How we are preparing for the new mandates in the Government’s research bill

Excellence clusters for ground-breaking technology, a new initiative in ground-breaking research, calls in eight new strategic research areas, and increased incentives for strategic recruitment. These are some examples of assignments that the Government has tasked the Swedish Research Council in the research and innovation bill. Many of the assignments involve collaboration with different actors.

While waiting for the Riksdag to decide on the Government’s bill in May, we are now preparing to address the new mandates.

Eight new strategic research areas

The choice of new strategic research areas (SFOs) is in part based on input from higher education institutions and research funding bodies. The purpose of the initiative is to muster together and profile Swedish research, so it can continue to hold its own in international competition. The research funded under the initiatives shall have the preconditions for being of the highest international quality, or to already have achieved that level.

The eight new strategic research areas are:

• Health, life science, and artificial intelligence
• Quantum technologies
• Polar research
• Climate-related research
• Crisis preparedness and the total defence force
• Practice-proximate professions research in criminality
• Excellence in education
• Advanced materials research

For these research areas, it is higher education institutions who shall apply for funding. Our task is to issue calls within these areas, to assess the applications, and also to make recommendations to the Government on which applications to fund. It is then the Government that allocates the funding to the higher education institutions’ direct government grants.

We are planning to open a call in early autumn. Advance information on the preconditions for this call will be published in early summer.

Ground-breaking research and a new scientific council

In May, we will be arranging a hearing on ground-breaking research ahead of a call planned to open early next year.

We also expect to be tasked with setting up a scientific council for engineering science in the longer term. This means that we will need to appoint a secretary general to be responsible for this field.

Support for strategic recruitment

To support strategic recruitment at higher education institutions, we plan to issue a call for career support at associate senior lecturer level at the end of the year or in early 2026. Higher education institutions are expected to nominate candidates and to co-fund the positions.

If the Government bill is passed by the Riksdag, we will also develop an indicator aimed at increasing the incentive for higher education institions’ work on strategic recruitment. It is planned to come into force as from 2028.