Goals of the research programme
The programme shall contribute new knowledge about viral diseases and the infectious properties and methods of different viruses, how viruses are transferred from animals to humans, the development of new medicines, vaccines and therapies, and how knowledge about equal and gender-equal health can be safeguarded during a pandemic. To build up preparedness ahead of future pandemics, we also need knowledge about the economic and social effects of large and long-term societal spread.
The research programme shall initiate research into identified and prioritised knowledge gaps, and also contribute to increasing the impact of research results in society.
Participating actors
The programme committee includes representatives from Formas, Forte, Vinnova, the Swedish Medical Products Agency, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency, the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA) and Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), the National Board of Social Affairs and Health and Swedish Ethical Review Authority.
Focus groups with researchers in the relevant disciplines are also linked to the programme.
International collaboration
The program is part of the EU's initiative BE READY (Building a European strategic Research and Innovation Area in Direct Synergy) - an international collaboration to establish common goals for research and innovation in pandemic preparedness.
Strategic research agenda
A strategic research agenda guides the work ahead and outlines five focus areas for research within the program:
- viruses, virus-induced disease states, and fundamental disease mechanisms
- mechanisms for the emergence and spread of zoonoses with pandemic potential, as well as strategies for prevention and management of transmission
- development of antiviral medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics
- societal measures arising from pandemics and their effects on people's living conditions and health
- organization, governance, and coordination (infrastructures) of critical societal functions during a pandemic.
Interactive evidence maps provide a picture of the state of knowledge
To map knowledge about viruses and pandemics in social science research, the Swedish Research Council has commissioned interactive evidence maps (Pandemic Resources Maps) from The Campbell Collaboration. The visual maps provide an overview of identified sources in the form of, for example, databases, guidelines and reports in different research areas and on different types of viruses.
The evidence maps are available on the Campbell South Asia website External link.
Research projects approved
Information about each project can be found in Swecris – search on the project title.
Project titles 2025
- Broadly neutralizing antibodies for therapeutic use against influenza A virus
- Knowledge gaps about virus-caused diseases and pandemics - a One Health Perspective
- Reducing burden from infectious diseases among older adults using AI-assisted epidemiological surveillance from multiple sources
- PREPARE Frail Network – Improved protection of vulnerable groups in future pandemics through cross-faculty research and cross-sector cooperations
- Host response diagnostics for severe viral infections: from discovery to clinical integration
- Mechanisms Driving Cross-Reactive Flavivirus Immunity Toward Disease Enhancement
- Förbättrad skattningsmetodik av R_t med förnyelseekvationen
- Identifying Mechanisms of Human Host Susceptibility to Sexually Transmitted Viral Infections
- Defining conserved and compartmentalized influenza-specific CD8+ T cell immunity across age
- Optimizing the prognosis of post COVID-19 condition
- Ultra-rapid lead generation for antiviral drug discovery: Structure-based design of dengue virus inhibitors
- Can Urban Green Spaces be Hubs for West Nile Virus Spillover?
- Molecular Epidemiology of Human Coronaviruses
- ON THE ARMS RACE BETWEEN VIRUS AND HOST – Linking virus evolution and adaptation with host responses in early HIV-1 infection
- A novel antiviral platform for broad-spectrum treatment of human herpesviruses without resistance development
- Prevalence, Subsequent Health and Economic Burden of Post COVID-19 Condition (PCC) in Five European Countries
- Viral Nordemics: A Nordic Collaboration to Implement a Multi-Pathogen Severity Assessment Tool for Rapid Outbreak Response
- Modulation of polyclonal antibody responses and Its Long-Term Role in Protection Against Viral Diseases in the old and frail
- Developing a national forecast hub for infectious diseases
- Buying a dog in a poke: Infectious, emotional and economic flows in the international dog trade
- How viruses exploit motif-based interactions in the secretory pathway for assembly and replication: From fundamental understanding to peptide-based inhibitors
- Cytokine autoantibodies as determinants of viral disease susceptibility and severity
- Pandemic Infrastructures: Preparing for the Wrong Pandemic?
