Project grant for research collaboration between Italy and Sweden in quantum and solar technologies

About the call and application procedure

The project grant is open to a joint application made in collaboration between a project leader based at a university or other research institution in Sweden and a project leader based at a university or other research institution in Italy.

The Swedish project leader submits the application in Prisma (the application system used by the Swedish Research Council). It is the Swedish project leader´s responsibility to ensure the application is complete and the project plan is identical with the Italian application. The Italian project leader shall submit a parallel application to MAECI according to the instructions given at the MAECI website. External link.

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.

Focus

This call aims at supporting joint research activities between Italian and Swedish research groups. In order to be considered for funding, the research must address one of the following areas:

1. Quantum Technology, e.g., quantum computing, quantum optics and quantum metrology

2. Solar Science, - research on solar physics, solar thermal energy and solar based technologies

Swedish Applicant (Swedish project leader)

The Swedish applicant for a project grant must be an individual researcher 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 must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or a corresponding foreign degree, awarded no more than 8 years before the deadline for this call.

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.

For requirements for the Italian project leader, please the MAECI website. External link.

Career age

To apply for this grant your doctoral degree must have been awarded no more than 8 years ago, that is, awarded no earlier than 8 September 2018. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date registered in Ladok applies. You will not be able to complete your application if your doctoral degree was awarded more than 8 years ago. An exception applies if you have not been in paid employment for a long period(s) after being awarded your doctoral degree, and this has affected your ability to gain merit as a researcher (‘deductible time’).

The Swedish Research Council’s approved grounds for deductible time are a minimum of one month’s consecutive absence due to one of the following:

• parental leave
• position of trust in a trade union or student organisation
• mandatory service in the total defence force
• long-term illness (own reported illness or care of child/close family member)
• general medical internship/BT foundation period (maximum 24 months full-time work), or further training/specialist medical internship for clinically active professionals (maximum 24 months full-time education/work).

Please note that we do not accept other employment, unemployment or holidays as deductible time.

If you wish to claim deductible time, you must specify the recognised grounds and time involved in your application (please see instructions under “Descriptive information” below).

We conduct sample checks. This means that we might request a certificate in evidence of your grounds for deductible time.

Number of applications and previous grants

The requirements described in this section only apply to applicants (Swedish 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. Further information about the grants you may apply for during the same year are shown in on the page Several grants simultaneously.

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, 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, 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 are shown 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 in order 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 researcher

The project leader active in Italy shall be invited as a participating researcher in the application. Other collaboration partners and their roles shall be described in the research plan (please see instructions under “Research plan” below).

Costs and grant amounts

The grant is paid out in a standard amount of 400 000 SEK per year from the Swedish Research Council. The grant may be used 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.

Awarded grants will receive joint funding from both the Swedish Research Council and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Grant period

The grant period is 3 years, starting from January 2027. The first payment will be made in 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.

International experts are involved in the scientific assessment of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete your application in English, apart from the popular science description, which you must write in Swedish.

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

Descriptive information

Abstract

In the abstract, please describe in brief the following:

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

The abstract shall provide a summary picture of the purpose and implementation of the research. Please use wording to ensure persons with another subject specialisation can understand the information.

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

Popular science description

Describe the planned research in such a way that a person who is not a researcher can understand it. Do this by answering the following questions:

• What is the research about?
• Why is it important to research this?
• In what way may the new knowledge be important?

The popular science description is important when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council.

The text must be in Swedish and may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other applications or grants

Describe 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.

Deductible time

Please state any longer interruptions in your active research time after your doctoral degree caused by any of the grounds recognised by the Swedish Research Council. Please state the interruption calculated as a full-time equivalent and rounded up into full calendar months. Please see the recognised grounds for deductible time under the heading “Career age” above.

Research description

Ethical aspects

Legal and formal requirements

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 (women/men). 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 dimensions are applicable, but still choose not to include them in your research plan, you will need to justify this here.
• If you answer “No”: Please justify your answer.

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

Research plan

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

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

Relevance

Describe how the project is relevant for at least one of the specified areas (see ”Focus” in the introduction part of the call text) and how the project promotes the development of this field.

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

Description of merits

Describe how the qualifications stated in the CV:s, publication lists and other research outputs, confirm each of the two project leaders' competence as scientifically responsible for carrying out 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.

CV (ItalianItalian project leader)

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

Publications and other research outputs

The Swedish project leader’s publications and other research outputs

Please attach your publication list as a file. The list shall consist of 5 recent publications relevant to the project, comprising no more than 1 A4 page.

The Italian project leader’s publications and other research outputs

Attach the publication list of the project leader active in Italy as a file. The list shall consist of 5 recent publications relevant to the project, comprising no more than 1 A4 page.

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.

Budget and research resources

Please state your activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) in the project. The grant is a standard amount and you therefore do not need to enter any budget applied for in the application form.

Justification of the budget applied for

Describe briefly the primary costs you intend to cover within the framework for the grant budget. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other funding

Please state your or any other researcher’s funding for the project over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

Administrating organisation

Please state the administrating organisation and project site.

Participants

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

CV (Swedish project leader)

Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma.

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

• Education: First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.
• Work: Current employment (including employment form) and longer relevant employment held, postdoctoral visits (also included as employment if relevant), research exchanges relevant to the research described and any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on your opportunity to gain merit as a researcher.
• Merits and awards: Docentship/associate professorship, supervisees (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the number of persons in each category and list the names of the up to 10 most relevant to you), up to 10 of your most relevant grants awarded in competition, up to 10 of your most relevant prizes and awards, and up to 20 other merits relevant to the application, such as as lecture invitations, leadership positions, positions of trust, membership of scientific organisations and similar.
• Intellectual property rights: For example, patents and open access computer programs developed by you; state up to 10 of your most relevant.

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 project grant for research collaboration between Italy and Sweden in quantum and solar technologies is evaluated in two steps. In the first step the Swedish Research Council and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will each identify a shortlist of proposals considered for funding. In the second step representatives from both parties will meet and decide on a final list of applications recommended for funding. to the Committee for Engineering Sciences and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Review panel (Swedish Research Council)

In the Swedish Research Councils’ review process, each application will firstly be reviewed by panel members and external reviewers individually. The review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, to identify the applications for the shortlist.

In case there will be a large number of applications to this call, the applications that the panel members during their individual review have assessed having the lowest quality among the panel’s applications will not be discussed in detail at the review panel meeting. This is to enable more in-depth discussions of applications of higher quality that have a reasonable chance of being funded. Following the grant decision, all applications receive a final statement that includes the review panel’s grading of the application. The applications that have been discussed in more detail at the panel meeting receive an individual final statement which, in addition to the grades, also contains a summary of the review panel’s discussion and joint assessment of the scientific quality and relevance of the application.

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

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, Relevance, on a 3-grade scale.

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

Scientific quality of the proposed research (1-7)

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

Novelty and originality (1-7)

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

Merits of the applicants (1-7)

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

Feasibility (1-3)

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

Relevance for the call (1-3)

In addition to the basic criteria, the review panel will also evaluate your application using an additional criterion, Relevance for the call, on a 3-grade scale. The following aspects will then be evaluated:

• Relevance to one of the focus areas in the call
• Added value of the bilateral cooperation

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. The overall grade is formed without a pre-determined numerical weighing of the basic criteria. As guidance, the scientific quality of the proposed research and the merits of the applicants are the two most important criteria whilst novelty and originality should be given lower weight. The feasibility and relevance grades shall be weighed into the overall rating of the application if they deviate from grade 3.