Closed call
15 January - 18 February 2020
Tage Erlander visiting professorship
The purpose of the Swedish Research Council’s grant for visiting professors is to give higher education institutions the opportunity to develop a subject area by recruiting an internationally prominent professor during a limited period.
Support form: Research environment and collaboration support
Subject area: Natural and Engineering Sciences
Focus: The researcher nominated for the 2021 visiting professorship shall be active within one or several of the following areas: geology and geophysics, ground, air and water processes, organism biology, ecology, systematics, or evolution.
Applicant: Organisation.
A representative of the host department shall be invited to be the project leader for the application.
Grant period: 6-12 months
Grant amount: Maximum 1 900 000 SEK for the professorship and maximum 500 000 SEK for funding of a junior researcher linked to the professorship.
Start of grant period: No earlier than January 2021
Application period: 15 January 2020 (14.00/2 p.m.) – 18 February 2020 (14.00/2 p.m.)
Publication of grant award: No later than June 2020
Specific instructions for the call
The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for the organisation to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks, and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.
Focus and nominated candidate
The holder of the Tage Erlander professorship shall be an internationally prominent researcher, within a research area that changes according to a rolling schedule. The researcher nominated for the 2021 visiting professorship shall be active within one or several of the following areas:
- geology and geophysics
- ground, air and water processes
- organism biology
- ecology
- systematics and evolution
The researcher proposed for the visiting professorship shall be the holder of a professorship or corresponding at the time of application, and must not already be active in Sweden. The researcher must also be aware of the nomination and what acceptance of the professorship entails. If the nominated candidate declines to accept the professorship, the HEI cannot propose a replacement.
The visiting professor is expected to participate in the department’s research, and also to visit other departments across Sweden within their research area.
The visiting professor awarded the professorship shall be employed by the administrating organisation throughout the visit.
For upcoming calls over the next few years, the following areas will apply:
- 2021 (entry 2022): Mathematical sciences, computer sciences, signals and systems, mechanical engineering, and medical engineering.
- 2022 (entry 2023): Analytical, physical and theoretical chemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry, biochemistry and structural biology, cellular and molecular biology, bioprocess engineering, chemical engineering and environmental engineering.
- 2023 (entry 2024): Subatomic physics, space physics and astronomy, atomic and molecular physics, optics and condensed matter physics, electronics, electrical engineering, semiconductor physics and photonics, applies physics, and materials science.
- 2024 (entry 2025): Geology and geophysics, ground, air and water processes, organism biology, ecology, and systematics and evolution.
Applicant
The applicant for the grant must be a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) that has been approved as an administrating organisation
Opens in new window. for grants from the Swedish Research Council.
The application with a nominated candidate shall include a named researcher (project leader), who represents the department wishing to act as host for the visiting professorship. The project leader shall be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further additional availability period, unless the Swedish Research Council approves an exception.
When the application is registered and signed in Prisma (see below), the HEI and the nominated department undertake to be responsible for the local hosting and all practical arrangements associated with the visiting professor’s visit to Sweden, if the visiting professorship is awarded.
Number of applications and previous grants
There is no limit to the number of applications a single HEI may submit, but a single candidate may only be nominated in one application.
Participating researchers
No participating researchers may be included in this application.
Costs and grant amounts
Funding may be applied for to fund salary costs including social security contributions and insurance, rent of housing and travel between Sweden and the home country. The funding may also include travel costs for accompanying family members. The amount applied for may be maximum 1 900 000 SEK per year, including indirect costs. The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation will cover any costs in excess of the amount received.
In addition, a grant of up to 500 000 SEK including indirect costs may be applied for (via the Swedish Research Council) from the Tage Erlander Foundation to fund a junior researcher (doctoral student or postdoc), to be associated with the visiting professorship.
Grants may not be used for scholarships.
Grant period
The visit to Sweden shall last no less than six months, and no longer than one year. The visit may be divided up into more than one period. If so, this shall be clearly stated and also justified in the application. The visit may however not be divided up in such a way that it cannot be completed within the availability period of the grant.
The professorship shall start during 2021. The entire grant amount will be paid during 2021, irrespective of when during the year the start occurs. The first payment will be made during January 2021 at the earliest.
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
Foreign experts are involved in the scientific evaluation of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete the application in English.
Sections of the application
The application form includes the following tabs:
- Descriptive information
- Research description
- Nominated visiting professor
- Budget and research resources
- Administrating organisation
- Participants (only administrators in this call)
The information we request under each tab is described below.
