Project grant for research collaboration between South Korea and Sweden

Application procedure

The call is administered by the Swedish Research Council in parallel with the National Research Foundation of Korea. A joint application from the Korean and Swedish partners shall be submitted by the Swedish partner to the Swedish Research Council’s application system Prisma and by the Korean partner to the NRF in Korea. The Korean researcher shall be involved in the planning of the collaboration and the elaboration of the application.

The Swedish researcher submits the application in Prisma (the application system used by the Swedish Research Council). The Korean researcher shall submit a parallel application to NRF in IRIS according to the instructions given at the NRF Notices. External link.

The Swedish researcher is responsible for ensuring the application submitted in Prisma is complete and corresponds to the application submitted to the National Research Foundation of Korea, that is to say the application form is correctly filled in, the correct appendices are attached and the information requested has been provided according to the instructions. Please only submit material specifically requested. We do not accept any additional information after the deadline, except when we specifically ask for it.

The evaluation will be performed in parallel by a panel of experts in Sweden selected by the Swedish Research Council and in Korea by experts selected by the National research foundation of Korea. The Swedish Research Council and the National Research Foundation of Korea jointly make grant decisions regarding the applicants. Shortly after the grant decision has been made, a notice of the grant awards will be published on the both the websites of the Swedish Research Council’s and the National Research Foundation of Korea. You will thereafter find a notice of the decision on your application in your personal account in Prisma and IRIS, under the tab “Applications and grants”.

The grants are financed by the Swedish Research Council, and the National Research Foundation of Korea, on the principal of reciprocity and parity.

Please note that the instructions provided below concerns the Swedish applicant’s application in the Swedish Research Council’s application system Prisma. See the NRF website for the applications form for the Korean applicant. Please also note that the NRF requires both the Korean and the Swedish applicant to sign a letter-of-intent that can also be found at the NRF website

Requirements for applicants

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.

Please note that “Swedish” and “Korean” in this call text refer to the researcher’s country of affiliation and not nationality.

Focus

Scientific progress in life sciences is made possible through the development of new tools, techniques, and methods. With high-quality medical and AI research and innovation, Sweden and Korea have favorable conditions to exploit the huge potential that AI can offer in the fields of Life Science and computational medicine.

This call will fund innovative, collaborative research projects with one Swedish and one Korean principal investigator, aiming to forward the utilization of AI in Life Sciences. Studies of all types of living organisms (humans, animals, plants and micro-organisms) are welcome. Purely clinical applications are excluded.

Below are some examples to delineate the scope of the call, but since the field is rapidly evolving, proposals that do not align with them in detail are also welcome.

1. Biological mechanisms and development

Understanding biological pathways and disease mechanism is key to developing new therapies, biomanufacturing and solutions to environmental challenges. There is a large potential for AI to contribute to this field, including computational modelling, multi-omics, protein engineering, gene circuit design, target identification, molecular design, predictive modelling, drug repurposing, biomaterial and nanomaterial design.

2. Diagnostics, Phenotyping and Personalized Medicine

Proper diagnostics is essential for selecting the correct treatment and it is also important to tailor the treatment to each individual’s unique genetic profile, as well as environmental, lifestyle and co-morbidity factors. AI can support development of new diagnostic tools and personalized medicine by for example imaging analysis, gene variant interpretation, multi-omics integration and creating personalised treatment plans. In addition, AI can support phenotyping of animals, plants and micro-organisms.

3. Epidemiology, monitoring and surveillance

Epidemiological studies are important for identifying risk factors and trends and AI can support in these aspects by analysing large datasets, risk modelling and continuous monitoring of chronic conditions by AI-powered wearable devices and apps. AI can also support in surveillance of pathogens, including antimicrobial resistance, as well as monitoring and risk modelling of the environment and ecosystems.

The Swedish applicant

The Swedish applicant for the project grant must be an individual researcher in a joint research collaboration with a project leader in Korea.

You apply together with your 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 must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree, awarded no later than the deadline for this call. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the issue date of the degree registered in Ladok applies.

You shall be the project leader and have scientific responsibility for the research 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.

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 Swedish applicants (project leaders). For Korean applicants, please check the NRF website External link..

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 regarding applying for other grants during the same year.

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 a grant with a grant period that overlaps the 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 your ongoing grant in your account in Prisma and 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 is found on the page “Several grants simultaneously”. Please note that if you are the project leader for an ongoing project grant, this must have a different focus and relate to a different project for you to be able to apply.

