Clinical research

Health data

The Swedish Research Council has been tasked to set up an advisory function for better utilisation of health data, to support actors who wish to use health data for research and innovation. The needs and preconditions for an advisory function, as well as how it is designed and staffed, has been investigated and was reported to the Government in March 2022. In accordance with the findings from the investigation, a project is now in progress to establish the national support, which will consist of three parts:

• Knowledge-enhancing support – shall contribute to overall knowledge about and understanding of the opportunities to use health data for research and innovation.
• Coordinating support – shall promote interaction and support collaboration between operations and functions that can improve the preconditions for using health data for research and innovation.
• Mapping of uncertainties and obstacles – shall be designed so that it addresses and clarifies perceived uncertainties and actual obstacles.

The Swedish Research Council interacts continuously with relevant public agencies and other actors.

Clinical studies

The Swedish Research Council supports and develops the prerequisites for clinical studies in Sweden. An important part of this work is the collaboration Clinical Studies Sweden, where Sweden’s six health and medical care regions interact and collaborate via appointed regional nodes. The nodes contribute to national collaboration, and work to strengthen the prerequisites for conducting clinical studies within the own region. By promoting the opportunities for the nodes to collaborate, learn from each other and find solutions to joint challenges, the prerequisites for conducting clinical studies in Sweden are improved. Clinical studies can be implemented more efficiently and more patients can participate, irrespective of where they live in Sweden.

We manage and follow up funding, activities and results linked to the financial support the nodes receive in the form of operating grants and national development initiatives.

The Swedish Research Council also drives the work on statistics about clinical studies and has continuous contacts with other public agencies and organisations with links to clinical studies – nationally and internationally.

Register-based research

The Swedish Research Council has several mandates aimed at promoting the use of different types of data for research. We have a specific mandate to facilitate the use of register data for research purposes. The website registerforskning.se contains practical tips and advice for all who want to use register data for research purposes.

The Swedish Research Council is also developing and managing the metadata tool Register Utiliser Tool (RUT), which provides a detailed overview of the content of Swedish registers and biobank sample collections at metadata level. New registers are continuously being added to RUT.

The work to improve accessibility to register data for research purposes is carried out together with the Council for Register Data and other actors of relevance to the area.

Infrastructure with links to clinical research

The Swedish Research Council helps to fund the Biobank Sweden biobank infrastructure External link.. The aim of Biobank Sweden is to make it easier for researchers to access biological samples and the data linked to those samples. The Swedish Research Council helps to fund a number of research infrastructures linked directly and indirectly to clinical research and life sciences.

Klinisk behandlingsforskning

Tillsammans med Sveriges regioner finansierar Vetenskapsrådet kliniska behandlingsstudier. Vi utlyser bidrag för klinisk behandlingsforskning varje år. Ett krav för att få finansiering är att behandlingsstudierna utgår från behov som finns i hälso- och sjukvården. Studierna förväntas också leda till patient- och samhällsnytta inom en relativt kort tidsperiod. Det är Vetenskapsrådets kommitté för klinisk behandlingsforskning som beslutar vilka ansökningar som får finansiering.

Forskning inom medicin och hälsa

Via utlysningar inom medicin och hälsa finansierar Vetenskapsrådet även annan klinisk forskning än den som gäller behandlingsstudier. Varje år utlyser vi ett antal bidrag till anställning som forskare på halvtid i klinisk miljö. Inom ramen för särskilda satsningar från regeringen utlyser vi också exempelvis bidrag till vårdforskning och forskning inom psykiatri, åldrande och hälsa samt infektion och antibiotika. Det är Vetenskapsrådets ämnesråd för medicin och hälsa som beslutar vilka ansökningar som får finansiering.

Clinical therapy research

The Swedish Research Council funds clinical therapy studies together with Sweden's regions. We issue calls for funding for clinical therapy research every year. To be awarded funding, therapy studies must be based on needs in health and medical care. These studies are also expected to lead to benefits for patients and society within a relatively short period of time.

The Swedish Research Council's Committee for Clinical Therapy Research decides which applications will receive funding.

Medicine and Health

The Swedish Research Council also uses calls in the fields of health and medicine to fund clinical research other than research relating to therapy studies. Every year, we announce a number of grants for half-time researchers in a clinical environment Within the scope of special Government initiatives, we also issue calls for grant within healthcare research and research in the fields of psychiatry, ageing and health, and infection and antibiotics, for example (link to the call page.

The Swedish Research Council's Scientific Council for Medicine and Health decides which applications will receive funding.

ALF is an abbreviation for an agreement between national government and seven regions. This agreement regulates matters such as the amount of state funding received by the regions to help with the training of doctors, implementation of clinical research and development of health and medical care.

The Office for ALFat the Swedish Research Council provides administrative support to the national steering group for ALF and coordinates the Swedish Research Council's evaluations of clinical research in the regions covered by the ALF agreement.