International Postdoc

Terms and conditions of the grant

Who may apply?

In order to apply for an International Postdoc, your degree must not be more than two years old. Your PhD must have been awarded no earlier than 1 January 2010, and no later than the closing date for applications. The date your PhD was awarded means the time when all requirements for the PhD were satisfied (e.g. compulsory courses, oral public defence, and approved doctoral thesis). Even if you were awarded your doctoral degree earlier, you may nevertheless apply if there are approved circumstances. The following periods after your PhD may be deducted if approved circumstances are present.

Circumstances approved for the deduction of time are:

• Illness
• Parental leave
• Military service (total defence)
• Positions of trust in trade union organisations and student organisations
• Medical residency (up to 24 months)
• Maximum of 24 months of continuing education/specialist training for categories of clinically active professionals.

Other special circumstances (employment that does not relate to research, unemployment or annual leave are not approved circumstances for deduction of time).

If you wish to request a time deduction you must clearly specify the reason, dates and extent in your CV. Your information may need to be verified.  

Grant period

Costs and grant amount

Administration

The Swedish Research Council requires that financial final accounts be submitted for all grants within the stipulated time. We will verify that all financial accounts are submitted by the applicant for any grants completed. If financial final accounts are missing, the application in question will be rejected. If you are uncertain as to whether final accounts have been submitted, contact the administrative entity in charge of this.

Employer and terms of employment

Read more in the European Charter for Researchers on the EU website

Content of application

• Summary
• Popular science description
• Research programme (Appendix A)
• CV (Appendix B)
• Publication list (Appendix C)
• Miscellaneous (Appendix Z)
• Signatures (Appendix S)  

Summary

• What will be done
• How the research will be conducted, what scientific methods will be used
• What is important about the planned research?

The text should provide a brief orientation regarding the purpose and implementation of the research. Write in a style that enables people from other research backgrounds, as well, to easily comprehend the information.  

Fill in the summary on the form in the application system.    

Popular science description

• Describe what will be done and why.
• Highlight the basic research.
• Explain in what way the new knowledge can be important.

The popular science description is an important tool for the Swedish Research Council to inform others about the research we finance. If we award funding for your application we have the right to use the description for informational purposes.

You should write the popular science description on the form in the application system. You are required to write the popular science description, as well as your address, in Swedish.

Research programme (Appendix A)

The research programme must include the following information, under separate headings:  

• Purpose and aims. Present the overall purpose and specific goals of the research project (or equivalent).
• Survey of the field. Summarise your own and others´ research and previous findings in the research field. Provide key references.
• Project description. Summarise the project´s design. Describe theory, methods, timetable, and implementation. Also describe the significance of the project to the research area, as well as describing your own experiments and preliminary studies.
• Describe the significance and usefulness you expect of the international postdoctoral grant.
• Describe the results you expect the projects to have.

Present the following under a special heading, if relevant to the application:

• Equipment. Describe the basic equipment for the project that you and your group have at your disposal.
• International and national collaboration. Describe the collaboration that you and your group have with foreign and Swedish researchers and research groups. Report on international collaboration that you participate in, or are associated with, through your research.
• Ethical considerations. Present the ethical issues that the project (or equivalent) faces, and describe how they will be addressed in your research.

CV/Scientific qualifications (Appendix B)

1. Higher education degree(s) (year, subject area)
2. Doctoral degree (year, discipline/subject area, dissertation title, and supervisor).
3. Current position, period of appointment, share of time spent in research.
4. Previous positions and periods of appointment (specify type of position). State here if you have previously held a postdoctoral position, and if so, in what subject area.
5. Special circumstances regarding time deducted from active research time.  Accurately specify reasons (parental leave, illness, positions of trust, military service, residency, specialist training), dates, and number of months.

Then, provide other information of importance to the application. Items that do not apply to you should be left blank.  

Deductible time — see under the heading Terms and Conditions of the Grant. 

Example:

Publication list (Appendix C)

• Peer-reviewed articles
• Peer-reviewed conference contributions (the results of which are not in other publications)
• Review articles, book chapters, books
• Monographs
• Patents (include date of registration)
• Open access computer programs or databases that you have developed
• Popular science articles/presentations

Note! Include only articles (or equivalent) that have been published or accepted for publication.  

