Grant for accessibility to infrastructure

Individual researcher: You apply electronically in Prisma External link, opens in new window., which is the application system used by the Swedish Research Council. You create your application in Prisma by filling in the text fields, uploading information from your personal account, and attaching the appendices requested.

To enable you to apply, your organisation must have been approved as an administrating organisation Opens in new window. and have created an organisation account in Prisma.

Organisation: You apply electronically in Prisma External link, opens in new window., which is the application system used by the Swedish Research Council. To apply, your organisation must have been approved as an administrating organisation Opens in new window. and have created an organisation account in Prisma.

The application in Prisma shall be initiated by the administration organisation (by the person responsible for the organisation account or for the organisation’s applications). The person initiating the application shall thereafter invite the person appointed by the administrating organisation to be responsible for completing the application as project leader for the application in Prisma.

All: For most items in Prisma, there is a User Manual External link, opens in new window. describing all the steps, and answers to FAQ External link, opens in new window.. Please refer to these when filling in your application.

Please avoid stating your own or anybody else’s full personal identity number in the application except where specifically requested.

Creating a personal account in Prisma

Individual researcher: Before you apply, you must create a personal account in Prisma External link, opens in new window. where you save your personal and CV data. The information only needs to be entered once, and can thereafter be supplemented or changed as required. As most of the Swedish Research Council’s calls employ foreign reviewers, please use English when entering any descriptive text in your CV data. You can also input your publications for future use. Please note that no publications can currently be uploaded from your account to the application form. This is because the publications function is under development and not yet used in the Swedish Research Council’s calls. You should therefore submit your publications list as an attached PDF file instead (please see instructions under “Publications” below).

Organisation: The person initiating the application at the administrating organisation and the person invited to be the project leader must create personal accounts in Prisma External link, opens in new window.. The person invited to be the project leader must also confirm his/her participation in the application. Personal and CV data are saved in the personal account. The information only needs to be entered once, and can thereafter be supplemented or changed as required. As most of the Swedish Research Council’s calls employ foreign reviewers, please use English when entering any descriptive text in your CV data.

All: Please allow plenty of time to create your personal account. The applications you register in Prisma will be linked to your personal account.

All other persons (researchers or administrators) participating in your application must also create a personal account in Prisma and confirm their participation. Thereafter they can add their data to the application via their personal accounts.

Text

Some text fields can be formatted, which means that the font, alignment and font size can be changed in these fields, and that tables and symbols can be inserted. If you insert text written using a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word), you may need to use the tools in Prisma to adjust the formatting after insertion. Images cannot be included in the text fields, however. We recommend that you use the fonts Arial, Calibri or Verdana.

All text fields have a limit on the number of characters, and this is illustrated by a character counter. If you use too many characters, the application cannot be registered.

Attached documents and appendices

You will need to attach an appendix to some fields as instructed. The appendix must consist of one file only, in PDF format. All appendices are limited as to file size and number of pages. An application containing an appendix that exceeds the stated maximum size cannot be registered.

Signing

Individual researcher: Both you as applicant and an authorised representative of the administrating organisation shall sign the application electronically in Prisma. Please see further information under “Registering the application” below.

Organisation: All signatures are added in conjunction with registering the application, by the person at the administrating organisation who has created it. Please see further information under “Registering the application” below. The Swedish Research Council assumes that the person initiating, completing, registering and signing the application has a mandate to do so from the vice-chancellor/corresponding at the HEI.

Please refer to the application form in Prisma in parallel with the instructions below.

Language

Foreign experts can be involved in the scientific evaluation of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete your application in English.

Sections of the application

The application form includes the following tabs:

• Descriptive data
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• Publications
• Letters of support
• Administrating organisation
• Participants
• CV

Descriptions of the information requested under each tab follow below. Mandatory information is marked with an asterisk (*) in Prisma.

Descriptive data

Under this tab, please fill in the Swedish and English project name, project period (number of years), and select SCB codes and key words. Please also mark which of the two sub-focuses the application relates to (you must state only one). Please also fill in the abstract and popular science description as instructed below.

