Project grant for cross-disciplinary collaboration between China and Sweden

The following requirements must be fulfilled in order to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks, and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.

Please note that “Swedish” and “Chinese” in this call text refer to the researcher’s country of affiliation and not nationality.

Focus

The objective is to support research in the development of individualised diagnostics and prevention. There is an emerging need for progress in the development of early prediction, including novel diagnostic criteria, optimized and cost-effective methods of diagnosis, genetic testing, imaging techniques, reliable and reproducible assays, and others. The applicants shall be a group of researchers working towards a joint research goal that in the longer term can contribute to better health, increased quality of life and healthy living. The teams should bring added value as a joint multidisciplinary collaboration.

Swedish applicant

The Swedish applicant for the project grant must be an individual researcher in a joint research collaboration with at least one participating researcher in Sweden and two Chinese researchers. You shall be the project leader and have scientific responsibility for the project. The time you set aside for the project (your activity level, that is the percentage of a full-time equivalent) must be suited to the task and its implementation throughout the grant period.

You must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree, awarded no later than the deadline for this call. The degree award date we use is the date you fulfilled all the requirements for a doctoral degree, such as mandatory courses, oral defence and an approved doctoral thesis. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies. Grants from the Swedish Research Council shall be administered by a Swedish university or HEI or another Swedish organisation that fulfils our criteria for administrating organisations Opens in new window.. The Swedish applicant’s organisation must therefore be approved as an administrating organisation for you to apply. The administrating organisation must sign your application in Prisma no later than 7 calendar days after the deadline for this call.

If you are awarded a grant, you must be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any additional availability period, unless the Swedish Research Council approves an exception from this requirement. The employment must cover no less than 20 percent of a full-time equivalent. You do not have to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of applying.

For requirements for the Chinese project leader, please see the NSFC Guide to Program External link, opens in new window..

Number of applications and previous grants

The requirements described in this section only apply to Swedish applicants (project leaders).

General information about overlaps between applications and grants

Your application must not cover costs for purposes that are already funded by the Swedish Research Council or any other funding body. Overlaps with other grants or applications may impact on the grant amount you are awarded, or be a reason for us to reject your application.

What grants may I apply for simultaneously from the Swedish Research Council?

You may only submit one application for this grant under this call. The table below shows information and restrictions on the grants you may apply for during the same year. Please note that you can only apply for other project grants for another project concept.

Table: Grants you may apply for simultaneously Opens in new window.

What eligibility criteria apply if I already have a grant from the Swedish Research Council?

There are no restrictions for applying for this project grant if you are the project leader of a grant already awarded and ongoing (where the grant period/payment period from the Swedish Research Council overlaps the grant period of the grant this application covers), provided your application is for another project concept.

What applies for applications to or grants from other funding bodies?

If your application to the Swedish Research Council relates to the same project concept as a grant you have already been awarded by, or are applying for to another funding body, please describe this.

Participating researchers

The application shall include a minimum of one Swedish participating researcher, that is to say one researcher with a doctoral degree or corresponding competence, whose scientific competence will be cross-disciplinary to the Swedish project leader and therefore crucial for the implementation of the proposed research.

Participating Swedish researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application. Any further collaborating partners and their roles shall be described in the research plan (please see instructions under “Research plan” below).

Costs and grant amounts

The grant covers the Swedish and Chinese budgets separately. The part of the grant covering the Swedish budget costs will be financed by the Swedish Research Council and the part of the grant covering the Chinese budget costs will be financed by NSFC.

Swedish part

Grants may be applied for to finance all types of project-related costs, such as salaries (including your own salary), however no more than corresponding to the person’s activity level in the project, premises, running costs (such as consumables, travel including stays at research facilities, publication costs and minor equipment), and depreciation costs. Grants may not be used for scholarships. If a doctoral student participates, project funds may not be paid out as salary during teaching or other departmental duties.

The grant is awarded in a standard amount of 3 000 000 SEK per year, including indirect costs.

Chinese part

The Chinese project leaders may apply for maximum 1 000 000 CNY per year. For other rules

and regulations regarding costs and grant funding for the Chinese project leaders, please see the NSFC regulation on grant management External link, opens in new window.

Grant period

The grant period is 3 years, starting from January 2022. The first payment will be made during January 2022 at the earliest.

