Starting grant within medicine and health

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 a starting grant must be an individual researcher together with their organisation (a Swedish Swedish higher education institution (HEI) or another Swedish organisation that fulfils our criteria for administrating organisations for Swedish Research Council grants). 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) must be suited to the task and its implementation, and must equal at least 50 per cent of a full-time equivalent throughout the grant period.

You must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree, awarded more than 2 years and no more than 7 years before the deadline for this call.

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 50 per cent of a full-time equivalent.

Note: If you are awarded a grant, you will have to validate your doctoral degree before the grant can be paid. If you have a Swedish doctoral degree, you can validate it easily before sending in your application. Read more in Prisma’s user support External link, opens in new window. about how to validate your doctoral degree via Ladok.

Career age

To apply for a starting grant, your doctoral degree must have been awarded more than 2 years ago and no more than 7 years ago at the deadline for the call, that is to say awarded no later than 28 March 2021 and no earlier than 28 March 2016. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies. You will not be able to complete your application if your doctoral degree was awarded less than 2 years ago or more than 7 years ago. An exception applies if you have not been in paid employment for a long period(s) after being awarded your doctoral degree, and this has affected your ability to gain merit as a researcher (‘deductible time’).

The Swedish Research Council’s approved grounds for deductible time are a minimum of one month’s consecutive absence due to one of the following reasons:

• parental leave
• position of trust in a trade union or student organisation
• mandatory service in the total defence force
• long-term illness (own reported illness or care of child/close family member)
• general medical internship/BT foundation period (maximum 24 months full-time work) or further training/specialist medical internship for clinically active professionals (maximum 24 months full-time education/work).

Please note that we do not accept other employment, unemployment or holidays as deductible time.

If you wish to claim deductible time, you must specify the recognised grounds and time involved in your application (please see instructions under “Descriptive information” below).

We conduct sample checks. This means that we might request a certificate in evidence of your grounds for deductible time.

Number of applications and previous grants

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 on the page Several grants simultaneously Opens in new window.. Please note that you may not simultaneously apply for the Swedish Research Council’s undirected project grants. Also note that if you are awarded a starting grant, you will not be able to apply for the Swedish Research Council’s undirected project grants during the grant period.

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.

If you already have an ongoing grant, then further information about the grants you may apply for are shown on the page Several grants simultaneously. Opens in new window.

Please also note that you cannot apply for a starting grant again if you at any time previously have been awarded and been the project leader for such a grant or a project grant for junior researchers from the Swedish Research Council.

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 grants 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 may not invite any participating researchers in this application. Any collaboration partners and their roles shall be described in the research plan (please see instructions under “Research plan” below).

Costs and grant amounts

You can apply for a grant for 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)
• depreciation costs.

The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by your administrating organisation. Grants must 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 Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation, as the employer responsible, will cover any costs in excess of the standard amount.

Grant period

The grant period is 4 years, starting in January 2024. 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 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

International 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 (apart from the popular science description, which you must write in Swedish).

Sections of the application

The application form includes the following tabs:

• Descriptive information
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• Publications
• Letter of support
• Administrating organisation
• Review panels
• Participants (only administrators in this call)
• 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
• How the research will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and scientific methods
• What is important about the planned research

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 an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Popular science description

Describe the planned research in such a way that a person who is not a researcher can understand it. Do this by answering the following questions:

• What is the research about?
• Why is it important to research this?
• In what way may the new knowledge be important?

The popular science description is important when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council.

The text must be in Swedish and 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.

Deductible time

Please state any longer interruptions in your active research time after your doctoral degree caused by any of the grounds recognised by the Swedish Research Council. Please state the interruption calculated as a full-time equivalent and rounded up into full calendar months. Please see the recognised grounds for deductible time under the heading “Career age” above.