Abstract

The abstract shall include a brief description of:

• what is to be done: purpose and aim
• how the research will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and the scientific methods to be used
• how the project benefits the subsidiary focus in question

The abstract shall provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation of the project. Please use wording to ensure persons with another subject specialisation can understand the information.

The description may cover a maximum of 1 500 characters including blank spaces (approximately one third of an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Popular science description

Describe the project in such a way that a person who is not familiar with the subject can understand it. Describe what is to be done and why, and explain in what way the new knowledge may be important.

The popular science description is an important tool when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council. If we grant application, we reserve the right to use the description for information purposes.

Note: The popular science description must be written in Swedish, unlike the rest of the application.

The description may cover a maximum of 4 500 characters including blank spaces (approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Research description

Under this tab, please attach the project plan and a description of ethical considerations.

Ethical considerations

The application shall describe the ethical issues raised by the project. Please describe also how any ethical dilemma raised will be handled. Please justify why the research should be carried out against the background of the ethical issues identified. How do the questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues? Please also state whether the research involves any handling of personal data, or experiments on animals or human subjects. If no ethical issues are raised, please state this.

Project plan

Please attach your project plan in PDF format. The project plan shall consist of a brief but complete description of the research task. The focus of the project plan shall be forward-looking, and it shall cover a maximum of ten page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing, including references and any images.

The project plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

• Purpose and aims: Describe briefly the purpose and specific goals of the project, and how the project promotes the subsidiary focus applied for.
• Preliminary and previous results: Describe briefly your own previous research and pilot studies within the research area that make it probable that the project will be feasible. State also if no preliminary results exist.
• Project description: Describe the project design, including the following items:
  
  • Time plan and implementation: Describe summarily the time plan for the project during the grant period, and how the project will be implemented.
  • Project organisation: Clarify the contributions of yourself and any participating researchers to the implementation of the project. Describe and explain the competences and roles of the participating researchers in the project, and also any other researchers or corresponding who are important for the implementation of the project.

Please provide the following information also. If a heading is not relevant to your application, please leave it blank.

• Equipment: Describe the basic equipment you and your team have at your disposal for the project.
• Need for infrastructure: Specify the project’s need for international and national infrastructure. Specify also the need for local infrastructure, if depreciation costs for this are included in the application. Read more about research infrastructure supported by the Swedish Research Council Opens in new window..
• International and national collaboration: Describe your own and the team’s collaboration with foreign and Swedish researchers and research teams. State whether you contribute to or refer to international collaboration in your research.
• Other applications or grants: If you are applying for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council, the relationship between the projects shall be clarified. This applies also if you are receiving ongoing grants from the Swedish Research Council with grant periods that wholly or partly overlap with the grant you are now applying for. You should also justify why you are submitting one or several further applications. Describe also the relationship with other applications to or grants from other funding bodies for the same project idea (from you or another researcher).

Budget and research resources

Under this tab, please list personnel costs, other costs and any other funding of the project.

Project staff

State the activity level/dedicated time (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active within the project, that is to say yourself as project leader, any other researchers and other personnel. Your activity rate as project leader must correspond to no less than 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent.

Please also state the salary you are applying for, for yourself project managers/ and/or other personnel active within the project, both as a percentage of a full-time salary and as actual annual amounts (including social security contributions). Please state rounded amounts in SEK.

Other costs

Describe any other costs of the project (premises costs, running costs and depreciation costs). Please state rounded annual amounts.

You may include depreciation costs for equipment to be used in the project, provided that:

• the equipment has an economic life of at least three years
• the equipment has an acquisition value exceeding a certain amount (please contact your administrating organisation for information about the amount that applies to your department)
• the equipment needs for your proposed project cannot be satisfied through use of national or international infrastructure open to all.

Read more about research infrastructure supported by the Swedish Research Council Opens in new window..

You may only include the proportion of depreciation costs that corresponds to the use of the equipment in the proposed project. You may not include depreciation costs for equipment that is wholly financed via other grants. Please contact your HEI for information about what is included in local research infrastructure, acquisition values or how to calculate depreciation costs.

