Closed call
15 March - 18 April 2023
Exploratory worskshops within educational sciences
The purpose of the grant is to support research into possible innovative research areas and creative research ideas in educational sciences. The grant may be used for research collaboration to test new research questions, methods, analyses, perspectives, data material, and to research opportunities to write applications and apply for international funding, etc.
Support form: Research environment and collaboration support
Subject area: Educational Sciences
Focus: Undirected in Educational Sciences
Applicant: Individual researcher
Participating researchers: A minimum of 1 and up to 6 other researchers shall be invited to join the application.
Grant period: 1–2 years
Grant amount: Maximum 200 000 SEK per year
Budgetary framework: In total 800 000 SEK per year for 2 years, which means that at least 4 grants can be awarded
Start of grant period: January 2024
Application period: 15 March 2023 (14.00/2 pm) – 18 April 2023 (14.00/2 pm)
Publication of grant award: No later than the beginning of November 2023
Please note:
- You must justify in the collaboration plan how your stated activity level is suited to the implementation of the collaboration project.
- To enable an assessment to be made of the implementation and merits, the competence that any doctoral students will contribute to the project shall be stated in the collaboration plan and/or the justification of the budget.
- Read here for information on project collaboration with researchers in Russia and Belarus Opens in new window..
Telephone hours are weekdays excluding public holidays from 9.00/9 a.m. to 15.00/3 p.m. while the call is open.
Calls educational sciences
Specific instructions for the call
In addition to reading the call text, you also need to consult our Guide for applicants Opens in new window..
The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for you to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.
Applicant
The applicant for an exploratory workshop grant shall be an individual researcher together with their organisation (a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) or another Swedish organisation that fulfils our requirements for administrating organisations for grants from the Swedish Research Council Opens in new window.). We must have approved your organisation 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.
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. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies.
You do not have to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of application, but you must be employed at the start of and throughout the grant period and any additional availability period. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent.
Number of applications and previous grants
The requirements described in this section only apply to 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. Further information about the grants you may apply for during the same year are shown in on the page Several grants simultaneously Opens in new window.. Please note also that you may not apply for an exploratory workshop grant at the same time as applying for other grants for the same project concept.
What requirements apply if I already have a grant from the Swedish Research Council?
There are certain restrictions if you are the project leader of an ongoing grant, that is to say where the grant period (payment period from the Swedish Research Council) overlaps the grant period of the grant the application relates to. Please note that the availability period, that is to say the time during which you have the right to use your grant, is normally longer than the grant period. You can find information about the requirements for your ongoing grant in the “Approval of terms and conditions” you received from the Swedish Research Council.
You may not apply for this grant if you are the project leader for an ongoing exploratory workshop grant in educational sciences. If you already have an ongoing grant, then further information about the grants you may apply for are shown in on the page Several grants simultaneously Opens in new window..
Note: If you have been the project leader for previous grants from the Swedish Research Council that have ended, final financial reports for all of these must have been submitted within the permitted time frame in order for you to apply for a new grant. Please contact your administrating organisation if you are unsure whether all your final reports have been submitted.
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
You must include minimum 1 and maximum 6 participating researchers in your application. Participating researchers are other researchers with a doctoral degree or equivalent competence (not doctoral students) whose scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the planned research. They do not have to be employed by a Swedish HEI.
Participating researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application. Any doctoral students and other collaboration partners and their roles shall be described in the collaboration plan (please see instructions under “Collaboration plan” below).
If the application relates to participants from more than one HEI, one contact person from each HEI shall be invited as a participating researcher.
Costs and grant amounts
The grant may be used for costs relating to the workshop, for example meetings and travel. The grant must not be used for salaries, research expenses or scholarships.
The maximum amount you may apply for is 200 000 SEK per year, including indirect costs.
Grant period
You may apply for a grant for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years, starting in January 2024. The planned activities shall be carried out during the grant period. The grant amount will be paid out as annual payments.
The first payment will be made in January 2024 at the earliest.
In the scientific reporting following the end of the grant period, you must report how the research idea can be developed further.