Special area

If your project relates to research in one of the areas of precision medicine, psychiatry with focus on psychiatric involuntary care and forensic psychiatry, or antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance, according to the definitions below, please mark this here. Please note that if you want to choose psychiatry with focus on psychiatric involuntary care and forensic psychiatry, then you must also choose review panel MH-12 Mental health for us to take your application for this area into account.

Precision medicine: Precision medicine refers to a development towards ever more individually adapted care within Swedish health and medical care. New opportunities for precision medicine are based on advances in recent years in areas such as molecular biosciences and bioinformatics, as well as the emergence of new high-resolution imaging techniques. The area covers research that can contribute basic knowledge of disease conditions, as well as knowledge of how these various conditions differ at molecular level. The research may, for example, relate to how genes and bio-markers are combined with knowledge about lifestyle and other factors linked to disease progression and therapy outcomes, which may lead to ever more tailored therapies. In this context, precision medicine refers to diagnostic methods and therapies for individually adapted investigation, prevention and treatment in all disease areas, including rare diseases and health conditions. As basic research in the area is very close to application, research in collaboration with health and medical care or the business sector is particularly relevant.

Psychiatry with focus on compulsory mental care and forensic psychiatry (only review panel MH-12): Research in compulsory mental care and forensic psychiatry covers rehabilitation, nursing care, pharmacological therapy, substance abuse treatment and comorbidity between substance abuse and dependency, mental ill health, and research into violent behaviour. The field also covers the importance of the care content and the patients’ daily occupation, and how this affects patients mentally and physically. The conceptual and legal field that defines the field of forensic psychiatry is also covered. The research covers many scientific fields, such as neuroscience, psychology, law and sociology, and we regard multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary approaches as important and potentially valuable.

Antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance: The field of antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance includes both basic and clinical research in areas such as immunology, microbiology, and healthcare and public health research. Examples of important focuses for research are studies in molecular mechanisms for infection, development of new antimicrobial preparations and new effective diagnostic methods, mechanisms for resistance development, healthcare-related infections, health economics, prevention including vaccines and other infection-preventive measures, and how bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance is passed on between humans, animals and the environment.

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.

Research description

Ethical aspects

Legal and formal requirements

State whether the research covers the handling of personal data, or experiments on animals and/or studies involving humans.

If the research covers any of the above, you must also describe/state the approvals and permits your research project requires, and how you plan to obtain these. Describe any other permits that affect your application, such as whether parts of the research will be done in a country other than Sweden. If no approvals or permits are needed, 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.

More information is available on the page Conducting ethical research. Opens in new window.

Ethical considerations

Reflect on the ethical issues that may arise for your project, and describe these. 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. Examples of issues to reflect on:

• How do your research questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues?
• What (direct) risks (physical, mental, or integrity) will research persons or animals be exposed to?
• What long-term risks may arise from the research? Is there any risk that the research may be used in a way that is detrimental to animals, nature/the environment, or society (whole or parts of the same) in other respects?
• Is the research expected to contribute to other values over and above the knowledge gain? If so, to whom?
• How do you weigh up the risks (in particular short-term risks) against the value (which is often more long-term) of the research?

If no ethical issues are raised, please justify this. 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.

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 your take account of sex and gender perspectives in the 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 decision.

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 plan

The research plan shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the research task. It may 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:

• Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific aims of the research project.
• 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. State also whether the project continues to build on research and scientific results from a grant awarded previously by the Swedish Research Council.
• 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, and how the project will be implemented. Describe also any crucial risks or obstacles that may impact on the implementation, and your plan for managing these.
  • Project organisation: Clarify the contributions of yourself and any other researchers and/or key persons to the implementation of the project, including a description of competences and roles in the project. Explain in particular how the time allocated by you (that is, your activity level) as project leader is suitable for the task, including the relationship with your other research undertakings.
• Independent line of research: If you are working or will be working in a larger group, please clarify how your project relates to the other projects in the group. If you are (continuing) working in the same team as your doctoral or postdoc supervisor, or if you are continuing a project that wholly or partly started during your doctoral or postdoc studies, you must also describe the relationship between your project and the research of your former supervisor.

