Grant for research communication in artistic research

Requirements for applicants

The following requirements must be fulfilled for you to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks, and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.

Focus

The grant relates to communication of artistic research, which covers research on an artistic basis in all artistic areas, such as

• architecture
• visual art (fine art), including audio-visual media
• circus
• dance and choreography
• design
• film, photography and moving image
• arts and crafts
• curatorial practices
• literature
• music
• opera
• performance
• theatre
• multi-disciplinary artistic activities.

Applicant

The applicant shall be an individual researcher with a high level of research competence in an artistic field, together with their organisation (a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) or another Swedish organisation that fulfils our criteria for administrating organisations for Swedish Research Council grants). 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 responsibility for the activities described. The time you set aside for the project (your activity level, that is the percentage of a full-time equivalent) must be suited to the task and its implementation throughout the grant period.

At the time of applying, you must be or have been the recipient of a previous grant with an availability period that ended (or will end) on 31 December 2023 or later (see below for the relevant grant forms). Your application for the communication grant shall be linked to the previously awarded or ongoing grant/project.

You do not have to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of applying, but you must be employed at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further availability period. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent.

Number of applications and previous grants

The requirements described in this section only apply to applicants (project leaders).

General information about overlaps between applications and grants

Your application must not cover costs for purposes that are already funded by the Swedish Research Council or by any other funding body. Also, it must not concern the same purpose/project that you know another researcher is applying for from the Swedish Research Council. 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. There are no other restrictions on which other grants you can apply for during the same year.

What requirements apply if I already have a grant from the Swedish Research Council?

To apply under this call, you must be or have been the holder of a grant from the Swedish Research Council, with an availability period that ended (or will end) on 31 December 2023 or later. Your previously awarded grant must be relevant for artistic research and a project grant (including a project grant for international collaboration), one of our career support funding forms (international postdoc, starting grant, consolidator grant, grant for employment as a half-time researcher in a clinical environment, or for research time), a distinguished professor grant, or a research environment grant.

Note: If you have been the project leader for previous grants from the Swedish Research Council that have ended, final financial reports for all of these must have been submitted within the permitted time frame in order for you to apply for a new grant. Please contact your administrating organisation if you are unsure whether all your final reports have been submitted. If you are the project leader for an ongoing grant that ends at the end of the year, you may apply for a new grant without having submitted the final report, as long as the deadline to submit the report has not passed.

What applies for applications to or grants from other funding bodies?

If your application to the Swedish Research Council relates to the same project that another funding body has already awarded funding for, or that you are applying for from another funding body, please describe this.

Participating researchers

You may include up to 6 participating researchers in your application, from the artistic field or from other areas of expertise. Participating researchers are other researchers with a doctoral degree or equivalent competence, but also doctoral students, whose artistic or scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the planned communication project. They do not have to be employed by a Swedish HEI.

Participating researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application. Any other collaboration partners and their roles shall be described in the project plan (please see instructions under “Project plan” below).

Collaboration

The purpose of the grant is to enable the applicant to plan, implement and evaluate communication activities that entail dialogue or co-creation with identified groups outside academia. The communication project shall include collaboration with a communicator, curator, producer, creator, collaboration coordinator, collaboration lecturer, artist, project coordinator, designer or other relevant professional expertise.

Costs and grant amounts

You can apply for a grant for costs directly related to the implementation of the communication project, such as

• salaries (including your own salary), however no more than corresponding to the person’s activity level in the project
• contracted experts
• rental of external premises
• remuneration to participants in collaborative activities.

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, other departmental duties, or courses that are not directly relevant or necessary for the implementation of the project.

The grant may not be used for other activities that fall within the scope of regular research or communication activities, nor for costs covered by the previously awarded grant from the Swedish Research Council. The grant may also not be used for scientific conferences or internal training.

The amounts you may apply for are the following:

• Minimum 200 000 SEK and maximum 500 000 SEK for grants lasting 6–12 months.
• Minimum 400 000 SEK and maximum 1 000 000 SEK for grants lasting 13–24 months.

Grant period

The grant period is 6–24 months, starting from January 2027. The first payment will be made during January 2027 at the earliest.

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 content of the application. More information on what to do in practical terms is available in our Guide for applicants.

You may write your application in English or Swedish. The popular science description must always be written in Swedish.

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

Descriptive information

Abstract

In the abstract of the communication project, please describe in brief the following:

• What is to be done: purpose and aims of the communication activities
• How the communication project will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and scientific methods
• What is important about the planned communication project.

The abstract shall provide a summary of the purpose and implementation of the communication. 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 communication activities 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 communication project about?

• What is important about the planned communication project?

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.

Description of the communication project

Project plan

The project plan shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the communication project. It may cover a maximum of 6 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images. References may be provided either throughout or at the end of the plan. All sources must be provided with complete information; links alone are not sufficient.

The 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 communication project

Communication plan

Describe the communication activity/-ies under the following headings:

• Target group: Describe the target group(s) that the communication activities are intended to reach and how the they will benefit from the project’s knowledge and activities. Describe how dialogue and/or co-creation with the target group(s) will be carried out and how feedback will be collected and used. Specify how the project plans to work with representation.
• Activity/-ies: Describe the communication activities: design and what will be carried out, as well as how the activities will reach or involve the intended target group(s). State where the activities will take place, their format, and how active the target group is intended to be.
• Time plan: Describe summarily the time plan for the communication project during the grant period. Also describe any significant risks or obstacles that may affect implementation, and your plan for managing these.
• Follow-up: Describe the planned follow-up method and explain how it will be used to assess to what extent the project's objectives and purpose have been achieved and added value created for the target group(s).