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
We prefer that you complete your application in English, but you may also use 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
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 of the workshop
- How the workshop will be implemented/conducted: project organisation, time plan for the planned workshop activities
- What is important about the planned workshop
The abstract shall provide a summary picture of the purpose and implementation of the research. 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 one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Other applications or grants
Describe the relationship between the different projects if
- you are applying for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council
- you are receiving an ongoing grant from the Swedish Research Council with a grant period that wholly or partly overlaps with the grant you are now applying for
- there are applications or grants relating to the same project concept/purpose from the Swedish Research Council or other funding bodies (from you or another researcher).
In all cases, you should also justify why you are submitting one or several further applications. If there are no other applications or grants, please state so. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Thematic classification
Educational science is divided up thematically into main areas. Here you shall state the theme that best describes the focus of the project. A summary of all the areas and themes is available in the following document:
Thematic division of the educational sciences field Excel, 13.6 kB, opens in new window.
Research description
Sex and gender perspectives
Please state whether sex and gender perspectives are applicable in your planned research, 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”: Please justify your answer and describe also how you take account of sex and gender perspectives the collaboration plan. If you have stated that sex and gender perspectives are applicable, but still choose not to include them in your collaboration plan, you will need to justify this here.
- If you answer “No”: Please 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.
Collaboration plan
The collaboration plan shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the research task. It may cover a maximum of 4 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:
- Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific aims of the workshop.
- Research idea: Summarise the research idea and the research questions planned to be in focus for the workshop, how gender aspects will be included in the project idea (where applicable), and describe briefly your own and others’ previous research within the research area. State key references.
- Significance and scientific novelty: Describe briefly how the research idea of the workshop shows innovative thinking in relation to previous research within the area, and its importance to educational sciences research in the short and long term.
- Work plan: Summarise the planned work including the following sections:
- Implementation and time plan: Provide a brief description of the planned workshop activities and a time plan. The description of the implementation shall include the workshop activities and how they relate to the overarching research idea. The time plan shall provide an overview of the work on planning, proposed dates and locations for the various workshop activities, any travel, and how the results from the workshop activities are proposed to be used further (for example preparations/planning of joint research applications, information dissemination, etc.).
- Project organisation: Clarify the contributions of yourself and the participating researchers to the implementation of the workshop. Describe and explain the competences and roles of the participating researchers in the workshop(s), and also any other researchers or corresponding who are important for the implementation of the workshop.
Budget and research resources
Costs
Describe the various costs of the workshop that you intend to cover using the grant. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.
Total cost of the workshop
Prisma will automatically add up your budget items in a table. The total amount you are applying for shall also include indirect costs. You will have to add these to the table yourself. Here you can also add any additional costs that the project entails (for which you are not seeking funding under this call).
Please contact your administrating organisation if you have any questions about what constitutes indirect and direct costs.
Other funding
Please state your or any other researcher’s funding for the project over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.
Publications
Applicant’s publication list
Please attach your publication list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list may cover a maximum of one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.
Relevant publications from 2015–2023: List the 10 publications of greatest importance to your application. Describe how you contributed to each publication, and its relevance to the workshop described (maximum 4 lines per publication). Highlight your name in bold in the author list.
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 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.
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.
Participating researchers’ publication lists
Attach all participating researchers’ publication lists joined up into one file. The list for each researcher shall include the 10 publications that are the most relevant to the research described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins. The name of the researcher in question shall be highlighted in bold and also be included in the page header of each 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.
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 participating researchers and any participating administrators to your application.
CV
Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma. Participating researchers must upload their own CV information to the application.
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 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.
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 within exploratory workshops is assessed by a specialised subject review panel where the members are Nordic researchers.
At least three members review and grade your application individually. If extra competence is needed, your application might also be evaluated by an additional, external reviewer. The entire review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and to make a proposal for a decision to the Committee for Educational Sciences.
Review panel Opens in new window.
Following the grant decision your application will receive an individual final statement 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
Your application is assessed according to the criteria Overall Scientific quality and Relevance for the call. The criteria are assessed on a three-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 quality of the proposed research (1–3)
Guiding questions:
- Are the purpose and aims of the workshop clear and well justified?
- Is the research idea for the workshop clear and well justified?
- Is the exploratory feature described clearly?
- How are issues relating to sex and gender perspectives justified and handled in the research plan?
Relevance to the call (1–3)
Guiding questions:
- Does the application relate to an exploratory workshop within educational sciences?
- Is the application relevant to the call in other respects?v