Closed call
19 January - 22 February 2022
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.
Please note that, as a transition measure, one grant for a visiting professorship starting in 2023, and one grant for a visiting professorship starting in 2024, will be awarded under this call. In future calls, calls for the visiting professorship will be issued with two years’ notice (the call in early 2023 will relate to a starting date in 2025, and the call in early 2024 to a starting date in 2026, and so on).
Support form: Research environment and research collaboration support
Subject area: Natural and Engineering Sciences
Focus: The researcher nominated for the 2023 visiting professorship shall be active within one or several of the following areas: Cell biology, developmental biology, microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, organic chemistry, bioprocess engineering, chemical engineering, environmental engineering.
The researcher nominated for the 2024 visiting professorship shall be active within one or several of the following areas: Materials science, materials engineering, applied physics, engineering physics, astronomy, subatomic physics, light and materials physics.
Applicant: Organisation. A representative of the host organisation shall be invited to be the project leader for the application.
Participating researchers: No participating researchers may be invited to join 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 2023 and January 2024 respectively
Application period: 19 January 2022 (14.00/2 pm) – 22 February 2022 (14.00/2 pm)
Publication of grant award: No later than June 2022
Please note:
- This year, we are issuing a call for grants for the Tage Erlander visiting professorship for both 2023 and 2024. Read more under the heading “Focus and nominated candidate”.
Specific instructions for the call
In addition to reading the call text, you also need to consult our Guide for applicants.
In order for a person to access the call and start the application process, they have to be authorised to create organisation applications on the organisation’s Prisma account. If this is not the same person who will be the project leader and responsible for completing the application, the project leader must be invited to the application once the process has been started (see under the heading “Applicant” below, and under the tab “Participants” in the application form).
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 2023 visiting professorship shall be active within one or several of the following areas:
- Cell biology
- Developmental biology
- Microbiology
- Biochemistry
- Molecular biology
- Structural biology
- Analytical chemistry
- Physical chemistry
- Theoretic chemistry
- Inorganic chemistry
- Materials chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Bioprocess engineering
- Chemical engineering
- Environmental engineering
The researcher nominated for the 2024 visiting professorship shall be active within one or several of the following areas:
- Materials science
- Materials engineering
- Applied physics
- Engineering physics
- Astronomy
- Subatomic physics
- Light and materials physics
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 higher education institution (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.
Applicant
The applicant for the grant must be a Swedish 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 for the visiting professorship 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.
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
General information about overlaps between applications and grants
The 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 awarded, or be a reason for us to reject the application.
There is no limit to the number of applications a single HEI may submit or participate in, 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.
The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by the administrating organisation. Grants must not be used for scholarships.
Grant period
The visit to Sweden shall last no less than 6 months, and no longer than 1 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.
For the 2023 professorship: The professorship shall start during 2023. The entire grant amount will be paid during 2023, irrespective of when during the year the start occurs. The first payment will be made during January 2023 at the earliest.
For the 2024 professorship: The professorship shall start during 2024. The entire grant amount will be paid during 2024, irrespective of when during the year the start occurs. The first payment will be made during January 2024 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 summary
- Nominated visiting professor
- Budget and research resources
- Administrating organisation
- Review panels
- Participants (only administrators in this call)
The information we request under each tab is described below.
Descriptive information
Under this tab, and in addition to the following, 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 time (the length of the visiting professorship in number of months). Please note that the pre-set project time is calculated from January 2023. If the start date for the visiting professorship is 2024, it is therefore important to include this in the description of time for the visit in the abstract, see instructions below.
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 one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Research description
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 Swedish research within the area in question.
- Plan for department participation: Specify the planning of the visiting researcher’s participation at the host department and other departments in Sweden.
- Junior researcher. State the name and workplace for 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 seeked 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 one 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.
Review panels
Choose the review panel according to the year the visiting professorship applies to.
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 for Tage Erlander visiting professorship is evaluated by appointed external reviewer with competence in the specific topics of the call within natural and engineering sciences and discussed by a review panel where the members within the topic of the call are Swedish and international researchers.
At least two external reviewers will review and grade your application individually. The appointed review panel then meets to discuss and prioritise the applications with the external assessment as a basis, and finally to make a proposal for a decision to the Scientific Council for natural and engineering sciences.
Choose the review panel according to the year the visiting professorship applies to.
- Visiting professorships Tage Erlander 2023 (NT-GAST 2023) Opens in new window.
- Visiting professorships Tage Erlander 2024 (NT-GAST 2024) Opens in new window.
Following the grant decision your application will receive a justification for the decision which contains a summary of the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the application.
Evaluation criteria and guiding questions
The evaluation of the scientific quality and position internationally of the visiting professor are assessed on a seven-grade scale.
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 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 (1-7)
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.
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?