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

Since this is an international collaboration project call and the application is made in parallel in Sweden and China, and will be evaluated by both Swedish and Chinese experts, please submit the application in English.

Sections of the application

The application form includes the following tabs:

• Descriptive information
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• CV (Chinese researchers)
• Publications
• Relevance for the call
• Administrating organisation
• Participants
• CV (other researchers)

The information we request under each tab is described below.

Descriptive information

Abstract

In the abstract, please describe in brief the following:

• What is to be done: purpose and aims
• How the research will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and scientific methods
• What is important about the planned research: the impact and added value of the collaborative research

The abstract shall provide a summary picture of the purpose and implementation of the research activities within the 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. This is 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. Explain also 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.

The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Note: The popular science description must be written in Swedish, unlike the rest of the application.

Research description

Ethical considerations

The national ethical regulations/legislation which are the strictest, shall apply for the research collaboration as a whole. Describe the ethical issues raised by your project or equivalent. 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.

The justification may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Sex and gender perspectives

Please state whether sex and gender perspectives are applicable in your planned research collaboration, and justify your decision. Please note that we are not asking for information about the composition of the research team (men/women).Read more about sex and gender perspectives in research content Opens in new window..

The following applies:

• If you answer “Yes”: Justify your answer, and describe also how you take account of sex and gender perspectives in the research plan (see further instructions under “Research plan”). If you have stated that sex and gender perspectives are applicable, but still choose not to include them in your research plan, you will need to justify this here.
• If you answer “No”, and thereby do not consider that sex and gender perspectives are applicable for your planned research, you do not need to justify your answer.

The justification may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Research and collaboration plan

The research plan shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the joint research task. It shall cover a maximum of 10 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images.

The research plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order: Please note that all partners (the Swedish and Chinese project leaders and participating researchers) shall be involved and responsible for the research and collaboration plan.

• Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific aims of the research collaboration.
• State-of-the-art: Summarise briefly the current research frontier within the field or 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 the impact the project may have 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. If no preliminary results exist, please state this.
• Project description: Describe the project design under the following headings:
  • 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 concerning travel, joint seminars and workshops, joint publications, etc. and how the project will be implemented.
  • Project organisation: Clarify how all of you researchers will contribute to the implementation of the project. Explain in particular how the time allocated by you (that is, your activity level) as project leaders and participants are suitable for the task, including the relationship with your other research undertakings. Describe and explain the competences, the cross-disciplinarity and roles of the participating researchers in the project, and also any other researchers or equivalent who are important for the implementation of the project.

Provide the following information also. If a heading is not relevant to your application, please state this under the heading.

• Data analysis and statistics: Modern methods often generate complex data. Describe how you plan to analyse data collected in the project, and the statistical methods you will be using. If the project covers clinical studies, please include a power analysis.
• Equipment: Describe the basic equipment you have at your disposal for the project.
• Need for research infrastructure: Specify the project’s need for international and national research infrastructure. In the first instance, Swedish researchers should use the research infrastructures supported by the Swedish Research Council, w Opens in new window.hich are open to all. Please justify the need to use other infrastructures (also applies for local research infrastructure).
• Other applications or grants: If you are applying for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council, please clarify the relationship between the projects. 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 idea (from one of you or another researcher).

Relevance

A. Research areas/Sub focus

Describe how your project is relevant for the sub focus area early prediction and novel diagnostic tools for human diseases (see the definition in the introduction to the call text) and how the project is cross-disciplinary.

Please note that the relevance to the research area constitutes an absolute requirement for this call, as well as the cross-disciplinarity of the application.

B. Added value from the research collaboration (complementarity)

Please describe how the expertise and capacity of the participating researchers and HEIs cooperate to benefit the quality of the research. How will the collaboration generate mutual added value to the research of the applicants? In which ways is the collaboration based on equal participation and how will it lead to mutual exchange of knowledge? In the event the gender balance among the project participants is unequal, please explain how this will not impact negatively on the quality of the research.

The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11.

Budget and research resources

Project personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active within the Swedish project, that is to say the project leader, participating researchers and any other researchers and other personnel.

Joint budget plan

Please attach the joint budget plan containing the information below. The document shall cover a maximum of 4 A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

A. Joint budget

State a joint budget for the total grant period for the Swedish and the Chinese partners according to the template below. The Swedish partners budget shall be presented in SEK and the Chinese partners budget shall be presented in CNY.