- Simulating Urban Dynamics: Visualization and Networks for Epidemiology and Societal Impact in Sweden
- Age-Dependent Immunity after human RSV infection and vaccination – mechanisms of inducing cross-protection to MPV
- Leveraging Deep Learning Models in the Design of New Antivirals
- ECO-MAP: Enhancing Capacity for Ecological and Molecular Analysis of Pandemic Arboviruses
- Next-Generation Replicon-based Vaccines to Prevent Pandemics
- Mapping T cell responses and vaccine-induced protection against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus
- Blood as a Lens on Tissue Defense: Decoding ex-TRM Signatures for Non-invasive Monitoring of Tissue-Localized Antiviral Immunity
- FASTER 2.0 – Evaluation of pharmaceutical interventions and viral transmission during the early phase of a pandemic
- Identifying key biomarkers for chronic Hepatitis B virus infection control
Multiplex Affinity Proteomics for Differential Diagnosis and Prognostic Biomarker Discovery in Flavivirus Infections - Preparedness for Betacoronavirus pandemics with Fc-enhanced antibodies targeting a conserved domain
- Investigating the Rise of Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sweden: Insights from linking Population Registers with Autoantibody Analyses
- Long-term recovery and healthcare utilization after COVID-19 and post COVID-19 condition
- Combining a blood self-sampling system with the PhIP-seq serology assay to screen 1,000 Swedish individuals for antibodies against all human viruses
- Decoding Divergent Replication Strategies of Non-Segmented (-)RNA Viruses
- Impact of tissue microenvironment on the development and functions of tissue-resident memory CD4 T Cells
- The Swedish BSL3 Network SB3N: a National Network for Academic BSL3 Infrastructure
- Development of next-generation mRNA vaccines: platforms and payloads
- The host response as molecular rheostat in the regulation of viral infection
- Domestic production of lipid nanoparticle formulated DNA and mRNA for direct gene transfer of vaccines and immunotherapies in vivo for pandemic preparedness
- Evidence-based local nowcasting of the burden of respiratory tract virus infections on health services
- Discovering the dark microproteome during viral infection
- Nucleotide-Resolution Co-Profiling of RNA Synthesis in Virus and Host: State-of-Art Genomics to Reveal Mechanisms of Virus-Host Interactions
- Host genetic risk factors for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Targeting nucleotide metabolism for personalized antiviral therapyBroadly neutralizing antibodies for therapeutic use against influenza A virus
- Project titles 2024: Project grant for research into viral zoonoses
- Glycan Hopscotch: coronavirus’ dynamic journey from animals to humans
- Evolution and transmission of mosquito-borne viral zoonosis
- On the move from the tropics- transmission of mosquito-borne viruses in temperate climates
- The road to a pandemic - molecular barriers for interspecies transmission of influenza A virus
- Anticipating viral zoonoses from arthropod reservoirs
- Rats, Pharmaceuticals, and Residents in Urban Slums: Mechanisms of Seoul Virus Transmission (RAPH)
- Hyperplexed targeted assays powered by metagenomics towards cost effective and feasible solutions for public health Surveillance of Emerging pathogens based on wastewater Epidemiology - HySEEk
- Community Engagement for Improved Ebola Disease Outbreak Prevention and Response in Uganda - Co-design for Future Global and Local Strategies
- Identifying drivers and constraints for reassortment and strain replacement of highly pathogenic influenza A virus
- Characterisation of the molecular mechanisms of hantavirus polymerase function
- Transmission and modulation of Powassan virus pathogenesis by ticks
Project titles 2023: Project grant for research into viruses and pandemics – from fundamental mechanisms to medical interventions
- Protein Design for Pandemic Preparedness
- Leveraging clinical intervention in severe COVID-19 to reveal treatment and pathogenesis mechanisms
- Ancient pathogens and pandemics in Africa
- Assessing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy on women and infant health: from mechanisms to scenarios of a future respiratory virus-related epidemic and preventive strategies (ARTEMI)
- Interrogating bacteriophages to discover the universal secrets of host-virus and virus-virus warfare
- Acquired structural remnants in flaviviruses: Exploring structural targets for developing rational non-ADE inducing vaccines
- A framework for production and testing next generation vaccines against non-polio enteroviruses
- Towards a pan-viral map of motif-based host-virus interactions and its application for antiviral development.
