The Director General heads the day-to-day work
Katarina Bjelke is the Director General of the Swedish Research Council. The Director General is appointed by the Government and decides on issues delegated to her 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 her 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 also holds responsibility for the Ethics Review Appeals Board´s office.
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 six Secretaries General
- the heads of the Department of Research Policy, the Department of Research Funding, the Department of Administration, the Department of Research Infrastructures, the Department of Communications and Public Relations and Sunet.
- 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 unit, the Finance Unit, the Legal, Archive and Registry Unit, the Management Support and Coordination Unit and the IT Unit. The Office for ALF is also here.
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, supporting and operating research infrastructure of national interest. Our work covers:
Infrastructure support
- We handle proposals in the needs inventory and applications for grants.
- We plan, prepare and coordinate calls for grants to research infrastructure of national interest.
- We follow up the Swedish Research Council’s funding and represent the Swedish Research Council and Sweden in international research infrastructures.
Data as a strategic resource
- We improve access to and facilitate the use of different types of data for research.
- We coordinate and promote the national work of implementing open access to research data. Through the website registerforskning.se, which contains information about how to use register data in research, we improve access to register data.
- We develop the metadata tool Register Utiliser Tool (RUT), which facilitates searches in registers and analysis of what the variables in the registers mean.
Read more on registerforskning.se External link. and rut.registerforskning.se (in Swedish) External link.
Support and development of the preconditions for clinical studies
- We support and develop the preconditions for conducting clinical studies in Sweden.
- We support Clinical Studies Sweden, where Sweden’s six collaboration/healthcare regions collaborate.
- We work to improve the accessibility to and facilitate the use of health data.
- We work with statistics, analysis and follow-up within the area.
How we are organised
The department consists of three units: the Infrastructure Support Unit, the Strategic Data Resources Unit and the Office for Clinical Studies (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 External link..