B. Justification of the budget applied for

Please provide a brief justification statement for each item in the proposed project budget.

C. Other funding

Please state your or any other researcher’s funding for the project over and above what is applied for in this application. Indicate the type of grant, status, funding source, grant awardee/project leader, funding period and the relevant amounts according to the example below.

CV (Chinese researchers)

Attach the CVs of the Chinese researchers (project leaders and any other participating researchers), joined up into one file. Each CV must not exceed 2 A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

The following information must be submitted in each CV under the numbered headings below, in the given order (leave not applicable fields empty):

1. Higher education qualification(s): year, subject field and HEI
2. Doctoral degree or equivalent: year, discipline/subject field, HEI, title of the theses and the name of the doctoral supervisor.
3. Postdoctoral position(s): year and location(s).
4. Qualification required for appointments as a docent.
5. Current position: term of appointment and research portion
6. Previous positions and period of appointment: type of position and appointment periods.
7. Supervision: Doctoral and postdoctoral students that you have supervised in the capacity of main supervisor; (name(s) and years).
8. Interruption in research: In this section, you may describe any longer interruption in your active research time, which has affected your qualifications opportunities, e.g. interruptions due to parental leave, medical internships or medical residencies (applies to clinically active professionals), positions of trust, or similar circumstances. Specify the extent of each interruption.
9. Other information of relevance to the application.

Publications

Please attach the publication lists drawn up according to the headings and information below (Swedish and Chinese project participants sorted separately). The list for each researcher shall cover a maximum of 5 A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

Please sort the publications in each list under each heading in reverse chronological order, so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. Please only include articles or equivalent that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name 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 10 publications of greatest importance to your application. Describe how you contributed to each publication, 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 2013-2021. In this part, the publications listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they have been published during the period in question. 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
• Patents, please state date of registration
• Open access computer programs or databases you have developed
• Other publications including popular science books/presentations

3. Number of publications: Specify how many publications you have under each heading (type of publication) below.

• Total number of peer-reviewed original articles
• Total number of peer-reviewed research review articles
• Total number of other publications including patents
• Number of peer-reviewed original articles from 2013–2021
• Number of peer-reviewed research review articles from 2013–2021
• Number of other publications including patents from 2013–2021

Please note that no further bibliometric information shall be stated in the application.

Administrating organisation

Please state the Swedish administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here the Swedish applicant invites the Swedish participating researchers and any participating administrators to the application. Please note that this does not include the Chinese researcher(s)!

CV (other researchers)

Under this tab, the Swedish applicant and the Swedish participating researchers shall upload relevant CV information from their personal accounts in Prisma.

The following information (where available) must always be included in each CV:

• Education: First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.
• Work: Current employment (including employment form) and longer relevant employment held, 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 merit as a researcher.
• Merits and awards: Docentship/associate professorship, supervisees (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the number of persons in each category and list the names of the up to 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 20other 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 the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) uses when awarding grants. Proposals to Research collaboration China-Sweden will be evaluated with regards to scientific quality as well as relevance to the goals of the call. Scientific quality is the principle assessment criteria, provided that the research project meets the relevance criterion. The Swedish Research Council promotes gender equality in research collaboration and research projects.

Evaluation process

Your application for project grant for cross-disciplinary collaboration between China and Sweden is evaluated by a Swedish and a Chinese review panel, respectively. The Swedish research panel consist of Swedish researchers.

On the Swedish side, at least three members of the panel review and grade your application individually. The entire review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and agree on a mutual grading and assessment of the application.

Some of the Swedish panelists will then go to a joint panel meeting with the Chinese panelists. Those panelists will represent the Swedish panels result. Together with the Chinese panellists, they will make a proposal for a decision to the Director General at VR and at NSFC.

Review panels Opens in new window.

Following the grant decision your application will receive an individual final statement sent in Prisma to the Swedish main applicant containing the grades and a summary of 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 five basic criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Novelty and originality, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility, Complementarity of the research (the added value and synergy of the research collaboration). 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.

The five basic criteria are weighed together into an overall grade, which reflects the evaluation panel’s overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application. In addition, the panel will evaluate the relevance of the application to the program objectives on a scale from one to three.

