International postdoc grant for research within new nuclear technology

Please refer to the application form in Prisma in parallel with reading the instructions below, which describe the call-specific content of the application. More information on what to do in practical terms is available in our Guide for applicants Opens in new window..

Language

Foreign experts are involved in the scientific assessment 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 information
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• Publications
• Appendices
• Administrating organisation
• Participants (only administrators in this call)
• CV

Descriptions of the call-specific information requested under each tab follow below.

Descriptive information

Host department

State the country and the host HEI and department where you will be spending your stay abroad. It is possible to state more than one host country/host department.

Abstract

The abstract shall include a brief description of the following:

• 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
• what is important about the planned research
• the added value of your research being carried out at the selected host institution abroad
• relevance to the subject area fourth generation nuclear power.

The abstract shall provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation of the research. 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 your 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).

Deductible time

Please state any interruptions in your active research time after your doctoral degree caused by any of the grounds recognised by the Swedish Research Council. The interruption shall be calculated as a full-time equivalent and be rounded up into full calendar months. Please see the recognised grounds for deductible time under the heading “Career age” above.

Research description

Ethical considerations

Describe the ethical issues raised by your project or corresponding. You must also describe how you plan to address ethical dilemmas that may arise. Please justify why the research should be carried out against the background of the ethical issues you have identified. How do your research 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 justify this.

Research plan

The research plan shall consist of a brief but complete description of the research task. The focus of the research plan shall be forward-looking, and it shall cover a maximum of 8 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing, including references and any images.

The research plan shall include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

• Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific goals of the research project.
• State-of-the-art: Summarise briefly the current research frontier within the field/area covered by the project. State key references.
• Significance and scientific novelty: Describe briefly how the project relates to previous research within the area, and its importance in the short and long term. Describe also how the project moves forward or innovates the current research frontier.
• 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:
  • Theory and method: Describe the underlying theory and the methods to be applied in order to reach the project goal.
  • 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.
• Results: Describe the results you expect from the project.
• Relevance: Describe how your project is relevant for the focus new nuclear technology for fourth generation nuclear power (see the definition in the introduction of the call text) and how the project promotes the development of this area.
  
• Independent line of research: If you are working or will be working in a larger group, please clarify how your project relates to the other projects in the group. If you are continuing a project that was wholly or partly started during your doctoral or postdoc studies, you must also describe the relationship between your project and the research of your former supervisor.

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 is included in the application. Read more about research infrastructure supported by the Swedish Research Council. Opens in new window.
  
• 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 concept (from you or another researcher).

Budget and research resources

Please state your activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) in the project. We assume that your activity level as project leader corresponds to a full-time equivalent during the grant period.

The grant is a standard amount and therefore you do not need to enter any budget applied for in the application form.

Publications

Please attach your publication list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list shall cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

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 shall be identical to that of the published work and your name shall be marked in bold. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

1. Selection of publications: List the maximum 5 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 4 lines per publication). Highlight your name in bold in the author list. State “Part of PhD thesis” in bold in brackets for the publications included in the doctoral thesis.

2. Total number of publications: Sort the publications, with your name highlighted in bold in the author list, under each heading (publication type) in the following order: State “Part of PhD thesis” in bold in brackets for the publications included in the doctoral thesis.

• 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

Appendices

Here you shall attach to each field the appendices requested.

Invitation from the administrating organisation

Please attach an invitation covering no more than 2 A4 pages from the Swedish HEI where you will be employed, showing that you are welcome to carry out your planned research there.

The invitation shall be addressed to you as applicant, cover the period shown in this call and include the following:

• a description of the current research and subject knowledge of the research team in question
• a description of your future role in the research team
• the planned start and end dates of your employment at the Swedish HEI.

By signing the application in Prisma, the administrating organisation confirms this undertaking.

Invitation from host department abroad

The appendix shall include information on the host department abroad and a formal invitation from the host department showing that you are welcome to carry out your planned research there. The information and invitation shall cover a maximum of 2 A4 pages in total. You may include a maximum of 2 A4 pages per invitation in the event you will be staying at more than one host department abroad.

The information on the host department shall apply for the period shown in this call and shall include

• the time period/periods of your stay at the host department abroad
• the contact person at the host department abroad (first name, last name, telephone number and email address). Please also state the faculty of the host department and the postal address (in the order university/institute, department, address).

The invitation from the host department abroad shall cover the period shown in this call and include the following:

• a presentation of the host department
• a description of the current research and subject knowledge of the research team in question
• the research team’s reason for receiving you
• your role in the research team.

The invitation shall be addressed to you as the applicant from the head of department or equivalent of the host department abroad where the research will be carried out. The name and contact details of the inviter shall be included.

