Network grant for international researcher exchange Brazil-Sweden (SPRINT)

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
• CV (full CV only for the Brazilian project leader)
• Publications
• Administrating organisation
• Participants
• CV (both researchers).

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 research activities to be conducted within the collaboration
• Implementation of the research collaboration: project organisations, time plan and the scientific methods planned
• Effect and added value of the research collaboration.
  

The abstract shall provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation of the research collaboration. 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 4 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Research description

Collaboration plan

The plan shall consist of a brief but complete description of the collaboration. The focus of the plan shall be forward-looking, and it shall cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing, including references and any images.

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

• Purpose and aims: Describe summarily the purpose (developing a joint research project) and other specific goals for the collaboration project.
• Research idea: Make a summary of the research theme and the research questions planned to be in focus for the project, how gender aspects will be included in the project idea (where applicable), and describe your own and others’ previous research and any preliminary results within the research area. State key references.
• Significance and scientific novelty: Describe briefly how the collaboration project relates to previous research within the area, and its importance to the research area in the short and long term. If the network is not intended to develop new research projects, but to construct a network around existing research, the application must state forceful grounds for why this is of great importance for the ongoing collaboration/project.
• Network description and mode of cooperation: Provide a summary of the planned work including the following items:
  • A substantive description of the exchange activities, emphasizing their relevance. If possible the proposal must state clearly how the exchange activities to be carried out by each team would contribute to any ongoing research projects funded by FAPESP and the Swedish Research Council.
  • Detailed schedule of the exchange missions to be carried out by the partner team at the São Paulo institution and the team at the Swedish institution. The exchange must be reciprocal, but the number of researchers can differ.
  • Performance indicators for the planned activities, indicating the expected results.
  • A description of each PI/applicant’s contribution to the implementation of the collaboration. Describe and explain the competences and roles of other participating researchers in the collaboration and their gender distribution, and also those of any other researchers or corresponding who are important for the implementation of the exchange.
  • Foreseen actions that will add to the impact of the exchange for teams on both sides of the cooperation, e.g. by means of seminars, short courses etc. 

Added value of the collaboration

Describe the added value of the collaboration, including the following items:

• The added value of the network collaboration for the research and the research environments.
• Description of how the Principal Investigators in São Paulo and in Sweden intend to prepare a joint research project, resulting from the exchange activities developed from the proposal submitted in this call, to be submitted to research funding agencies accessible in their regions in order to create a medium to long term collaboration (up to one page).
• If the application concerns an already ongoing collaboration, the planned dissemination of results and new knowledge, co-production of publications and other contributions, should also be described.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately one half of an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).

Budget and research resources

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

Justification of the budget applied for

Describe briefly the primary costs you intend to cover within the framework for the grant budget. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 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.

CV (São Paulo applicant)

Please attach the CV of the Brazilian applicant/project leader from São Paulo comprising no more than 4 A4 pages. The CV shall be identical to the CV submitted to FAPESP.

Please note that the publication list(s) shall be included under the separate “Publications” tab below.

Publications

Under this tab, please attach your and the participating researcher’s publication lists to the respective fields (Swedish and participant from São Paulo sorted separately).

Please attach your publication list drawn up according to the instructions below. The list shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Please sort the publications 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.

Selection of publications: List the maximum 10 publications of greatest importance to your application.

The publications shall be of the types: 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.

Participants

Here you shall invite the project leader from São Paulo and any participating administrators to your application.

CV

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

Swedish project leader:

The following information, where available, must always be included in your 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 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.

São Paulo applicant/project leader:

The participant from São Paulo is only required to upload their doctoral degree as well as current employment from the personal Prisma account. The full CV is attached in PDF format as instructed above under “CV (São Paulo applicant)”.

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 purpose of the call is to either form new collaborations, or to strengthen existing ones, between researchers/research groups in Sweden and in São Paulo, Brazil.

Evaluation process

Your application is evaluated by an internal review panel where the members are Swedish researchers.

Your application may also be reviewed and graded by external reviewers if needed. The appointed review panel will then meet to discuss and prioritize the applications taking into consideration (when applicable) the statements from the external reviewers. In case a larger number of applications are submitted than anticipated, a sifting process may be used. This means that 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 and not be subject to further discussion.

The evaluation is then compared to the evaluation made by a review panel at FAPESP. After agreement upon which applications to fund a proposal for a decision is made to the Director General of the Swedish Research Council. The applications screened out will after the decision has been made receive a final statement that includes which grades the applications received. The other applications receive a more detailed final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the application

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is made based on four basic criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Novelty and originality, 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 Added value on a 7-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 quality of the proposed research (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent can the proposed network, based on the included collaborators, define new, compelling scientific questions within its scientific area?
• Is the overall description of the collaborative network sufficiently clear, convincing and compelling, for example in the definition of research questions, description of planned activities and impact of the research collaboration?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the network combine scientific expertise and capacity in a novel way in relation to the research area?
• Does the research network propose a line of research with clear progression and novelty in relation to previous research in the field or will the formed network add details to existing knowledge?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Do the network applicants have sufficient research experience, expertise, level of independence and scientific network for the implementation of the proposed collaboration?
• How significant are the academic achievements, the impact and other qualifications of the applicant from a national and international perspective seen in relation to the research area and the applicant´s career age?
• Is the team´s collective competence/representation of relevant expertise in relation to the proposed research?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• Is the proposed plan in general, including time schedule and methods, optimal for starting up and implementing the proposed network?
• Does the network aim to establish long-term research collaboration and contain a realistic plan for how to raise funds for such collaboration?
• Does the proposed collaboration network include the availability and accessibility of relevant personnel, skills, equipment, facilities/infrastructures and other necessary resources?

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.

Added value (1-7)

Guiding questions:

• Is there appropriateness of the team members in terms of how the researchers´ expertise complement each other, and in how the different roles and responsibilities are distinguished?
• Does the collaboration bring mutual added value to the proposed research; compared to if the partners were not working together?
• Can the collaboration lead to transfer of knowledge between applicants?
• Does the proposal contain plans for sustaining the collaboration/partnership beyond the proposed duration of network funding?