Grant for recruiting international visiting researchers to Sweden

Application procedure

To access the call in Prisma, a link is required that the applicant can obtain after contact by email to the Swedish Research Council’s contact person (teresa.ottinger@vr.se).

For a person to access the call and start the application process, they must be authorised to create organisation applications on the organisation’s Prisma account, please refer to Prisma’s User manual for applying in calls for organisations. External link. If they will not be the project leader and responsible for completing the application, they must invite the project leader 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.

Focus and recruited visiting researcher

The visiting researcher that the grant relates to shall be a prominent researcher who has been established with research activities outside Europe since at least 2 years. The researcher must not already be established in Sweden. The application shall confirm that the researcher is aware of the application, and also what a successful application entails. If the proposed researcher declines to accept, the HEI cannot propose a replacement for the same application.

The researcher is expected to take part in the department’s research and contribute to strengthening the existing research environment, with the ambition to establish their research activities at the organisation in the long term.

The visiting researcher awarded the grant shall be employed by the HEI/organisation throughout the visit.

Applicant

The applicant for the grant must be a Swedish HEI or another Swedish organisation that we have approved as an administrating organisation for grants from the Swedish Research Council.

The application to recruit a visiting researcher shall include a named representative (project leader) of the department wishing to act as host for the visiting researcher. The project leader shall be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further additional availability period.

When the application is registered and signed in Prisma (see below), the organisation and the recruiting department undertake to be responsible for the local hosting and all practical arrangements associated with the researcher’s relocation to Sweden.

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 an organisation may submit, but a single researcher may only be proposed in one application and by one HEI.

Participating researchers

No participating researchers may be included in this application.

Costs and grant amounts

The grant is a standard amount of 2 000 000 SEK per year. The grant may be used to fund costs relating to the researcher’s relocation to Sweden, such as moving expenses, rent of housing, travel between Sweden and the home country, and some research expenses caused by the relocation. Costs for accompanying family members may also be included. The grant may be used for the researcher’s salary during their stay in Sweden.

The grant amount includes cover of indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs, according to the model used by the administrating organisation. Grants must not be used for scholarships.

The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation will cover any costs in excess of the amount received, including any long-term salary costs.

Grant period

The grant can be applied for for a 12 month visit, starting no earlier than 1 June 2025 and no later than 1 March 2026. Please note that the start date will automatically be shown as 1 January 2026 on the form in Prisma and cannot be changed. The actual start date for the visit shall therefore be stated in the Abstract and under the heading “Research description”. The visit must be timed so that it can be concluded during the availability period of the grant, that is, 18 months.

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.

The application may be written in Swedish or English.

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

Descriptive information

Under this tab, in addition to what is asked for below, please also state the visiting researcher’s name, current HEI and country as the project title (such as “Anna Smith, XX University, USA”).

Abstract

The abstract shall include a brief description of the following:

• the visiting researcher’s name, current HEI and country
• start (dates) of the visit
• the visiting researcher’s planned research programme

The abstract shall provide a summary of the visiting researchers stay. 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.

Research description

Research programme

The research programme shall consist of brief but complete information about the recruitment. 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. References must be provided with detailed information about the source, links alone are not sufficient.

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

• The researcher and their research. Present the visiting researcher and their research.
• Justification. Justify the visiting researcher’s visit, and describe the ambition to establish their research activities at the organisation in a longer term.
• Contribution to research. Describe how the visiting researcher may contribute to Swedish research within the area in question.
• Plan for department participation. Specify the planning of the visiting researcher’s participation at the host department and other departments in Sweden.

Recruited visiting researcher

Please state the following:

• Name, title, current position and workplace of the researcher
• The competence the researcher is expected to bring to the host department
• Information about the start date and duration of the visit
• A plan for the researcher’s employment at the recruiting organisation during and after the grant period
• The department(s) or corresponding where the visiting researcher will belong to, and the name of the representative (head of department or corresponding) of the department(s)

The visiting researcher’s CV and list of publications/outputs

Please attach a brief CV with address details (including email address) and current position title of the visiting researcher. The CV shall cover a maximum of 3 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

Please also attach a list of relevant publications and other research outputs for the years 2017–2025. 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, and shall be divided up under these two headings:

1. Peer-reviewed research outputs

May cover

• Original articles
• Conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications
• Edited volumes
• Research review articles
• Books and book chapters
• Intellectual property
• Artistic work
• Other outputs

2. Non peer-reviewed research outputs

May cover

• Publications including popular science books/presentations
• Preprints
• Intellectual property
• Artistic work
• Other outputs

Please also note that no CV data or publications shall be entered elsewhere in the application.

Certificate from the visiting researcher

The certificate shall confirm that the visiting researcher understands the terms and conditions for the grant, and that they confirm the recruitment to the HEI/corresponding with the ambition of establishing their research at the same. The certificate shall be signed by the visiting researcher and cover a maximum of 1 A4 page.

Budget and research resources

The grant is a standard amount and no amount applied for therefore needs to be stated in the application.

Justification of the budget applied for

Describe briefly the costs that the grant is intended to cover. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters, including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Administrating organisation

Please state the site of the visiting researcher.

Participants

Here the person invited to be the project leader for the application may invite participating administrators. Please note that participating researchers may not be invited in this application.

How the application is assessed

The application is assessed based on the following assessment criteria by a review panel consisting of secretaries general at the Swedish Research Council. If there is a need for further competence, the application may also be assessed by external reviewers. The review panel will submit a proposed decision to the Swedish Research Council’s Director General. Following the grant decision, the application will be given an individual statement that includes a grading and a summary of the assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Assessment criteria and guiding questions

The assessment of applications takes into account the proposed visiting researcher’s scientific merits and international standing, as well as the relevance for the purpose of the call in terms of how well the visiting researcher can contribute to the development of both the activities of the host department and Swedish research within the area in question.

The assessment of the visiting researcher’s scientific merits and international standing, as well as the relevance for the call, is done on a seven-degree grading scale.

Scientific merits and the visiting researcher’s position internationally (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• How strong are the visiting researcher’s scientific merits?
• How strong is the visiting researcher’s international standing?

Relevance to the call (1-7)

Guiding questions:

• To what extent does the project promote the development of research within the area in question?
• How well worked-out is the plan for the visiting researcher’s participation at the host department and other departments in Sweden? To what extent can the visiting researcher contribute to the development of the host department’s activities during and after the grant period?
• To what extent can the visiting researcher contribute to the development of Swedish research within the area in question?