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 and your team have at your disposal for the project.
• Need for research infrastructure: Specify the project’s need for international and national research infrastructure. If you choose to use other infrastructure that those supported by the Swedish Research Council Opens in new window., Opens in new window.and that are thereby open to all, you must justify this (also applies to local research infrastructure).
• International and national collaboration: Describe your collaboration with foreign and Swedish researchers and research teams. State whether you contribute to or refer to international collaboration in your research.
• Clinical significance: Explain how the results of the project may be transferred into practical clinical use within the area medicine and health.

Budget and research resources

Please state your activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) in the project. Your activity level as project leader must correspond to no less than 50 per cent of a full-time equivalent.

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 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

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 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

Please sort the publications 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 your research project (maximum 4 lines per publication). Highlight your name in bold in the author list. Write “Part of PhD thesis” in bold in brackets for the publications included in your doctoral thesis.
2. Relevant publications from 2015–2023: 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 order below. State “Part of PhD thesis” in bold in brackets for the publications included in your doctoral thesis.
   • 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
   • 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 2015–2023
   • Number of peer-reviewed research review articles from 2015–2023
   • Number of other publications including patents from 2015–2023
   • Please note that no further bibliometric information shall be stated in the application.

Letter of support

The formal letter of support from your administrating organisation shall be signed by the head of the home department or equivalent where you will be doing your research. Your (the applicant’s) name shall be stated clearly, as well as the name and function/position of the person writing the letter of support.

Please note that the letter of support is an important part of the assessment of the application, and that we are not asking for a letter of recommendation.

The document may cover no more than 2 A4 pages, plus one further page if required for any digital signature. The letter of support shall be written in English, and shall include the following headings and information. No further information shall be included.

You can download a template for the letter of support here. Word, 39.2 kB, opens in new window. (Word, 39.2 kB)

Applicant’s profile

Description of:

• the applicant’s research programme and how this fits into the research environment (research already in progress at the department)
• the applicant’s scientific independence
• how the applicant can contribute to the department’s activities based on their scientific and teaching competence.

Commitment of the hosting department

Information on/description of:

• the applicant’s employment format and funding of the employment throughout the grant period

• how the department will fulfil the applicant’s need for premises, equipment and other infrastructure
• the HEI’s/department’s career plan for the applicant during and after the grant period The plan shall include goals and activities for how the applicant can continue acquiring scientific merit, and develop their leadership and their teaching competence.

By signing the application in Prisma, the administrating organisation confirms these undertakings.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Review panels

Please request the review panel or panels (in priority order) that you wish to carry out the scientific assessment of your application.

The final allocation of applications is determined by the Swedish Research Council.

Review panels Opens in new window.

Please note that if you have stated the special area of psychiatry with focus on psychiatric involuntary care and forensic psychiatry, you must choose review panel MH-12 Mental health in order for us to take your application into account for this area.

Participants

Here you as applicant may invite participating administrators to your application.

CV

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma. The following information (where available) must always be included in your 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

Applications for starting grant within medicine and health are evaluated in a two-stage procedure. First, a regular subject-oriented review panel with Swedish and international members reviews your application. At least four 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 (not including any external reviewers) then meets to discuss and prioritise the applications.

Based on their scientific assessment the panel nominates a limited number of applications to the second stage. In this stage an overarching international panel makes the joint recommendation for all nominated applications for a decision by the Scientific Council for Medicine and Health.

Review panels Opens in new window.

In order to enable more in-depth discussions of applications of higher quality that have a reasonable chance of being funded, the applications that received the lowest grades from the panel members are not discussed in detail at the review panel meeting. Following the grant decision, all applications receive a final statement that includes the review panel’s grading of the application. The applications that have been discussed in more detail at the panel meeting receive an individual final statement which, in addition to the grades, also contains a summary of the review panel’s discussion and joint assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Here you will find a more comprehensive description of the Swedish Research Council's assessment of applications Opens in new window..

