Research project grant within development research

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
• Administrating organisation
• Review panels
• Participants
• CV

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

Descriptive information

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 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 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Relevant countries

Please state the countries of relevance to the project.

No participating researcher from a low income country

If you do not include a participating researcher from a low or lower middle income country in the project, you must justify why you have made this choice.

Global goals for sustainable development

State which of the 17 global goals for sustainable development (according to Agenda 2030) your project is linked to in particular. Read more at UN.org:

17 global goals for sustainable development External link, opens in new window.

Policy markers OpenAid

Applications within development research shall be classified according to a number of policy markers, and therefore you must also state to what extent your project focuses on each policy marker area. You can find a description of the policy markers via the link below.

OECD’s Development Assistance Committee DAC’s policy markers External link, opens in new window.

Please note that neither the link to the sustainability goals nor the classification impacts on the evaluation of your application, but are only aimed at facilitating better follow-up of the Swedish development aid funds that finance development research and are reported to the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee DAC.

Read more about how the Swedish Research Council reports the use of development aid funds. External link, opens in new window.

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 10 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. State whether the project contributes further to research and scientific results from a grant awarded previously by the Swedish Research Council.

• 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, and how gender aspects (only where applicable) will be addressed in the project idea.
  • 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 (including gender distribution), and also those of any other researchers or corresponding who are important for the implementation of the project.

• Security situation in collaborating country: If you are planning to carry out research activities or field work in countries or regions that the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs are advising against travelling to (including work travel), please describe how you are planning your research visit to and work in the country in view of the security situation. Ministry for Foreign Affairs travel information External link, opens in new window.

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 is 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. You may use research project grants from the Swedish Research Council to co-finance EU projects with a corresponding focus. State in the research plan whether you are planning such coordination.
• 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).

Relevance

Research project grants within Development Research shall be relevant to the fight against poverty and for sustainable development in low income countries (for further information, please see under the heading “Focus” above). The relevance description shall state how the project contributes to new knowledge aimed at creating prerequisites for better living conditions for people living in poverty and under oppression.

For further information, please see the following documents at the Swedish Government:

Policy framework for Swedish development cooperation and humanitarian assistance External link, opens in new window.

Strategy for research cooperation and research in development cooperation 2015–2021 External link, opens in new window.

The description may cover a maximum of 6 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately one and a half A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Budget and research resources

Project personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active within the project, that is to say yourself, any other researchers and other personnel. Please also state the salary you are applying for, for yourself 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 cost

Prisma will automatically add up your budget items listed in a table. The total amount you are applying for shall also include indirect costs. You will have to add these to the table yourself. Here you can also add any additional costs covered by the project (for which you are not seeking funding under this call).

Please contact your HEI for information on what constitutes indirect and direct costs.

Justification of the budget applied for

Justify briefly each cost applied for in the budget stated. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Other funding

Please state your or any other researcher’s funding over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.

Publications

Applicant’s publication list

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. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

1. Selection of publications: List the maximum 10 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.
2. Relevant publications from the last 8 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

Participating researchers’ publication lists

Attach all participating researchers’ publications lists joined up into one file. The list for each researcher shall include a maximum of 10 publications, in the form of the most relevant publications for the research described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 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.

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. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

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.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Review panels

Please propose the review panel or panels (in priority order) that you wish to carry out the scientific assessment of your application. The final allocation of applications is determined by the Swedish Research Council.

Review panels Opens in new window.

Participants

Here you as applicant may invite any participating researchers and administrators to your application.

CV

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your 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 employment form) 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 any 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.

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.

Evaluation process

Your application is evaluated by a specialised review panel where the members are Swedish and international researchers active within development research.

At least four 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 Committee for Development Research.

Review panels Opens in new window.

A certain proportion of the applications with the lowest grades from the members’ individual reviews are 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 screened out applications only receive an overall grade and a standardised final statement after the decision is made. The remaining applications 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 proposed research, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). The purpose of using several components is to achieve a multi-faceted evaluation. The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is assessed on a three-grade grade scale.

In addition to the basic criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion (Relevance for the call) on a three-grade scale. This grade is not weighed into the overall grade.

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 proposed research (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Is the project scientifically significant?
• Does the proposal have clear conceptual and theoretical foundations?
• Is the overall design and description of the project sufficiently clear and systematic, for example in its definition of research questions, hypotheses and methodology?
• Are the scientific/intellectual merits of the proposed research clear, convincing and compelling?
• Does the proposed project have the character of thoroughness, e.g. in its definition of the problem, and review of the state of the art?
• Are the proposed research methods suitable to the aims and objectives?
• Are the methods of data management such as data collection, analysis and statistics well defined and appropriate?
• If applicable: To what extent and how well are aspects concerning gender equality included into the research contents.
  

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the project extend or challenge current understanding, opinion or practice in its field?
• To what extent does the proposed project define new, compelling scientific questions within its scientific area?
• Does the proposed project have the potential to substantially increase the knowledge within its scientific area? (For example novel concepts or theories, new directions for research and advancement of the field)
• Does the project include use of novel technologies/methodologies, or innovative application of existing methodologies/technologies in a novel way or context?
• Does the researcher propose a line of research with clear progression and novelty in relation to previous research in the field or is he/she simply adding details to existing knowledge?
• If applicable: In what novel way does the proposed project have potential for scientific and/or societal impact in low-income countries?
  

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

The merits of the applicants are assessed in relation to the applicant´s stage of career and active time for research.

Guiding questions:

• Do the applicants have sufficient research experience and expertise in the research area of the proposed project?
• Of what merits are the previous publications and other scientific achievements (e.g. supervisor experience, external funding): do these show a distinct and independent line of research or in case of a researcher in his/her early career stage, the potential of such? Focus is on the most relevant and important reports, with emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
• How significant are the academic achievements, the impact and other qualifications of the applicants from a national and international perspective seen in relation to the research area and the applicant´s career age?
• Is there appropriateness of the team members, if applicable, in terms of availability and complementarities of all the relevant expertise, and in how the different roles and responsibilities are distinguished?
• Is there ability to successfully disseminate research findings?
• Does the applicant have a sufficient scientific network for implementing the proposed project?
  

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• Is the general design, including time schedule, optimal for implementing the proposed project?
• Does the project include the availability and accessibility of relevant personnel, skills, equipment, facilities/infrastructures and other necessary resources?
• Is the environment suitable for carrying out the proposed research?
• If applicable, is it described how the permits for implementation of the project will be acquired?
• Are the proposed research methods, infrastructures, experiments and fieldwork appropriate for the implementation of the project?
• How is the balance between the project´s feasibility and risks and its potential gains? (high risk/high gain)
  

Overall grade (1–7)

The above subsidiary criteria are weighed together into an overall grade, which reflects the review panel’s joint evaluation of the application’s scientific quality.

Relevance for the call (1–3)

Relevance to the program objectives is evaluated separately from the scientific quality, and is not included in the overall grade. The Research Project Grant in Development Research is financed through development aid funds provided by the government, and research receiving support must be of relevance to poverty reduction and sustainable development in low income countries.

Guiding questions:

• To what extent is the proposed project relevant to the described call objectives?
• Does the proposed research have the potential to create preconditions for better living conditions for people living in poverty and under oppression?
• To what extent does the proposed research contribute to tackling important societal and environmental challenges in low-income countries?
• Does the proposed research have the potential to promote equitable and sustainable development in low-income countries?