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

Costs and grant amounts

The grant covers the Swedish and Korean budgets separately. The part of the grant covering the Swedish budget costs will be financed by the Swedish Research Council and the part of the grant covering the Korean budget costs will be financed by NRF.

Swedish part

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

The grant is awarded in a standard total amount of 1 000 000 SEK, including indirect costs (500 000 SEK during 2026 and 500 000 SEK during 2027).

Korean part

For rules and regulations regarding costs and grant funding for the Korean project leader, please see the NRF website. External link.

Grant period

The grant period for the Swedish part is 15 months with an additional 12-month availability period.

For Korean partners, the grant period is 24 months.

The first payment to both parties is planned for October 2026.

What must the application contain? (Swedish part)

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.

Since this is an international collaboration project call and the application is made in parallel in Sweden and Korea, and will be evaluated by both Swedish and Korean experts, please submit the application in English, apart from the popular science description, which you must write in Swedish.

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 impact and the added value of the collaborative research

The abstract shall provide a summary of the purpose and implementation of the research activities within the collaboration. 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 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.

Korean researcher

• Name of project leader in Korea
• Administrating organisation in Korea
• Department and administrating organisation in Korea

Other applications or grants

Describe briefly the different projects and their relationship if

• you are applying for, have applied for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council in the year in question
• you are receiving an ongoing grant from the Swedish Research Council with a grant period that wholly or partly overlaps the grant you are now applying for
• there are applications or grants relating to the same project with 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. Also verify that you are not applying for the same project that you know another researcher is also applying for, or has already been awarded funding for, from the Swedish Research Council.

Each 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

Please note that the national ethical regulations/legislation which are the strictest, shall apply for the research collaboration as a whole.

State whether the research covers the handling of personal data, 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”.

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 that you have identified?
• 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 dimensions

Please state whether sex and gender dimensions 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 dimensions in research content.

The following applies:

• If you answer “Yes”: Please justify your answer, and describe also how you take account of sex and gender dimensions 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 your decision 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 and collaboration plan

The research and collaboration plan shall be forward-looking and consist of a brief but complete description of the research task. It may cover a maximum of 5 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.

Please note that all partners (both the Swedish and Korean researchers) shall all be involved and responsible for the research and collaboration plan.

The research and collaboration 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 collaboration.

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.

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 concerning travel, joint seminars and workshops, joint publications, etc, and how the project will be implemented.

Relevance

A. Research areas/Sub focus

Describe how your project is relevant for the focus area Artificial Intelligence in Life Science Research (see the full definition under the heading “Focus”, in the introduction to the call text).

Please note that relevance to the research area constitutes an absolute requirement for this call.

B. Added value from the research collaboration (complementarity)

Please describe how the expertise and capacity of the participating researchers and HEIs cooperate to benefit the quality of the research. How will the collaboration generate mutual added value to the research of the applicants? In which ways is the collaboration based on equal participation and how will it lead to mutual exchange of knowledge? In the event the gender balance among the project participants is unequal, please explain how this will not impact negatively on the quality of the research.

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

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 scientifically responsible for implementing the proposed research 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

Attach the publication lists drawn up according to the headings and information below (Swedish and Korean project leader sorted separately but in a single pdf file). The list for each researcher shall cover a maximum of 5 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 scientifically responsible for implementing the proposed research activities. Describe how you contributed to each output, and its relevance to the research 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.

CV (Korean project leader)

Attach the CV of the Korean researcher (project leader), joined up into one file. The CV must not exceed 2 A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

The following information must be submitted in each CV under the numbered headings below, in the given order (leave not applicable fields empty):

1. Higher education qualification(s): year, subject field and HEI
2. Doctoral degree or equivalent: year, discipline/subject field, HEI title of the theses and the name of the doctoral supervisor
3. Postdoctoral positions: year and location
4. Qualification required for appointments as a docent
5. Current position: term of appointment and research portion
6. Previous positions and period of appointment: type of position and appointment periods.
7. Supervision: Doctoral and postdoctoral students supervised in the capacity of main supervisor; (name(s) and years).
8. Interruption in research: In this section, describe any longer interruption in the active research time, which has affected qualifications opportunities, e.g. interruptions due to parental leave, medical internships or medical residences (applies to clinically active professionals), positions of trust, or similar circumstances. Specify the extent of each interruption
9. Other information of relevance to the application.

Budget and research resources

Project personnel

State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active in the Swedish project, that is, you, any other researchers, doctoral students and other personnel.

Joint budget plan

Please attach the joint budget plan containing the information below. The document shall cover a maximum of 3 A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins.