Description and justification of the host department chosen

Please attach a description and justification as described below, covering no more than 1 A4 page.

• Describe how the research at the host department abroad relates to the research at the Swedish department.
• Justify your choice of host department abroad and describe your opportunities to develop your skills as a researcher.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here you may invite participating administrators to your application.

CV

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma.

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

• Education: Third cycle education (year of doctoral degree, discipline/subject area, HEI, thesis title and supervisor), first and second cycle higher education and specialist degrees.
• Work: Current employment (including whether permanent or not) 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 (doctoral students and 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 any other merits relevant to the application, such as lecture invitations and similar.
• Intellectual property rights: For example, patents and open access computer programs developed by you; state up to 10 of your most relevant.

Scientific quality is the fundamental criterion when the Swedish Research Council allocates grants to research. Your application is evaluated in competition with the other applications on the basis of the following evaluation criteria. The focus aims in particular to safeguard advanced competence within the area of new nuclear technology for the fourth generation of nuclear power, in order to maintain safety competency at the highest level and make it possible for Swedish researchers to become engaged in the major international research programmes within the area.

Evaluation process

Your application is evaluated by a specialised subject review panel where the members are researchers active in Sweden and abroad.

At least three members review and grade your application individually. The entire review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and finally to make a proposal for a decision to the Scientific Council for Natural and Engineering Sciences.

Review panel Opens in new window.

A certain proportion of the applications with the lowest grades from the members’ individual reviews may be screened out in the beginning of the review panel meeting. These applications will not be the subject of discussion, which gives room for more detailed discussion and prioritisation of the applications of higher quality, which have a reasonable chance of being funded.

The applications screened out will only receive an overall grade and a standardised final statement after the decision is made. The other applications will receive an individual final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is made based on four basic criteria (Novelty and originality, Scientific quality of the project, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). The purpose of using several components is to achieve a multi-faceted evaluation. In addition to the basic criteria, the applications are also assessed using an additional criterion (Internationalisation and research environment).

The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, and internationalisation and research environment, which are assessed on a three-grade grade scale.

For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the panel members’ evaluation of your application. These can also function as guidance for you when you write your application.

Scientific quality of the project (1–7)

An assessment of the quality of the project’s research question and methodology, including its potential for future research.

Guiding questions:

• How high is the scientific quality in relation to the research frontier in the area?
• Is the project’s question and methodology well described, and well founded?
• How important is the potential result for the research area and for future research?
• Are potential problems and alternative strategies identified and presented?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

An assessment of how well new theories, concepts, methods and questions are implemented and developed.

Guiding questions:

• Does the project have the potential to significantly advance the frontiers of the research field?
• Does the project include new ways of approaching scientific questions?
• To what extent are existing theories and methods used in an innovative and creative way?
• To what extent does the project investigate new research areas or new questions?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

An assessment of the applicant’s merits and competence in relation to the proposed project.

Guiding questions:

• How strong are the applicant’s merits and competence in relation to career age, research area and previous research environment?
• To what degree does the applicant’s previous experience and scientific competence strengthen the project?
  

Feasibility (1–3)

An assessment of the feasibility of the proposed project.

Guiding questions:

• Are adequate resources available for the project’s research question, including supervision and relevant equipment.
• Is the project’s design and choice of method adequate for the project’s implementation and expected result?
• Is the time plan and planning realistic and suitable in relation to the scope of the project
• Are any ethical questions relating to the implementation of the project addressed in an adequate way?

Additional criterion: Internationalisation and research environment (1-3)

An assessment of the opportunities for the applicant to develop their research network and their competence as a researcher.

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the foreign host institution seem relevant for the research the application concerns?
• How suitable is the foreign research environment for the applicant’s ability to develop new competences, their research network and their independence as a researcher?
• If the applicant plans to spend time in Sweden, is that time well planned and favourable for the applicant’s ability to develop as a researcher?

Overall grade (1–7)

The various sub-criteria are weighed together into an overall grade reflecting the collected evaluation of the application’s sub-grades given by the review panel. The overall grade is formed without a pre-determined numerical weighing of the basic criteria. As a guidance for the review panel’s assessment, the scientific quality of the project has the greatest importance when assessing the project, thereafter novelty and originality, and lastly the merits of the applicant. Internationalisation is of greater importance than feasibility when assessing the project.

Relevance (1–3)

The relevance of the application to the focus of the call is evaluated by reviewing the abstract and relevance description. The relevance criterion is assessed on a three-grade scale. To assess relevance, there are some guiding questions to support the review panel and you can use these as guidance when you describe the relevance of your project in the application form.

Guiding questions:

• How is the proposed project relevant for the focus new nuclear technology for fourth generation nuclear power (see the definition in the introduction of the call text)?
• How does the proposed project promote the development of this area?