunities for taking the next step in you career, extending your qualifications and advancing the state of knowledge in your field. This requires stability and time to allow you to focus and develop your ideas and your research.

Yes. The salary amount from Formas grants may not exceed 100% of a full-time position.

Yes. The grant amount can be up to an average of a maximum of SEK 1.5 million per year, excluding additional cost for stays abroad as part of international mobility. If the total requested amount exceeds an average of SEK 1.5 million per year, the application will be rejected.

Yes, transcription services, technical know-how, laboratory services, consulting services and similar services can be purchased to a lesser extent if they can be accommodated in the project’s budget. These can be purchased or licensed from external providers on market terms and used exclusively for the project. These costs must be reported as operating costs and be reported excluding VAT. Specify running costs according to the administrating organisation’s/home organisation’s standard procedure.

No. Formas will not allow changes to a finally registered application after the call has closed. Applications that are missing one or more mandatory appendices will be rejected and will not proceed for assessment.

Formas can only grant an exemption for changes to the application if technical errors have been detected in Prisma.

Yes. A requirement in the call is that the project includes elements of national and/or international researcher mobility.

The following requirements apply:

• For projects of three years (36 months), you must spend a minimum of four months and a maximum of 24 months at one or more additional national or international higher education institutions.
• For projects of four years (48 months), you must spend a minimum of five months and a maximum of 32 months at one or more additional national or international higher education institutions.

The requirement is that projects include national and/or international researcher mobility to another higher education institution.

The following requirements apply:

• For projects of three years (36 months), you must spend a minimum of four months and a maximum of 24 months at one or more additional national or international higher education institutions.
• For projects of four years (48 months), you must spend a minimum of five months and a maximum of 32 months at one or more additional national or international higher education institutions.

There is no limit on the length of each stay or the number of stays as long as they meet the above requirement. Adapt the stays according to what is most suitable for conducting your project, including for your career advancement.

Yes, because you can apply for the call with an application submitted from Sweden or from abroad. You do not have to be employed at a Swedish higher education institution at the time of application, but you must be employed when the grant period begins and then throughout the grant period and any additional availability period.

No. You need to stay at a different higher education institution than where you are employed.

Fulfil the mobility requirement by visiting at least one research environment that can contribute to your career advancement by broadening your perspectives and enabling new contacts to improve the quality of your research while helping you implement your project. This will be decisive in the assessment of the application.

Fulfil the mobility requirement by visiting at least one research environment that can contribute to your career advancement by broadening your perspectives and enabling new contacts to improve the quality of your research while helping you implement your project. Mobility can be fulfilled within Sweden or in another country of your choice.

Please note: when planning your application and before submitting the application to Formas, check with the administrating organisation/home organisation (such as the Human Resources Department) that you are allowed to be employed while stationed abroad, what terms and conditions apply and which country/countries you may work in.

You are to be employed by your administrating organisation/home organisation throughout the grant period. This means that you must be employed and pay taxes in Sweden during your mobility stay even if you are at a foreign university.

Yes. With your application, you must include a letter of support from your administrating organisation/home organisation and a letter of invitation from each host organisation you will visit. All documents must apply to the period to which the application relates.

Formas will include templates for what the letter of support and the invitation letter(s) should include when publishing the call.

One of the call’s requirements is that you must visit at least one other higher education institution for at least four or five months, depending on the length of the project. Beyond this, it is also possible to fulfil the mobility requirement at an organisation, institute or authority for a maximum of 6 months. This is conditioned on you conducting research during your stay.

You do not have to be employed at your home organisation/administrating organisation at the time of application, but you must be employed when the grant period begins and then throughout the grant period and during any additional availability period.

With this call, Formas wants to help improve conditions for early-career researchers, their skills, and career development. As a researcher you need to have good financial opportunities, effective support, and appropriate guidance in your continued career development. Formas’ contribution is a part of this, but dynamic and inclusive research environments are also an important factor in creating good conditions for an early-career researcher in allowing you to contribute to research of the highest scientific quality and to take the next step in your career development.

Formas expects you, as the administrating organisation/home organisation of this funding, to be involved and to support creating good conditions for the researcher throughout the time they are conducting their project. This will allow them to develop their research and take the next step in advancing their career. This should benefit your institution and provide more attractive career paths for early-career researchers.

Guidance and supervision from colleagues and other researchers are central for successful research and for opening up opportunities for researchers to advance their careers. A supportive and collegial environment enables both successful research and opens up good career opportunities, including for creating attractive career paths for early-career researchers.

Formas invites you as the administrating organisation and home organisation for the grant to think through and ensure that early-career researchers receive the support they need before and during their career grant project and at every stage of the project:

• In planning the application and through the letter of support that the administrating organisation is to write and which the applicant must include with the application.
• In conducting the project.
• Enable fruitful cooperation, collaboration or co-creation with other researchers in the same or other disciplines.
• For dissemination, utilisation and communication of the research.
• In planning the researcher’s career progress now and in the future.

Your application must include a letter of support from your administrating organisation/home organisation. All documents must apply to the period to which the application relates.

Formas will include templates for what to include in the letter of support and the invitation letter(s) when the call is published.

No. For this grant, the project manager may not be replaced. If you cannot complete your project, the project will have to be terminated ahead of schedule.

No, the calls Mobility Grants for Early-career Researchers and Research Projects for Early-career Researchers will not be opened in 2024. Formas will follow up the Career Grant for Early-career Researchers call in 2024 and will announce a decision at the end of 2024 about which calls will be opened in 2025.

The call Career grant for early-career researchers is a grant for promising individual researchers like you, and unlike previous calls, it is not possible to invite researchers as co-applicants to your application. The maximum amount for which funding can be applied for has been raised from 1 to 1.5 million SEK per year, and in this call, you need to work at least 60% on average in the project throughout the project period. You can apply if you have a career age of a maximum of seven years. Also new with this call is the requirement to incorporate national and/or international research mobility during the project.

For granted projects in the call, Formas will organise certain joint programme activities starting in autumn 2025.

No. The review panels will only be used for this call.