Total project cost

Prisma will automatically add up your budget items listed in a table. The total amount applied for shall also include indirect costs. These shall be added to the table by the applicant, according to the calculations that apply for the HEI. The applicant shall also add here any further costs covered by the graduate school (for which funding is not sought in this application).

Explanation of the proposed budget

Justify briefly each cost applied for in the budget stated. The description may cover a maximum of 8 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately two A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Other funding

Please state any other funding over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.

Publications

Under this tab, please attach the project leader’s/coordinator’s and any participating researchers’ publications lists in PDF format to your respective fields.

Project leader’s/coordinator’s publications list

Please attach your publications list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list shall cover a maximum of five page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

1. Selection of publications: List the maximum ten publications of greatest importance to your application. For each publication, please state how you contributed to it, and its relevance to the research project described (maximum four lines per publication). Highlight your name in bold in the author list.

2. Relevant publications from the last eight years: Sort the publications, with your name highlighted in bold in the author list, under each heading (publication type) in the following order:

• Peer-reviewed original articles
• Peer-reviewed conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications.
• Peer-reviewed edited volumes
• Research review articles
• Peer-reviewed books and book chapters
• Other publications including popular science books/presentations

Note: Please sort the publications under each heading in reverse chronological order, so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. Please only include articles or corresponding that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author order in the publications list shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Participating researchers’ publications lists

Attach all participating researchers’ publications lists joined up into one file. The list for each researcher shall include a maximum of ten publications, in the form of the most relevant publications for the research described, and shall cover a maximum of one A4 page. The name of the researcher in question shall be highlighted in bold and also be included in the page header of each list.

The publications shall be of the type

Peer-reviewed original articles, conference contributions, edited volumes, research review articles, books and book chapters, and other publications including popular science books/presentations.

Note: Please only include articles or corresponding that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author order in the publications list shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Letters of support

Here you shall attach to each field the appendices requested. The appendices must be in PDF format. If the appendix is made up from several documents, they must therefore be merged into a single file.

Letter of support from the non-academic partner

The letter of support from the non-academic partner shall describe the relevance of the project for its activities, and how this party can contribute actively to making the project unique. The name and contact details of the person writing the letter of support shall be stated.

The letter of support may cover a maximum of two A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing. Please note that the appendix may consist of a single file with a maximum file size of 2 MB.

Letter of support from the infrastructure

The letter of support from the infrastructure shall include answers to the following six questions, and may cover no more than three A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing. Please note that the appendix may consist of a single file with a maximum file size of 3 MB. The name and contact details of the person writing the letter of support shall be stated.

• Is the project feasible practically at the facility?
• Is the proposal in line with the strategy of the infrastructure? State the period for the strategy.
• Is the proposal in line with the infrastructure’s (detailed) planning for the time period stated in the application?
• Is the budget in the application reasonable?
• Does the proposal in the application impact on the infrastructure’s operating budget? If so, please estimate the scale of the impact.
• How valuable do you consider the proposal to be for the activities of the infrastructure on a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is the most valuable?

In order for ESS to prepare letters of support, they kindly ask applicants to provide them with draft proposals no later than August 10th. More information here: https://europeanspallationsource.se/activities-events#vr External link.

In order for MAX IV to prepare letters of support, they kindly ask applicants to provide them with draft poposals no later than August 15th. More information here: https://www.maxiv.lu.se/collaborations/ External link.

Administrating organisation

Individual researcher: Under this tab, please state the administrating organisation and project site. The administrating organisation is the organisation that administers the grant awarded and is responsible for it according to the conditions set. The project site is the organisational unit where the project is carried out. Normally, the administrating organisation and project site correspond to the HEI and the department where the project leader is employed.

To allow you to link your application to an administrating organisation, the organisation must have an approved account in Prisma. Please contact your administrating organisation and ask it to apply for an organisation account External link, opens in new window. with the Swedish Research Council if it does not already have one.

If your project site is not listed in Prisma, please contact the person responsible for the organisation account at your administrating organisation. You will not be able to finalise the registration of your application if the project site is missing.

Organisation: Under this tab, please state the project site. The administrating organisation is the HEI coordinating the project, and is filled in automatically when the application is created. The project site shall be the department or corresponding organisational unit that has main responsibility for the project (usually where the project leader will be employed during the grant period).