Appendix Z— Miscellaneous

Host institution in Sweden

• Indicate the date when you intend to begin and end your employment at the Swedish higher education institute.
• Indicate the contact person at the host institution (first name and surname, telephone number, and e-mail address). Also indicate the host institution´s faculty and postal address (in the following order: host university/institute, department, address).
• Attach a formal invitation from the Swedish host institution that shows that you are welcome to conduct you planned research there.

The invitation must also contain:

• A presentation of the host institution
• A description of the group´s current area of activity, research quality and expertise
• The research group´s reasons for hosting you. 

Host institution abroad

• Indicate the period or periods of your stay at the foreign host institution.
• Indicate the contact person at the host institution (first name and surname, telephone number, and e-mail address). Also indicate the host institution´s faculty and postal address (in the following order: host university/institute, department, address).
• Describe how the research at the host institution relates to research at the Swedish host institution.
• Describe why you selected this particular host institution (describe your opportunities to develop your expertise as a researcher).
• List the research group´s most relevant publications and patents within the research area.
• Attach a formal invitation from the foreign host institution that shows that you are welcome to conduct you planned research there.

The invitation must also contain:

• A presentation of the host institution
• A description of the group´s current area of activity, research quality and expertise
• The research group´s reasons for hosting you. 

Signatures (Appendix S)

The signatures confirm that:  

• The described research, position, and equipment will be allocated space in the institution.
• You have reported your side-line occupations and commercial ties, and nothing has emerged that would conflict with good research practice.
• The necessary permissions and approvals have been granted to the project, such as regarding ethical review.

You are required to have already discussed the above matters with the representative of the administrative entity before that representative approves and signs the application. The administrative entity is responsible for ensuring that the project satisfies any conditions and requirements contained in Swedish law.

Send Appendix S by regular mail to the Swedish Research Council.  

Remember! Appendix S, complete with signatures, must be received by the Swedish Research Council not later than three working days after the closing date for applications.  

You will find the address and closing date for applications in the section, “When and how to apply". 

Instructions for applying

• You are responsible for the completeness of the application. This means that all application forms and appendixes must be filled in properly. The Swedish Research Council does not process incomplete applications. Failure to comply with the instructions will be taken into account in the evaluation.
• We do not accept additional information after the closing date for applications (apart from such information that we expressly request).
• If funding from another funding body is awarded for the same or similar purpose described in this application, notify the Swedish Research Council as soon as possible.
• Attach only the material that we expressly request. Other material, e.g. letters of recommendation or offprints will not be evaluated.
• You may submit only one application.
• In your application, specify the higher education institution (or equivalent) where you intend to conduct your work.
• Write the application and appendixes in English. The Swedish Research Council uses international reviewers. The obligatory popular science description and your address should be written in Swedish. Write the project title in both Swedish and English.
• Write the appendixes in A4 format, using a 25mm margin and Times New Roman 12 font. When we print out the applications, we use a resolution of 200-300 dpi and possibly also in grey scale. You should therefore adapt your images to that standard. Remember that the PDF files must not be password protected.
• The application form automatically requests the required appendixes.  

General terms and conditions for applications

Read more about the general terms and conditions for applications:

Public access
Open access
Commercial interests
Collaborating to construct and phase out databases
Misconduct in research

European Charter for Researchers on the EU site

Evaluation and decisions

The application will be evaluated based on:

• The innovativeness and originality of the project
• The scientific quality of the applicant
• The scientific quality of the project and practicality of the project
• The scientific quality of the recipient environment.

Indicate on your application form the evaluation panel that should review your application. 
Evaluation panels
Addressing conflicts of interest at the Swedish Research Council  

Decisions

When and how should the application be submitted?

You are responsible for the completeness of your application.  

Send Appendix S (paper form), complete with your signatures, to the address below. Appendix S must be received by the Swedish Research Council by 28 February, three working days after the closing date for applications.  

Swedish Research Council
Box 1035 101 38
Stockholm

Contact