Doctoral programme grant within register-based research

Application procedure

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).

Requirements for applicants

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.

Framework for the doctoral programme

The doctoral programme shall:

• be linked to an HEI with main and coordinating responsibility
• be operated by at least three Swedish HEIs in cooperation
• be close to well-functioning research environment/s with international connections
• form a structured and coherent range of educational programmes, with joint courses and seminars of high scientific and educational quality, which have to be available nationally and preferably internationally
• have a clear organisation and leadership, including a board or governing body with overarching responsibility for quality assurance of the doctoral programme’s activities in collaboration with the participating departments
• have a sufficient national supply of doctoral students.

The above are general requirements that the doctoral programme must fulfil to receive a grant from the Swedish Research Council. Depending on differing needs and preconditions, a doctoral programme may then be designed in various ways, but it should

• offer relevant education of high scientific and educational quality that is not otherwise included in the HEIs’ ordinary doctoral programmes
• include both theoretical and practical elements relevant to register-based research
• offer doctoral students in register-based research opportunities to develop general skills and knowledge that are necessary for research
• educate doctoral students in good data management of relevance for register-based research and in the central guidelines for open access to research data, including the FAIR principles
• disseminate information on and enable doctoral students to participate in courses of relevance for register-based research outside the graduate school’s programme
• give doctoral students the opportunity to present and discuss their own research
• provide an international outlook (for example how register-based data can be used in international collaborations)
• enable networking between junior researchers from different scientific disciplines.

Focus

The initiative aims to strengthen and develop interdisciplinary and intersectoral research that is based wholly or partly on micro-data from public agency or quality registers (data collected primarily for purposes other than research) and that can be linked to data from other sources, such as researcher-generated data, biobank data, or survey data. In this context, interdisciplinary and intersectoral research refers to researchers with genuinely differing scientific background working together to investigate and solve research problems.

The grant for a doctoral programme within register-based research aims to develop knowledge of how register-based research is conducted in Sweden, and to educate a new generation of researchers in interdisciplinary and intersectoral register-based research. At the same time, junior researchers are taught about new methods in this field, as well as good data management, including the FAIR principles, open access to research data and research software through the funding of the doctoral programme.

The doctoral programme is expected to stimulate and contribute to internationalisation of register-based research by developing knowledge about register-based research abroad, establishing networks between junior researchers, and by collaborating with international researchers and research institutions.

The doctoral programme shall have a national catchment area and offer education relevant to all research fields that use register-based data in their research.

Applicant

The applicant must be a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) with degree-awarding powers at third cycle higher education level, that we have approved as an administrating organisation for grants from the Swedish Research Council. The HEI shall coordinate the national doctoral programme, and shall also be responsible for activity reporting and for scientific and financial final reporting of grants awarded. The doctoral programme shall be operated by no less than three HEIs in cooperation.

The application shall include one named researcher, who shall be the coordinator of the doctoral programme and responsible for coordination and follow-up of studies. The coordinator shall be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further additional availability period. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent. The coordinator does not have to be employed at the time of applying. A named representative of each participating HEI shall be listed (see instructions under “Research programme” below), and be included as participating researchers in the application.

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.

Participating researchers

A representative of each HEI participating in the doctoral programme shall be included as a participating researcher in the application. The participating researchers shall be researchers with a doctoral degree or corresponding competence (not doctoral students), whose scientific competence will be crucial for implementing the proposed doctoral programme’s activities.

Participating researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application.

Costs and grant amounts

Grants may be used to fund the costs of implementing a national doctoral programme. Grants may not be used to pay salary to research students. Grants must not be used for scholarships.

You may apply for a maximum of 2 500 000 SEK per year, including indirect costs.

The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by the administrating organisation.

The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation will cover any costs in excess of the amount received.

Grant period

The grant period is 4 years, starting in January 2025. The first payment will be made no earlier than December 2024.

A report shall be submitted to the Swedish Research Council no later than 28 February 2027, stating the result of the admission of doctoral students to the doctoral programme. The report shall also describe the collaboration between the participating organisations and the added value from the doctoral programme, and how the doctoral programme fulfils the required focus on interdisciplinary and intersectoral register-based research. If the results do not correspond to the preconditions that the award of the grant was based on, the grant amounts for the remaining grant period may be reviewed.

Requirement regarding a network within register-based research

The doctoral programme and the research environments awarded grants under the initiative shall together form a network, in which each grant recipient constitutes a node. The network shall form a steering group where all the nodes are represented. The network will be coordinated by a network coordinator, nominated by the steering group and appointed by the Swedish Research Council. Applicants are encouraged to indicate in their application whether they or one of the participating researchers are interested in the role as coordinator. Additional funding may be available for the position of network coordinator and for the activities the coordinator will be responsible for, including an international conference on register-based research.

What must the application contain?

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.

