Swedish Research Council responses to COVID-19

The call was open for two weeks, from 19 May to 2 June, and was aimed at project leaders with grants awarded by the Swedish Research Council or Forte whose projects had not yet been completed. In July, we made a decision to approve 23 out of 255 applications. The researchers will share a total of 33 million SEK during 2020.

During the period 10 June–25 August, we issued calls for funding of research into virus and disease conditions caused by viruses. The calls were aimed at researchers at the beginning of their careers, and are part of our investment in basic virology research. Decisions will be made in December. Next year, we will be issuing a call for project grants with the same focus.

The cross-disciplinary call makes it possible for researchers from Sweden and China to collaborate in studying the ongoing pandemic, and to prepare for future pandemics. The call was open 17 June–11 August. The decision taken in November means that four cross-disciplinary projects on corona and virus research will receive support. During the grant period 2021-2023, the Swedish Research Council will distribute 36 million SEK to researchers from Sweden who were awarded grants.

Researchers from the Nordic countries, Estonia and Latvia shall collaborate to develop new knowledge that can contribute to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic through using existing health data. The call closed on 16 June and decision taken in October means that five projects will be awarded funding.

The Swedish Research Council is funding the call with 18 million SEK. The total budget is around 57 million NOK over the years 2020–2022.

Read more about the projects on Nordforsk’s website

The call makes it possible for researchers in Sweden to collaborate with researchers in South Korea on questions relating to COVID-19. The application period was 10 June–15 September.  The decision taken in November means that four collaboration projects will receive support. The Swedish Research Council is funding the call with 6 million SEK.

In March, researchers with grants from the Swedish Research Council were given the option to temporarily use part of their funding for research into COVID-19. This applied irrespective of the project idea the grant was originally awarded for. The research had to be completed no later than 31 July 2020. A total of 37 researchers used this option.

A national data portal for research into COVID-19 was launched in June. This makes it easier for researchers to find and share relevant research data. The portal is coordinated by SciLifeLab and the Swedish Research Council.

Biobank Sweden has received 10 million SEK from the Swedish Research Council to coordinate the collection of and access to samples linked to COVID-19.

In June 2020 the six regional nodes within the Clinical Studies Sweden collaboration received a grant of 12 million SEK in total, to increase their ability to support clinical studies linked to COVID-19.

In September 2020, the nodes received an additional 8 million SEK.

The Swedish Research Council is providing 10 million SEK to fund the ImmCoVA clinical study. The study is expected to run for three years, starting in October 2020.