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. In general, the scientific quality of the project receives a greater focus when evaluating starting grant applications. The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is 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 (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Is the research proposal relevant for medical research?
• Is the definition of the problems and proposed solutions clear and compelling?
• Do the study design, research questions and hypotheses meet the standard of the highest scientific quality?
• Are the hypotheses clearly defined and based on the appropriate literature and/or preliminary data?
• Are potential problems and alternative strategies identified and presented?
• Are methods, including data analysis and statistics, appropriate for the project and well described?
• Are the ethical considerations for the proposed project described and addressed properly? Does the applicant adequately consider risk/value/suffering for humans, animals, nature and/or society?
• If sex and gender is described as relevant to the research project, has the applicant considered sex and gender in the description of the proposed work, for instance as part of preliminary data, the choice of samples or study population, or data analyses?
• Does the applicant demonstrate the ability to formulate scientific questions that are clearly independent of the research the applicant performed as a doctoral student and postdoc, and the research of former advisors?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the project extend or challenge current understanding, opinion or practice in its field?
• Is the project built on a unique combination of ideas, preliminary data, and different methodologies to create novel approaches to address the question at hand?
• Is there potential for creation of new knowledge, novel technologies, or new directions for research and advancement of the field?
• Will completion of the aims improve scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice?
• Does the researcher propose a line of research that has the potential to significantly advance current knowledge in the field or is he/she simply adding details to existing knowledge?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the applicant have sufficient research experience, expertise, level of independence and scientific network for implementation of the proposed project?
• How do the applicant’s academic qualifications and achievements relate to his or her career age?
• Does the applicant have a documented independent line of investigation?
• Does the publication record suggest a coherent line of investigation? Does the applicant report publications as senior author? Focus is on the most relevant and important publications and reports, with emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
• Has the applicant shown the ability to work independently of former advisors?
• Has the applicant shown the ability to work in new (international) research environments, for instance during postdoctoral work?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• Considering the project as a whole, including participating researchers, does the applicant or project group have sufficient competence for completion of the project?
• Is the project leader’s level of activity within the project sufficient with regard to the proposed research plan?
• Is the general design, including the time-frame, realistic for implementing the proposed project?
• Are the materials, methods (including statistics and/or power calculations), experimental models, and when appropriate patient/study cohorts adequate and well adapted to the hypothesis or research question?
• Does the applicant adequately consider relevant legal and formal requirements for the proposed research, such as ethical permits and guidelines?

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.

Relevance for subfocus areas

These questions are meant to aid the discussions at the panel meeting. There is no grade for the relevance. Instead the panel should decide (Yes or No) if ranked applications, where the applicant has checked a box for a subfocus area, do indeed belong to this subfocus area. Please note that a majority of the questions should be met to warrant a Yes.

For compulsory mental care and forensic psychiatry (only MH-12)

Guiding questions:

• Is the research proposal relevant for forensic psychiatry or compulsory mental care? Will the outcome be directly relevant for the patients?
• Is there a need of more research in this area in accordance to existing systematic reviews, national and international guidelines and/or identified knowledge gaps?
• Is the research inter-/multi-disciplinary?

For antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance

Guiding questions:

• Does the project have the potential to provide new knowledge of disease mechanisms and factors that affect emergence or spread of infectious diseases or antimicrobial resistance?
• Does the project have the potential of advancing the field with regard to treatments and/or interventional procedures for conditions that occur due to infections and antimicrobial resistance?
• Will the research findings from the project have translational impact on healthcare practice of prevention and treatment of infections or antimicrobial resistance?

For precision medicine

Guiding questions:

• Does the research have potential to lead to more individually adapted health care and medical care?
• Is the research closely linked to an application?