Descriptive information
Under this tab, please state the name of the nominated researcher, their current HEI and country as project title (such as “Anna Smith, University of xx, USA”), and project period (the length of the visiting professorship in number of months).
Abstract
The abstract shall include a brief description of the following:
- name, university and country of the nominated researcher
- time (dates) for the visit
- brief justification for the visit
- planned programme
The description may cover a maximum of 1 500 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one third of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Research description
Ethical considerations
Describe the ethical issues raised by the research. 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.
The justification may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Research programme
The research programme shall consist of brief but complete information about the nomination. It shall cover a maximum of 8 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images.
The research programme must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:
- The researcher and their research: Present the nominated researcher and their research.
- Justification: Justify the visiting researcher’s visit.
- Contribution to research: Describe how the visiting researcher may contribute to the development of both the activities of the host department and Swedish research in general within the area in question.
- Plan for department participation: Specify the planning of the visiting researcher’s participation at the host department and other HEIs/departments in Sweden.
- Junior researcher: State the name and workplace of a junior researcher (doctoral student or postdoc), if such is to be associated with the visiting professorship.
Nominated visiting professor
Please state the following:
- name, title, current position and workplace for the nominated researcher
- the competency the visiting researcher is expected to bring to the host department
- the length of the visit, and whether it is divided up and, if so, how
- the department(s) or corresponding where the visiting professor will be active, and the name of the representative (head of department or corresponding) of the department(s).
The nominated person’s CV and publication list
Please attach a brief CV with full address details (including email address) and current position of the nominated researcher. Please also attach a publication list, divided up into Peer-reviewed articles, Other articles and Books.
Please also note that no CV data or publications shall be entered elsewhere in the application.
Budget and research resources
Salary
Please state the salary applied for the visiting professor (select the role “Participating researcher” in the table), both as a percentage of a full-time salary and as actual annual amount (including social security contributions and insurance). Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.
Running costs
Describe the nominated visiting professor’s costs of rent of housing or travel between Sweden and the home country on separate lines. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.
Total cost of the visiting professorship
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 (project leader). Here the applicant (project leader) can also add any additional costs that the activities entail (for which funding is not sought under this call).
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. This is approximately 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Administrating organisation
Please state the site of the visiting professorship.
Participants
Here the person invited to be the project leader for the application may invite participating administrators. Please note that participating researchers may not be invited in this application.
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 Swedish Research Council´s grant for visiting professors aims at giving universities the opportunity to develop a scientific field by recruiting an internationally senior professor for a shorter period.
Evaluation process
The assessment of the applications considers the proposed visiting professor’s scientific merits and position internationally together with the relevance for the call; that is the motivation of the stay especially how well the visiting professor can contribute to the development of the research at the host institution and to Swedish research in general in the scientific field.
Your application will be evaluated by appointed external reviewers with competence in the specific topic of the call within natural and engineering sciences and discussed by a review panel within the topic of the call
Review panel Opens in new window.
At least two external reviewers will review and grade your application individually. The appointed review panel will then meet to discuss and prioritize the applications taking into consideration the statements from the external reviewers, and finally submit a proposal for decision to the scientific council for natural and engineering sciences. The motivation for the decision should reflect the review panel´s discussion and will be communicated to you as an applicant.
Evaluation criteria and guiding questions
The evaluation of the scientific quality and position internationally of the visiting professor is assessed on a seven-grade scale.
For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the evaluation of your application. These can also function as guidance for you when you write your application.
Scientific merits and position internationally of the visiting professor (1-7)
Guiding questions:
- How significant are the scientific merits of the guest professor in relation to the suggested research area?
- How scientifically eminent is the guest professor internationally?
Relevance to the call: Motivation of the stay, in particular how the nominated guest professor can contribute to the development of the host institution and more generally of research in Sweden within the scientific area (1-7)
Guiding questions:
- What competence is the guest professor expected to bring to the host institution? To what extent will the guest professor contribute to the development of the research at the host institution?
- How well is the research plan formulated regarding the quality and scope of the guest professor’s contribution to the host institution, as well as other institutions in Sweden? How well are the suggested activities motivated?
- How will the guest professor contribute to the development of the scientific area in general in Sweden?
- What is the quality of the suggested research program and to what extent is it relevant to the scientific area?
- Will a young scientist be associated to the guest professorship? If so, how will the young scientist contribute to the research program?