Doctoral programme grant for teacher education

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

Language

The application may be written in English, but may also be written in Swedish.

Sections of the application

The application form includes the following tabs:

• Descriptive information
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• Publications
• Administrating organisation
• 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:

• the focus of the doctoral programme
• the organisation planned
• the significance to the research area.

The abstract shall provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation of the doctoral programme. 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 activities of the doctoral programme 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 doctoral programme will strengthen the research connection in teacher education.

The popular science description is an important tool when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council. If we approve the 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

Ethical considerations

Describe the ethical issues raised by the doctoral programme. Also describe the plan on how to address ethical dilemmas that may arise. 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 justify this.

Research programme

The research programme shall consist of brief but complete information of the design of the doctoral programme, and 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 programme shall include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

• Objective: Describe the theme and focus of the doctoral programme.
• Research environment: Describe the research environment/s supporting the doctoral programme. Describe the environment/s in terms of focus and management, and the focus of research in progress. Describe in particular how the environment/s may contribute to the development of the doctoral programme.
• Programme description: Summarise the doctoral programme’s model for the planned educational activities, and describe the recruitment basis.
• Organisation: Describe in detail how the doctoral programme will be organised and administrated (courses offered, seminars, course development, coordinating, study follow-up, work allocation between supervisors, examiners and course providers). Describe also the planned dimensioning of the doctoral programme in terms of number of doctoral students.
• Significance: Describe how the doctoral programme will contribute to building up the research connection to the teacher education at the participating HEIs. Describe also how the doctoral programme forms part of the general competence development at the participating HEIs.
• National coordination: Describe the Swedish HEIs that are participating in the operation of the doctoral programme, and list the person/s (name, position, organisational unit) who will be responsible for this participation at each HEI. Describe summarily the planned allocation of roles, tasks and responsibilities for the operation of the persons participating (including the coordinator), and what specific competences each participant will contribute.
• International and other national collaboration: Describe the collaboration with Swedish and foreign research environments and/or other doctoral programmes.

Report the following under separate headings if relevant to your application:

• Equipment: Describe the basic equipment relevant to the programme that the doctoral programme has at its disposal.
• Need for infrastructure: Specify the doctoral programme’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.

Budget and research resources

Personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active within the operation of the doctoral programme, that is to say the project leader/coordinator, other researchers responsible for participation in the doctoral programme at other HEIs, doctoral students and other personnel.

Please also state the salary applied for, for the project leader/coordinator or other personnel active within the doctoral programme, 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.

Total cost of the doctoral programme

Prisma will automatically add up the 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 doctoral programme (for which funding is not sought in this application).

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

Other funding

Please state any other funding (applied for or already awarded) for the doctoral programme over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.

Publications

Please attach publications lists for the coordinator of the doctoral programme and for the participating researchers at other HEIs.

Each researcher’s list shall include publications from the most recent 8 years, with the name of the researcher marked in bold, and the 5 publications of greatest importance for the doctoral programme marked with an asterisk (*). The researcher’s name shall also be included in the header of the list in question. Sort the publications in each list under each relevant 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 publication list shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Administrating organisation

Please state the location of the doctoral programme.

Participants

Here the person initiating the application at the administrating organisation shall invite the project leader/coordinator to the application. Here too, the project leader/coordinator shall, in turn, invite the participating researchers and any participating administrators to the application.

CV

Under this tab, the project leader/coordinator shall upload the relevant CV information from their personal account in Prisma. The 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 whether permanent or not) and longer relevant employment, postdoctoral visits (including whether employment or not), research exchanges relevant to the research described and any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on the researcher’s 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), up to 10 of the researcher’s most relevant grants awarded in competition, up to 10 of the researcher’s 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 the researcher; state up to 10 of the most relevant.
  

Scientific quality is the fundamental criterion when the Swedish Research Council allocates grants to research. Your application is assessed in competition with the other applications on the basis of the following assessment criteria.

Assessment process

Your application is assessed by a specialised subject review panel where the members are Nordic researchers.

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 Committee for Educational Sciences. The committee decides which applications will be awarded funds. All applications receive a final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Review panel Opens in new window.

Assessment criteria and guiding questions

The assessment of the scientific quality of your application is made based on four basic criteria (scientific quality of the project, novelty and originality, merits of the applicant, and feasibility). The purpose of using several criteria is to achieve a multi-faceted assessment. In addition to the basic criteria, your application is also assessed using three additional criteria (research environment, internationalisation, and relevance to the call).

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

Scientific quality of the project (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• How do the goals, contents and organisation of the doctoral programme contribute scientific added value to third-cycle education within the field in question?
• How does the educational offer, with joint courses, seminars and supervision, support a high level of scientific theoretical and methodological quality in the third-cycle education?
• How does the doctoral programme contribute to developing the doctoral students’ basic scientific competence?
• Does the model for the third-cycle education and the structure of the educational offer safeguard a high level of educational quality in the teaching and supervision?
  

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• In what way does the model for the doctoral programme contribute to innovation in relation to third-cycle education for the teacher education programme?
• What aspects of the goals, contents and organisation of the doctoral programme contribute to strengthening the originality and developing innovation in the doctoral students’ scientific work?
  

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• What experience do the project managers and participating researchers have of leading and conducting third-cycle education?
• Do both the applicant and the participating researchers have good merits within their respective areas?
• How does the overall competence contribute to high quality in the third-cycle education?
  

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• In what way does the organisation and leadership of the doctoral programme safeguard quality in the implementation?
• How do each of the participating departments contribute to the doctoral programme?
• How is the competence of supervisors safeguarded?
• Has the applicant shown that there is a sufficient national supply of doctoral students?
• How is access to personnel, infrastructure and other necessary resources safeguarded?
• Is the budget of the doctoral programme realistic in relation to its goals, contents and organisation?
  

Research environment (1–7)

• Is the focus of the doctoral programme based on relevant and up-to-date research of high quality?
• How does the research at the participating HEIs complement each other in terms of relevant and up-to-date research of high quality?
• How is the doctoral students’ participation in suitable research environments at the participating HEIs safeguarded?

Internationalisation (1–7)

• How do the participating HEIs’ international collaborations contribute to anchoring the third-cycle education in well-established international research within the field in question?
• How can the doctoral programme contribute to building up international networks for the doctoral students?
  

Relevance to the call (1–3)

• Does the focus of the doctoral programme agree with the call?
• Can the doctoral programme contribute to the development of new knowledge relevant to teacher education and the needs of the profession?
• How does the doctoral programme contribute to building up the research connection to teacher education at the participating HEIs?
  

Overall grade (1–7)

The subsidiary grades shall be weighed together into an overall grade according to the following principles:

• Prerequisites for being awarded a grant are that the proposal is feasible, located in a well-functioning research environment of high quality, and that the applicant has solid and relevant competence for the purpose.
• The assessment of the scientific quality of the application is crucial for the overall assessment.
• Novelty and originality shall be weighed in, but a high grade for this aspect cannot outweigh any lack of scientific quality.
• Relevance and internationalisation shall be weighted heavily, but a high grade for this aspect cannot outweigh any lack of scientific quality.