International experts are involved in the scientific evaluation of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete your application in English (except the popular science description, which must be in Swedish).

The information we request under each tab in the application form is described below.

Descriptive information

Abstract

The abstract shall include a brief description of the following:

• The focus of the doctoral programme
• The organisation planned
• The significance to the research field.

The text shall provide an overview of the purpose and implementation of the doctoral programme. 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 activities of the doctoral programme 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 doctoral programme will contribute to strengthening the research competence in register-based research.

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.

Research description

Research programme

The research programme shall consist of a brief but complete description of how the doctoral programme will be designed. 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 (not as hyperlinks) and any images.

The research programme must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

Objective:

Describe the theme and focus of the doctoral programme.

Research environment:

Describe the research environment/s supporting the doctoral programme. Describe the environment/s in terms of focus and management, and the focus of research in progress. Describe in particular how the environment/s may contribute to the development of the doctoral programme.

Programme description:

Summarise the planned educational activities of the doctoral programme, and describe the recruitment basis.

Organisation:

Describe in detail how the doctoral programme will be organised and administrated (courses offered, seminars, course development, coordinating, study follow-up, work allocation between supervisors, examiners and course providers). Describe also the planned dimensioning of the doctoral programme in terms of number of doctoral students.

Significance:

Describe the national doctoral programme’s contribution to expanding the recruitment pool and the quality within research fields that use register-based data.

National coordination:

Describe the Swedish HEIs that are participating in the operation of the doctoral programme, and list the person/s (name, position, organisational unit) who will be responsible for this participation at each HEI. Describe briefly the planned allocation of roles, tasks and responsibilities for the operation to the persons participating (including the coordinator), and what specific competences each participant will contribute.

International and other national collaboration:

Describe the collaboration with Swedish and foreign research environments and/or other doctoral programmes.

Report the following under separate headings if relevant to your application:

Equipment:

Describe the basic equipment relevant to the research programme that the doctoral programme has at its disposal.

Need for research infrastructure:

Specify the doctoral programme’s need for international and national research infrastructure. If you choose to use other infrastructure than those supported by the Swedish Research Council, and that are thereby open to all, you must justify this (also applies to local research infrastructure).

Added value of collaboration

The description of the added value shall include

• how the proposed cluster of participating organisations makes it possible, together and in close collaboration, to undertake research tasks within the doctoral programme that are more comprehensive and challenging than would be possible if the organisations worked individually
• how the collaboration will be built up and developed, and how the resulting doctoral programme will supplement the existing doctoral programmes in Sweden
• how the doctoral programme will be integrated with the activities of the HEI/s, and how the work will be organised to achieve the goals of the doctoral programme in as efficient a way as possible.

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

Relevance

Describe how the application is relevant for the focus on register-based research (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.

Publications and other research outputs

The project leader’s/coordinator’s publications and other research outputs

Please attach the publication list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list shall cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

Sort the outputs 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 research outputs

List the 10 publications or other outputs that are the most important for confirming the coordinator’s competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. For each publication, please state how the researcher contributed to it, and its relevance to the doctoral programme described (maximum 4 lines per publication). Highlight the researcher’s name in bold in the author list.

2. Relevant peer-reviewed research outputs from 2016–2024

In this part, the outputs listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they were published during the period in question. Sort them with the researcher’s name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under headings (type of output) in the following order:

• Original articles
• Conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications
• Edited volumes
• Research review articles
• Books and book chapters
• Artistic work
• Other outputs that do not fit under any of the headings above. Please note that intellectual property rights shall be shown in the CV section of the application.

3. Relevant non peer-reviewed research outputs from 2016–2024:

In this part, the outputs listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they were published during the period in question. Sort them with the researcher’s name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under headings (type of output) in the following order:

• Artistic work
• Publications including popular science books/presentations
• Preprints
• Other outputs that do not fit under any of the headings above. Please note that intellectual property rights shall be shown in the CV section of the application.

Participating researchers’ publications and other research outputs

Attach all participating researchers’ publication lists joined together into a single file.

The list for each researcher shall include the 10 publications or other research outputs that are the most relevant for the implementation of the activities described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 10, 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.

The outputs may be of the following types and must be 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.

Peer-reviewed

• original articles
• conference contributions
• edited volumes
• research review articles
• books and book chapters
• artistic work
• other outputs

and

Non peer-reviewed research outputs

Budget and research resources

Personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active within the operation of the doctoral programme, that is to say the project leader/coordinator, other researchers responsible for participation in the doctoral programme at other HEIs, doctoral students and other personnel.

Please also state the salary you are applying for, for the project leader/coordinator or other personnel active within the doctoral programme, both as a percentage of a full-time salary and as actual annual amounts (including social security contributions). Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK. Please note that the grant may not be used to pay salary to research students.