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 overall design of the project, its research questions and hypotheses meet the standards of highest quality?
• 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 proposed solutions, and review of the state of the art?
• Do the research questions aim to develop innovative interdisciplinary research and is the design of the project of sufficient quality to reach or significantly approach this goal?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the project convincingly challenge prevalent opinions and practice?
• Does the application define new, interesting interdisciplinary scientific questions?
• Is there potential for the creation of new knowledge, exciting new ideas and approaches, directions for research and understanding of the research field?
• Does the project include use of novel technologies/methodologies, or innovative application of existing methodologies/technologies in new areas?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Do the applicants have sufficient research experience, expertise, level of independence and scientific network for implementation of the proposed project?
• Of what merits are the previous publications and other scientific achievements (e.g. supervisor experience, external funding) in relation to stage of career and active time for research: 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.
• Is there ability to successfully disseminate research findings?
• Do the project participants have experience of supervision of doctoral students (in case the application includes doctoral students)?

Feasibility (1–3: 1.Not feasible 2. Partly feasible 3. Feasible)

Guiding questions:

• Is the general design, including time schedule, optimal for implementing the proposed project?
• Does the project aim to establish long-term research collaboration and contain a realistic plan for how to raise funds for such collaboration?
• Does the proposed project collaboration include the availability and accessibility of relevant personnel, skills, equipment, facilities/infrastructures and other necessary resources?
• Has the applicant obtained the permits required (if any) to implement the project, or is there a description of how the permissions will be obtained?
• Is the division of labour and cooperation between the project participants clearly described?
• What is the balance between the project's feasibility and risks and its potential gains? (high risk/high gain)

Complementarity of the research (the added value and synergy of the research collaboration) (1-7)

Guiding questions:

• Is there appropriateness of the team members in terms of availability and complementarities of all the relevant expertise, and in how the different roles and responsibilities are distinguished?
• Does the cooperation bring mutual added value to the research; compared to if the partners were not working together?
• Can the cooperation lead to transfer of knowledge between applicants?
• Can support for the proposed research collaboration lead to the establishment of a long-term research partnership?
• Is the collaboration based on principles of co-design, mutual benefit and equality?
• Does the project partnership have an appropriate gender balance?
• Will the proposed project strengthen and enhance the quality of research in the research area in question at the higher education institution(s), as well as in Sweden and in China and internationally?

Overall grade (1–7)

The various component criteria being used in the assessment are weighed together to an overall grade (1-7), which reflects the overalls assessment of the scientific quality of the application by the review panel. The overall grade is not the same as an average grade or a summary of the subsidiary evaluations; instead, it shall reflect the scientific quality of the application as a whole. It is not a condition that the quality concept covers all aspects of the various criteria, nor that they have the same relative weight for all applications. In normal cases, however, a strongly positive evaluation of only one criterion cannot outweigh other weaknesses of an application when weighed together. For the grant, the Novelty and originality- and Complementarity of the research (the added value and synergy of the research collaboration)-scores should be given a greater weight in the overall grade

Relevance to program objectives/interdisciplinarity (1-3: 1.Not relevant 2.Some relevance 3. Relevant)

Relevance to the program objectives is evaluated separately from the scientific quality, and is not included in the overall grade. The grant should strengthen knowledge exchange and research collaborations between Swedish and Chinese researchers. The objective of the call is to support research on the development of individualised diagnostics and prevention. There is an emerging need for progress in the development of early prediction, including novel diagnostic criteria, optimized and cost-effective methods of diagnosis, genetic testing, imaging techniques, reliable and reproducible assays, and others. It is important that the interdisciplinary nature of the application is clearly stated.

The grade primarily reflects the relevance to development of long-term research partnerships and the general relevance to the objectives stated in the call.

Guiding questions:

• Can support for the proposed research collaboration lead to the establishment of a long-term research partnership?
• Does the collaborative research contribute to the establishment of new researcher-to-researcher relationships within interdisciplinary fields?
• If principal investigators have collaborated before, is the proposed collaboration based on a new interdisciplinary research topic? What were the experiences of that previous collaboration?
• Can additional funding lead to new collaborative research proposals with realistic ideas how to obtain funding?
• Does the application refer to a new interdisciplinary group of researchers, with genuinely different scientific backgrounds?
• Does the applicant describe convincingly how the combination of theories, methods, expertise and/or data from the different disciplines can be expected to lead to ground breaking knowledge?