A. Joint budget

State a joint budget for the total grant period for the Swedish and the Korean partners according to the template below. The Swedish partner’s budget shall be presented in SEK and the Korean partner’s budget shall be presented in KRW.

B. Justification of the budget applied for

Please provide a brief justification statement for each item in the proposed project budget.

C. Other funding

Please state your or any other researcher’s funding for the project over and above what is applied for in this application. Indicate the type of grant, status, funding source, grant awardee/project leader, funding period and the relevant amounts according to the example below.

Administrating organisation

Please state the Swedish administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

Here you may invite participating administrators to your application.

CV (Swedish applicant)

Under this tab, the Swedish applicant shall upload relevant CV information from their personal account in Prisma. The information/merits shall confirm your competence as project leader and scientifically responsible for implementing the proposed research activities.

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)
• Longer relevant employments
• Post-doctoral visits (also state 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.

How your application is assessed

Scientific quality is the fundamental criterion the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the National Research Foundation in Korea (NRF) uses when awarding grants. Your application is evaluated in competition with the other applications on the basis of the following evaluation criteria.

Evaluation process

Your application for project grant for research collaboration between Korea and Sweden is evaluated by both Swedish and Korean reviewers. On the Swedish side, there is a review panel where the members are specialized in their subjects.

At least three Swedish panel members review and grade your application individually. The Swedish review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and priorities the applications and to make a final recommendation for a decision. The Swedish and Korean reviewers’ assessments and recommendations of the proposed projects are discussed and the funding decision is then jointly agreed on by the Swedish Research Council and the National Research Council of Korea.

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The criteria below will be used for the Swedish review panel. Please see the NRF website for the Korean review panel criteria.

The evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is based on five basic criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Novelty and originality, Merits of applicants, Feasibility, Complementarity of the research (the added value and synergy of the research collaboration)). The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is assessed on a three-grade scale.

In addition to the criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion (relevance to 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 a guidance for you when you write your application.

Scientific quality of the proposed research (1–7)

Assessment of the quality of the project’s research question and methodology.

• To what extent does the proposed research address important scientific questions within the field of Artificial Intelligence in Life Sciences?
• To what extent do the scientific approach, model, material, methodology and statistical analyses and power have potential to successfully address these questions?
• To what extent are the hypotheses clearly defined and based on the appropriate literature and/or preliminary data?
• Are the ethical considerations addressed properly? Does the applicant adequately consider risk/value/suffering for humans, animals, nature and/or society?
• When relevant, how are issues relating to sex and gender perspectives justified and handled in the research plan?

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Assessment of how well new and original concepts and methods are tested, implemented and/or developed.

• To what extent does the project have the potential to advance scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or practical implementation?
• To what extent does the project have the potential to advance or challenge current knowledge in the field, rather than just adding additional details?
• To what extent is the project built on an original combination of ideas, preliminary data, and methodologies to address the question at hand?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Assessment of the applicants’ merits and competence in relation career age and to the proposed project.

• To what extent are the applicants’ research experience, expertise and scientific network suitable for the proposed project?
• How significant are the applicants’ scientific productivity, impact and other merits in a national and international perspective, and in relation to the applicants’ career age?

Feasibility (1–3)

Assessment of the feasibility of the proposed project.

• Do the applicants, and potential collaborators, together have sufficient competence for completion of the project?
• Are the applicant’s level of activity within the project sufficient with regard to the proposed research plan?
• Is the general design, the timeframe and infrastructure requirements realistic for implementing the proposed project?
• Does the applicant adequately consider relevant legal and formal requirements for the proposed research, such as ethical permits and guidelines?

Complementarity of the research (the added value and synergy of the research collaboration) (1-7)

Assessment of the potential of the cooperation

• Does the cooperation bring mutual added value to the research; compared to if the partners were not working together?
• Can the cooperation lead to transfer of knowledge between applicants?

• Does the cooperation have the potential to extend beyond the time and scope of the project and result in deepened collaboration between the administrating organisations in Sweden and Korea and attract future funding.

Overall assessment (1–7)

The above subsidiary criteria are weighed together into an overall grade, the overall grade is formed without a pre-determined numerical weighing of the basic criteria.

Relevance to the call (1-3)

Relevance to the program objectives is evaluated separately from the scientific quality, and is not included in the overall grade. The grant should strengthen knowledge exchange and research collaborations between Swedish and Korean researchers. The research should be of relevance for the field of Artificial Intelligence in Life Sciences.