Project grant for research collaboration between Italy and Sweden

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

The application must be written in English.

Sections of the application

The application form includes the following tabs:

• Descriptive information
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• CV (project leader active in Italy)
• Publications
• Administrating organisation
• Participants
• CV (Swedish applicant)

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 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing. Please note that the abstract is to be included in the research plan as well.

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 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.

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.

Further information is available on the page “Conducting ethical research” Opens in new window. on the Swedish Research Council’s website.

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 you 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”: 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.

Research plan

The research plan shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the joint research task. The research plan shall be identical to the one submitted by the project leader active in Italy to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The research plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

• Abstract (Sintesi) (maximum of 2000 characters).
• Objectives (Obiettivi) (maximum of 2000 characters). State the overall purpose and specific aims of the research project and the added value of the bilateral collaboration.
• Method (Metodologia prevista) (maximum of 4000 characters). Describe the underlying theory and the methods to be applied in the project structured in separate work packages. Describe also the activities and roles of the collaborating research groups as well as the time plan for the project.
• Resources (Risorse finanziarie e umane di entrambi i Paesi) (maximum of 1000 Characters). Clarify how participating researchers and other resources will contribute to the implementation of the project.
• Results (Risultati attesi) (maximum of 2000 characters). Briefly describe the expected outcomes of the project for each of the different work packages described under Method. Describe how the project will have an impact on bilateral relations in regard to scientific and technological development.
• Collaboration (Collaborazioni) (maximum of 2000 characters). Describe any previous and ongoing collaboration between the two countries and the added value of the bilateral cooperation.
• References (Bibliografia) (maximum of 2000 characters), State 5 key references for the project.

Relevance

Describe how the project is relevant for one of the specified areas (see the definition in the introduction to the call text) and how the project promotes the development of this field.

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.

Budget and research resources

Please state your activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) in the project. 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.

CV (Project leader active in Italy)

Please attach the CV of the project leader active in Italy, comprising no more than 2 A4 pages.

Publications

Applicant’s publication list

Please attach your publication list as a file. The list shall consist of 5 recent publications relevant to the project.

Publication list of the project leader active in Italy

Attach the publication list of the project leader active in Italy as a file. The list shall consist of 5 recent publications relevant to the project.

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.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here you invite the international project leader and administrators to your application.

CV (Swedish applicant)

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 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, such as as lecture invitations, leadership positions, positions of trust, membership of scientific organisations and similar.
• 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 for a Project grant for research collaboration between Italy and Sweden is evaluated in two steps. In the first step the Swedish Research Council and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will each identify a shortlist of proposals considered for funding. In the second step representatives from both parties will meet and decide on a final list of applications recommended for funding.

In the first step, each application will firstly be reviewed by panel members and external reviewers individually. The review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, in order to identify the applications for the shortlist.

In case there will be a large number of applications to this call, the applications that receive the lowest grades by the individual reviewers will not be discussed in detail at the review panel meeting. This is to enable more in-depth discussions of applications of higher quality that have a reasonable chance of being funded. 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 and relevance 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. The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is assessed on a three-grade scale.

In addition to the four basic criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion, Relevance for the call, 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:

• To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges in relation to existing knowledge and ongoing research worldwide?
• To what extent is the project structured so that it can result in significant progress in addressing these challenges?
• When applicable, how are issues relating to sex and gender perspectives justified and handled in the research plan?
• When applicable, are the ethical considerations for the proposed project properly described and addressed? Does the applicant adequately consider potential suffering of humans and animals, and the balance of risk and value to nature and/or society?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent are the objectives novel, original and beyond the state of the art?
• To what extent does the research involve development of novel concepts and approaches, or development between or across disciplines?

Merits of the applicants (1–7)

The assessment should concern whether the merits of the applicants enable them to perform the proposed project.

Guiding question:

• How significant is the applicants’ scientific productivity, impact and other merits in a national and international perspective, in relation to the research area, and the applicant’s career age?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible considering the degree to which the proposed research is high risk/high gain?
• To what extent are the proposed research methodology and working arrangements (including access to infrastructure, equipment and other resources) appropriate to achieve the goals of the project?
• To what extent does the applicant, and the participating researchers, have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully execute the project?
• To what extent are the proposed timescales, resources and applicant commitment adequate and properly justified?
• Does the applicant adequately consider relevant legal and formal requirements for the proposed research, such as ethical permits and guidelines?

Relevance for the call (1-3)

In addition to the basic criteria, the review panel will also evaluate your application using an additional criterion, Relevance for the call, on a three-grade scale. The following aspects will then be evaluated:

• Relevance to one of the focus areas in the call
• Added value of the bilateral cooperation
• Involvement of early career scientists
• Exploitation and dissemination of the results
• Budget adequacy

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.