Swedish Research Council responses to COVID-19

The purpose of the project grant is to fund research into remaining or late-onset symptoms following COVID-19 infection (post-COVID syndrome). The call was open from 2 June to 17 August 2021. The total budget is 50 million SEK.

The grant decision was published in November 2021. 56 applications were received, of which 14 were successful.

Read the news item about the grant decision

The purpose of the grant is to give researchers the opportunity to collaborate nationally to conduct follow-up studies of COVID-19 vaccine that are justified by the needs of health and medical care and that contribute to a permanent infrastructure for future follow-up studies. The budget is 100 million SEK and the call was open 23 March-13 April. 

The decision taken in June means that six research environments will receive support. 

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.

In spring 2020, the Swedish Research Council decided to boost basic virus research with 100 million SEK over the years 2020–2024.

In 2020, we issued a call for career support in the area. 5 out of 56 applicants were granted a total of 48 million SEK.

In spring 2021, we will follow up this initiative with a call for project grants. For this call too, the focus is on long-term research into basic virology and fundamental disease mechanisms caused by viruses. The call closed on March 17 and grant decisions will be made in November 2021.

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 External link.

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.