Project organisation

Clarify how you and any participating researchers will contribute to the implementation of the activities. 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 undertakings.

Describe and justify the competence and roles of participating researchers, collaboration partners outside academia, communicators and other key individuals, as well as the phase in which they participate in the communication project.

Significance

Describe how the communication project relates to your previously awarded research project, and the impact the communication project may have in the short and long term. Formulate the project’s potential concrete added value for individuals in the target group, and for the project team itself. State how the project is planned so that these added values can be achieved.

Provide the following information also. If a heading is not relevant to your application, please state this under the heading.

Equipment

Describe the basic equipment you and your team have at your disposal for the project.

Description of previously awarded grant from the Swedish Research Council

Please describe your previously awarded artistic research project/grant that the communication grant relates to. State the project title, grant format, Swedish Research Council registration number and amount, grant period and availability period for your previously awarded project/grant. You can find information about the criteria for your previous grant in your Prisma account and the “Approval of Conditions” you received from the Swedish Research Council.

Describe the purpose, implementation, and objectives of the previously awarded project/grant. Also describe the research results or preliminary results, and outline the forms of expression and presentation included in the original research project.

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.

Collaboration outside academia

Describe who the project will include collaboration with outside academia, such as communicators, curators, producers, creators, collaboration coordinators, collaboration lecturers, artists, project coordinators, designers or other relevant professional expertise.

The description may cover a maximum of 500 characters including blank spaces.

Description of merits

Describe how the merits you state in your CV and list of publications and other research outputs confirm your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities.

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.

Publications and other research outputs

The applicant’s publications and other research outputs

Please attach your 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.

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. You cannot supplement the application with outputs 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 your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. Describe how you contributed to each output, and its relevance to the project described (maximum 4 lines per output). Highlight your name in bold in the author list/corresponding.

2. Relevant peer-reviewed research outputs from 2018–2026

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 your 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 2018-2026

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 your name highlighted in bold in the author list/corresponding under the respective 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

If you have any participating researchers, you shall attach their lists merged into one 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 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins. The name of the researcher in question shall be highlighted in bold and also be included in the page header of each list.

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 research outputs

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

and

Non peer-reviewed research outputs.

Budget

Project personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active in the communication project, that is, you, any other researchers, doctoral students and other personnel. Please also state the salary you are applying for, for yourself and/or other personnel in the project, 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.

Other costs

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

Total cost

Prisma will automatically add up your budget items in a table. The total amount you are applying for shall also include indirect costs. You will have to add these to the table yourself. Here you can also add any additional costs that the project entails (for which you are not seeking funding under this call).

Indirect costs follow the model that your administrating organisation uses. Please contact your administrating organisation if you have any questions about what constitutes indirect and direct costs.

Justification of the budget applied for

Justify briefly every cost in your 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 communication 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 administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here you may invite other participating researchers and administrators to your application.

CV

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma. The information/merits shall confirm your competence as project leader and responsible for implementing the proposed activities. If you have any participating researchers they must upload their own CV information to the application.

The following information (where available) must always be included in the respective CV:

Education

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

Work

• Current employment (including information on employment format)
• Longer relevant employment
• Post-doctoral visits (state also as employment if applicable)
• Researcher exchanges of relevance to the activity 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 invitations to lecture, leader assignments, representative assignments, residences, 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.

How your application is assessed

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 grant for research communication is evaluated by a specialised subject review panel where the members are Swedish 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 Committee for Artistic Research.

Review panel

To allow for more in-depth discussions of applications with higher quality and a reasonable chance of being funded, not all applications are discussed in detail at the review panel’s meeting. The applications that are not discussed thoroughly are those that the panel members during their individual review have assessed having the lowest quality among the panel’s applications. 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 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

Your application is assessed according to the criteria Communication quality of the proposed project and Relevance to the call. The criteria are assessed on a three-grade scale.

For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the panel members’ evaluation of your application. These can also function as guidance for you when you write your application.

Communication quality of the proposed project (1-3)

• To what extent are the aims and objectives of the communication project clearly formulated and well justified?
• How clearly are the planned activities of the communication project presented? How well are the project organisation, collaborations and timeline described? Are these reasonable in relation to the project’s design, resources and objectives?
• To what extent does the application define and justify relevant target groups outside academia? How well suited are the communication activities for reaching these target groups?
• To what extent are the selected collaboration partners appropriate for the proposed communication activities?
• To what extent do the proposed communication activities constitute a development of, or an alternative to, the original artistic research project’s forms of expression and presentation?
• Is the budget reasonable in relation to the aims and implementation of the communication project?
• How well is the planned follow-up described? Is it adequate in relation to the project’s aims, objectives and budget?

Relevance to the call (1-3)

• How clearly are the research results underlying the communication project described? To what extent is the connection between the earlier research and the proposed communication activities well justified?
• To what extent is the application relevant to artistic research?