Participants

Individual researcher: Under this tab, you as applicant may invite other participating researchers and administrators to your application. A participating administrator is a person who is not necessarily part of the project, but who can help you to input and edit information in the application.

Organisation: Under this tab, the person invited to be the coordinator/project leader may in turn invite participating researchers and participating administrators to the application. A participating administrator is a person who can help you to input and edit information in the application.

All: When inviting participants, please make sure the correct email address linked to the person’s Prisma account is used. Participants who do not already have an account in Prisma may also be invited, but in order to participate in the application they must register their own personal accounts in Prisma. All participants must accept their invitation, and participating researchers must upload their CV data to the application before the registration of the application can be finalised.

Once participating researchers have accepted the invitation, they can have authority allocated to them to edit the application.

CV

Under this tab, the project leader/coordinator shall upload the relevant CV information from his/her personal account in Prisma. Any participating researchers must upload their own CV information to the application.

The following information, where available, must always be included in each CV, taking into account the stated limitation in numbers:

• Education: First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.
• Work: Current employment (including form of employment) and longer relevant employment, postdoctoral visits (also included as employment if relevant), research exchanges relevant to the research described and any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on your opportunity to gain merits as a researcher.
• Merits and awards: Docentship/associate professorship, supervisees (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the overall number of each category and list the 10 most relevant to you), up to 10 of your most relevant grants awarded in competition, up to 10 of your most relevant prizes and awards, and up to 20 other merits relevant to the application.
• Intellectual property rights: For example, patents and open access computer programs developed by you; state up to 10 of your most relevant.

Registering the application

The tab “Check and register application” shows a summary of the fields in the application that may require action in order to register it (such as mandatory fields not filled in, text fields with too many characters, discrepancies from limits on the possible project period or budget applied for).

Please note that everybody invited in the application must accept the invitation before the application can be registered. If an invitation is not accepted, it must be deleted. Before registration, all participating researchers must also upload their CV information from their own personal accounts in Prisma.

Please make sure to use the preview function before registering the application.

The person registering the application is responsible for ensuring the application is complete, that is to say the application form is correctly filled in, the correct appendices are attached and the information requested has been provided according to the instructions. Please only submit material specifically requested. We do not accept any additional information after the deadline, except when specifically requested.

Individual researcher: The registration of your application is not finalised until you click on the “Register” button. The registered application can thereafter be found in your personal Prisma account in the tab “Applications and grants”, under the menu choice “Applications”. Until the deadline for the call, a registered application may be de-registered, amended and re-registered again as necessary.

Organisation: Once the application has been correctly completed, the person invited to be the project leader shall save the application by clicking on the button “Save as final draft”. Thereafter, the person responsible for the organisation application registers the application by clicking on the button “Register”. The registered application can thereafter be found in the project leader’s/coordinator’s personal Prisma account in the tab “Applications and grants”, under the menu choice “Applications”.

The person who is responsible for the organisation application at the administrating organisation can find the application under the tab “Organisation applications”. Until the deadline for the call, the person responsible for the organisation application may de-register, amend and re-register the application again as necessary. The project leader cannot carry out this task.

Signing

Individual researcher: When you register the application, it is signed by you as project leader. To ensure the application is deemed complete and included in the review process, an authorised representative of the administrating organisation also has to sign the application. The representative is normally the head of the department where the research will be carried out, but this is dependent on your administrating organisation’s structure.

The applicant’s signature confirms that:

• the information in the application is correct and complies with the Swedish Research Council’s instructions
• secondary occupations and commercial ties have been reported to the administrating organisation and that nothing has emerged that breaches good research practice
• the applicant has not been found guilty of scientific misconduct during the last two years before the deadline of the call
• the permits and approvals required have been obtained before the research is started, such as permits from the Swedish Medical Products Agency or approval from an ethical review board or an ethical committee on animal experiments
• the applicant will comply with all other conditions applicable to the grant

The signature of the administrating organisation confirms that:

• the research or research-supporting activity described can be given room at the administrating organisation during the period and to the extent stated in the application
• the applicant will be employed by the administrating organisation during the period covered by the application
• the administrating organisation approves of the budget in the application
• the applicant has not been found guilty of scientific misconduct by the administrating organisation signing during the last two years before the deadline of the call
• the administrating organisation will comply with all other conditions applicable to the grant

The above points shall have been discussed by the parties before the representative of the administrating organisation approves and signs the application.