Other costs

Describe any other costs of the project (premises costs, running costs and depreciation costs). Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

You may include depreciation costs for equipment to be used in the operation, provided that:

• the equipment has an economic life of at least three years
• the equipment has an acquisition value above a certain amount
• the need cannot be fulfilled by using national or international research infrastructure supported by the Swedish Research Council and open to all.

You may only include the proportion of depreciation costs that corresponds to the use of the equipment in the proposed operation. You may not include depreciation costs for equipment that is wholly financed via other grants.

Total cost of the doctoral programme

Prisma will automatically add up your 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 doctoral programme entails (and for which you are not seeking funding 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.

Other funding

Please state any other funding of 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.

Administrating organisation

Please state the location of the doctoral programme.

Participants

Under this tab, the person invited to be the coordinator may in turn invite participating researchers and participating administrators to the application.

CV

Under this tab, the coordinator shall upload the relevant CV information from their personal account in Prisma. The information/merits shall confirm the coordinator’s competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. Participating researchers must upload their own CV information to the application.

The following information, where available, must always be included in each CV, taking into account the stated limitation in numbers:

Education

First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.

Work

• Current employment (including employment form)
• Longer relevant employments
• Post-doctoral visits (state also as employments if applicable)
• Researcher exchanges of relevance to the research described
• Any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on your opportunity to gain merit as a researcher.

Merits and awards

• Docentship/associate professorship
• Persons you have supervised (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the number of persons in each category and list the names of the maximum 10 most relevant)
• Relevant grants you have received in competition (list maximum 10)
• Your most relevant prizes and awards (list maximum 10)
• Any other merits of relevance to the application, such 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.

Doctoral programme grant within register-based research

How your application is assessed

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 doctoral programme grant within register-based research is evaluated by a review panel where the members are Swedish and international 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 (not including any external reviewers) then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and to make a proposal for a decision to the Director General.

Review panel

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.

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

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 basic criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion, Added value on a 7-grade scale and Relevance on a 2-graded scale. For doctoral programme grants, the scores for Scientific quality of the project and Added value are given a greater weight in the overall grade.

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 is the proposed doctoral programme based on relevant and up-to-date theoretical, methodological and pedagogical research which is of high quality, on an international level, and from several genuinely different disciplines and sectors?
• To what extent do the goals, contents and organisation of the doctoral programme contribute to added scientific value for research education for the research areas in question?
• To what extent do the international aspects of the doctoral programme contribute to establishing the doctoral programme at the cutting edge of research on an international level?
• To what extent does the doctoral programme adequately emphasise developing the doctoral students’ basic scientific competence?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• In what way does the doctoral programme contribute to novelty and originality within the specified research area and the purpose of this call?
• To what extent do the goals, contents and organisation of the doctoral programme contribute to developing originality and innovation, and reinforcing interdisciplinary and intersectorial approaches in the doctoral students’ scientific work?
• To what extent will the doctoral programme contribute to exposing more doctoral students to strong national and international research environments?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent is the main applicant and his/her institution scientifically strong, with solid experience of organising research education?
• To what extent is the project participants from the participating organisations have pedagogical competence and experience of providing research education?
• To what extent do the project participants from the participating organisations have a high level of competence within their scientific areas?
• In addition to the project leaders, to what extent are nationally and internationally prominent researchers with a high pedagogical competence involved in the doctoral programme?
• To what extent do the project participants have sufficient experience of supervision of doctoral students?

Added value (1-7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the doctoral programme complement the existing doctoral education in the relevant fields in Sweden?
• To what extent is the doctoral programme more ambitious and challenging, for instance in terms of its interdisciplinary and intersectorial ambitions, than what the participating organisations could achieve separately?
• To what extent will the proposed doctoral programme strengthen and enhance the quality of research education at the participating research institutions?
• To what extent does the collaboration between the participating organisations create synergies and added value for the doctoral education?
• To what extent does the doctoral programme contribute to national and international networking?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the doctoral programme have a clear organisation and management structure?
• To what extent are the contributions of the participating institutions to the doctoral programme made clear?
• How is access to staff, infrastructure and other necessary ensured?
• To what extent is the recruitment process of doctoral students to the national programme clearly described and appropriate?
• To what extent is the organisation of the international aspects of the doctoral programme made clear?

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 to the call (1-2)

The criterion Relevance relates to the purpose of the call. The purpose of the grant is to strengthen and develop interdisciplinary and intersectorial research to educate a new generation of researchers in Sweden.

The relevance criterion is not included in the overall rating. However, it should be considered when ranking the application in relation to other applications.

Guiding questions:

• To what extent is the focus of the graduate school in line with the purpose and focus of the call?
• To what extent will the doctoral programme contribute to development of new knowledge and increase competence relevant for register-based research?
• To what extent will the graduate school strengthen and enhance the quality of research education at the participating research institutions?