- Harnessing CD8 T cell immunity to fight viral infection
- Genetic and immunological basis of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection
- Past, present and future: emerging bird borne viruses in a changing climate
- VOICE - Vector of O'nyong-nyong virus, Infection, Competence and Ecology
- Assessing SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine-induced immunity across immunocompromised patient groups and capacity building to handle new emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants-of-concern
- Broad antibody-based protection against SARS-CoV-2 through Fc-mediated opsonization
- Scalable Label-free electric detection of pathogens
- Shining a Light on Picornavirus Entry
Project titles 2022: Project grant for research into pandemics and their effects on society and public health
- Public health surveillance for improved pandemic preparedness and evaluation of community-level interventions
- A comprehensive, in-depth, register-based analysis of the patient population diagnosed with post-acute COVID-19 condition
- An AI-powered 4-dimension dynamic decision-making framework to boost anti-pandemic strategy: a comprehensive evaluation and microsimulation study
- Generating evidence on the Impact of pandemic Social restrictions on Reproductive health among adolescent girls and young women in Uganda - Lessons learnt for better future preparedness (GIRLS)
- Air quality and COVID-19: An individual-based population study
- The development of individual and neighbourhood social capital and their effects on health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Handling pandemic inequality: an investigation of the relationship between political responses to covid-19 and health equity
- Predicting an uncertain future: improving the utility of computational models during a pandemi
- Setting priorities during pandemics
- Long-term follow-up of individuals with long-lasting cognitive deficits following mild COVID-19
- Post-pandemic immunity, long-term disease symptoms and general health among young adults
- Religion in Times of Crises: Responses to Covid-19 among Religious Migrant Groups in Sweden
- Pregnant under the pressure of a pandemic. Understanding why maternal and delivery healthcare varied in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic and assessing effects of variation on mother and child
- Polarizing pandemics. Identity, emotions, and attitudes toward Covid-19 prevention
- Mental health consequences following the loss of a family member during the Corona pandemic: A multi-methods approach
- Incomes, inequalities, and the welfare state during the covid-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 and childhood cancer - diagnostic delay, survival, and COVID-19 susceptibility
- Understanding and Countering Vaccine Hesitancy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Project titles 2022: Proof of concept
- Host immunity and intracellular efficacy of anti-tuberculosis drugs are essential for preserving the activity of novel drugs against tuberculosis
- Proof-of-concept design of multivalent nanoparticle vaccines against antibiotic-resistant bacteria
- Characterization of the virome in sewage provides multiple benefits in a pandemic context
- Development of a molecular kit for the simplified detection of phenotypic antimicrobial resistance.
- Development of HS-mimetics against infection of pathogenic RNA viruses
- Evaluation of the Clinical Potential of Novel Rapid Cytokine Release Assays to Monitor Infection-, Vaccine-, and Hybrid-Induced Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2, TBEV, HBV, and Other Viruses
- Development of peptide-based antiviral inhibitors against viral and human targets
- Monoclonal antibody cocktails as adjuvant antibiotic therapy
- Rapid parallel screening for infectious agents and their antibiotic susceptibility using superRCA
- DNA methylation-based signatures for precision diagnostics in severe lung diseases
Project titles 2021: Proof of concept
- Development of a Universal Vaccine Against Influenza
- Evaluation of glycan-based antiviral compounds against pandemic viruses
- Host cell targeting of EGF receptors as novel broad spectrum drugs against Respiratory Syncytial Viruses and Corona viruses
- Development of antivirals against Rift Valley fever virus
- Proof of concept for lysin based therapy against mycobacterial infections
- Novel medical therapy against viral-induced lung damage. Development of OGG1 inhibitors against lung inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis induced by viral infection
- Development of a protein based pneumococcal vaccine
- Prototyping and Preclinical Evaluations of Antibiotic-free Dendritic Hydrogels Targeting Drug-Resistant Skin Pathogens
- A new class of antibacterial drugs with effect on carbapenem resistant Gram-negative bacteria
- BioS for prevention and treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) – A proof of concept study
One of six national research programmes
This is one of six national research programmes for which the Swedish Research Council is responsible. The programmes are broad, ten-year initiatives aimed at coordinating research within a particular area.
Calls and events within the programme
Projects awarded funding will be part of the national research programme focusing on criminality, and will be coordinated by a scientific coordinator.
Call
30 June 2026
The purpose of the grant is to fund research that can rapidly answer questions of importance in relation to an identified outbreak of a virus with pa...
Call
11 November 2025
The purpose of the grant is to bridge the gap between basic research and utilisation or commercialisation of research results within the infection fi...
Call
12 November 2024
The purpose of the network grant is to create an opportunity for a broad group of researchers, clinicians, innovators and experts to create a nationa...
Call
12 November 2024
The purpose of the grant is to give the most prominent junior researchers the opportunity to consolidate their research and broaden their activities ...
Grant decision
12 October 2022
Grant decision has been made by The Swedish Research Council on proof of concept within the infection area 2022...
Grant decision
28 October 2021
Grant decision has been made by The Swedish Research Council on proof of concept within the infection area 2021...
Other calls within the programme
New research projects on children and young people in the post-pandemic Nordics External link.
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