Organisation: Applications where an organisation is the applicant are signed automatically when registering the application, by the person responsible for the organisation application at the administrating organisation.

The signature of the person responsible for the organisation application confirms that:

• the information in the application is correct and complies with the Swedish Research Council’s instructions
• the budget in the application is approved
• the research or research-supporting activity described can be given room at the administrating organisation during the period and to the extent stated in the application
• the permits and approvals required have been obtained before the research is started, such as permits from the Swedish Medical Products Agency or approval from an ethical review board or an ethical committee on animal experiments
• the applicant will comply with all other conditions applicable to the grant

Individual researcher: When you have registered your application and the call closes (at 14.00/2 p.m. on the deadline date of the call), the registration of your application is automatically finalised and your application is given a registration number.

Your registered application is automatically forwarded to the representative of the administrating organisation for signature in Prisma. The administrating organisation must sign the application in Prisma no later than one week (seven calendar days) after the call deadline date in order for the application to be considered further in the review process. You will receive an email when the application has been signed.

Thereafter you will find information about the status of the application, registration number and signature of the application in your account in Prisma, under the tab “Applications and grants”.

Organisation: When the person responsible for the organisation application at the administrating organisation has registered your application and the call closes (at 14.00/2 p.m. on the deadline date of the call), the registration of the application is automatically finalised and allocated a registration number.

Thereafter, the project leader can find information about the status of the application, registration number and signature of the application in his/her account in Prisma, under the tab ”Applications and grants”. The person who is responsible for the organisation application at the administrating organisation can find the application under the tab “Organisation applications”.

Decision

Individual researcher: Shortly after the grant decision has been made, a notice of the grant awards will be published on the Swedish Research Council’s website. You will thereafter find a notice of the decision and a final statement on your application in your personal account in Prisma, under the tab “Applications and grants”. The statement consists of a grading and, in some cases, written comments.

Organisation: Shortly after the grant decision has been made, a notice of the grant awards will be published on the Swedish Research Council’s website. The project leader/coordinator will thereafter find a notice of the decision and a final statement on the application in his/her personal account in Prisma, under the tab “Applications and grants”. The person who is responsible for the organisation application at the administrating organisation can find the notice of decision and final statement under the tab “Organisation applications”.

The scientific evaluation of the application is carried out by a review panel. The review panel evaluates the application in competition with the other applications on the basis of the criteria set.

If an application is not completed according to the instructions, this will be weighed into the evaluation.

Review panel (link to be updated within short)

The Swedish Research Council’s conflict of interest policy Opens in new window.

The Swedish Research Council’s gender equality strategy Opens in new window.

Assessment criteria

The assessment of the scientific quality of your application is made based on the following assessment criteria:

• Relevance for call (1–3, where 3 is the highest)
• Impact (1–3, where 3 is the highest)
• Feasibility (1–3, where 3 is the highest)
• Overall assessment of project value relative to assignment (1–7, where 7 is the highest)

Guiding questions

For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the assessment of the application.

Relevance for call

• To what extent and in what way is the application relevant in relation to the call text and one of the two alternatives [1] described in the call text?

Impact

• Is the importance in relation to the use described in the call text stated?
• Is the industrial advantage of the project clearly described?
• What effect will the project have in relation to new/industrial/non-academic research?

Feasibility

Is the project’s feasibility described, possibly with a supporting letter, in such a way that it is reasonable to believe that the goals described can be achieved by the stakeholders involved (the infrastructure, the industrial/non-academic partner and the project leader)?

Overall assessment of project value relative to assignment
Overall assessment of the project

• Strategic value for SE
• Strategic value for the stakeholders (in the project)

[1] The two alternatives are: 1. Facilitate and increase participation in and use of research infrastructures; 2. Develop technically advanced methods, technologies and components