The Director General heads the day-to-day work
Sven Stafström is the Director General of the Swedish Research Council and head of the public authority. He leads the day-to-day activities.
The Director General is appointed by the Government and decides on issues delegated to him by the Board. These issues may, for example, involve internal organisation, prioritisation of resources within the public authority or decisions relating to the funding of certain grants. The Director General is also in charge of our Secretaries General.
The Executive Director assists the Director General in his work
Maria Thuveson, Executive Director of the Swedish Research Council, is the deputy Director General and assists the Director General with heading the public authority.
The Executive Director is in charge of the Swedish Research Council's heads of department. She is also the head of the Department of Administration and holds HR responsibility for the Ethics Review Appeals Board´s office staff.
The executive management team provides expertise and advice
There is an advisory executive management team that assists the Director General. The executive management team includes
- the Director General (chair) and the Executive Director
- our five Secretaries General
- the heads of the Department of Research Policy, the Department of Research Funding, the Department of Administration, the Department of Research Infrastructures and the Department of Communications and Public Relations
- the head of the Management Support and Coordination Unit at the Department of Administration
Our departments
The Department of Administration is a joint resource for the entire Swedish Research Council. It provides facilities such as HR, IT, finance, archives and registry, procurement support, legal expertise, administrative services, and security.
- We are responsible for the Swedish Research Council's joint administration, strategic work and gender equality work.
- We work with the Swedish Research Council’s processes and procedures in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the work.
- We provide support to the executive management, the decision-making bodies and the rest of the Swedish Research Council in the handling of cases.
- We are responsible for the Swedish Research Council's annual report.
- We are responsible for the Swedish Research Council's contacts with the Government.
How we are organised
The Department of Administration consists of five units: the HR and Finance Unit, the Legal, Archive and Registry Unit, the Management Support and Coordination Unit, the Administration Support Unit and the IT Unit. There is also a senior advisor and the Office for ALF.
The Department of Research Policy conducts analyses, evaluations and inquiries, which are then used as a basis for decisions by the Swedish Research Council and the Government, among others. Many inquiries and evaluations are ordered by the Government, others by the Swedish Research Council or by our own department.
- We analyse the prerequisites and conditions for research, and the Swedish research system.
- We evaluate targeted research efforts and the impact of research support and similar areas.
- We compile statistics on scientific production and citations.
- We develop methods for evaluation, analysis and bibliometrics (quantitative studies of the scientific publications produced by researchers).
- We are responsible for policy issues concerning gender equality and open access to scientific publications.
How we are organised
The Department of Research Policy consists of two units: the Analysis and Evaluation Unit and the Policy Advice Unit. We are also responsible for the Swedish Research Council's international office and the secretariat for the international research collaboration on antimicrobial resistance, the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance, JPIAMR.
The Department of Research Funding plans, prepares and coordinates the Swedish Research Council's calls for grants, and handles the applications that are received.
- We administrate the Swedish Research Council's calls in the application system Prisma, coordinate the technical support, and are responsible for the management of the system.
- We are responsible for producing call texts.
- We are responsible for administering the applications submitted for research grants.
- We recruit and train the researchers who will review the applications and give them support throughout the entire assessment process.
- We follow up the Swedish Research Council's various forms of research support.
- We produce a basis for strategic work and participate in the planning and coordination of the Swedish Research Council's annual report.
- We are responsible for statistics on grant decisions and the management of grant decisions.
- We work with international assignments, national research programmes and other government mandates.
- We provide administrative support to the Swedish Research Council's expert groups on laboratory animal science and ethics, and deal with issues within these areas.
How we are organised
The Department of Research Funding consists of three units, the Grant Application Unit, the Review Process Unit, and the Monitoring Unit.
The Department of Communications and Public Relations plans, coordinates and develops the Swedish Research Council's communication.
- We work both strategically and operationally with communication support, media relations, and internal communication.
- We are responsible for the editorial work in a number of the Swedish Research Council's digital channels, including social media.
- We work with branding, visual communication and the Swedish Research Council's graphic profile.
- We coordinate research communication, through funding activities and collaborative projects, conducting events, giving advice and participating in national and international networks, for example.
- We manage several national digital services, such as the news website forskning.se, the Expertsvar (“Expert Answer”) service for journalists and the national database SweCRIS.
How we are organised
The Department of Communications and Public Relations consists of two units: the Digital Communication Unit and the Strategic Communications Unit. We also have the editorial staff of the Curie online newspaper, which focuses on the conditions of research.
The Department of Research Infrastructures has overall responsibility for funding research infrastructures of national interest and runs the Swedish Research Council's two national research infrastructures.
What are research infrastructures?
- We handle proposals in the needs inventory and grant applications.
- We plan, prepare and coordinate the calls for grants.
- We monitor our funding and represent the Swedish Research Council and Sweden in international research infrastructures.
We are responsible for national research infrastructures that are run by the Swedish Research Council:
Strategic Data Resources
We improve access to register data for research purposes by running the website Registerforskning.se , which contains information on how to use register data in your research. We develop the metadata tool Register Utiliser Tool (RUT) which makes it easier to search in registers and analyse what the variables in the registers mean.
Clinical Studies Sweden
We are responsible for Clinical Studies Sweden, which is a national collaboration in which Sweden's health care regions designate regional functions that work together to support and develop the prerequisites for clinical studies in Sweden. We support and develop collaboration by coordinating networks and supporting the development initiatives of the nodes, for example.
How we are organised
The Department of Research Infrastructures consists of three units: the Infrastructure Support Unit, the Register-based Research Unit, and the Clinical Studies Unit (Gothenburg).
The Department of Sunet and Associated Services creates infrastructure for national and international data communication at higher education institutions and cultural and other associated organisations.
- We operate, maintain and develop a high-speed network, SunetC, which links up Sweden’s universities and university colleges, as well as other organisations within research, culture and higher education.
- We are responsible for the identity federation Swedish Academic Identity Federation, SWAMID.
- We develop and deliver a number of IT services for research and education.
- We collaborate with the actors involved within the framework for a robust IT infrastructure and identity services.
How we are organised
The Department of Sunet and Associated Services consists of three units: the Network Services Unit, the Infrastructure Services Unit and the Operational Unit.
Read more on sunet.se.