Swedish Research Council Doctoral Programme Grant within Register-Based Research 2020, Sweden

Doctoral programme grant within register-based research

Focus

Register-based research

Applicant

Organisation. The coordinator of the doctoral programme at the host organisation shall be invited to be the project leader for the application

Participating researchers

In addition to the organisation applying, a minimum of two further higher education institutions (HEIs) shall participate in the application. One contact person per collaborating HEI shall be invited as a participating researcher

Grant period

4 years

Grant amount

Maximum 3 million SEK per year

Publication of grant award

No later than end of September 2019

Start of grant period

January 2020

The following conditions must be fulfilled in order for the organisation to be duly qualified to apply for the grant. We carry out checks to ensure unqualified applications are rejected from further processing.

Framework for the doctoral programme

The Swedish Research Council invites Swedish higher education institutions to apply for funds for a national interdisciplinary doctoral programme in register-based research. To get a grant from the Swedish Research Council, the doctoral programme must fulfil the following general requirements:

The doctoral programme shall

• be linked to a HEI with main and coordinating responsibility
• be run by several Swedish HEIs in cooperation
• be closely associated with well-functioning and stimulating research environment/s with international connections
• offer a structured programme, with joint courses and seminars of high scientific and educational quality which have to be available nationally and preferably internationally
• have a clear organisation and leadership, including a board or governing body with overarching responsibility for quality assurance of the activities of the doctoral programme in collaboration with the participating institutions
• have a sufficient national supply of research students.

Focus

The Swedish Research Council is issuing a call for funds to support research in the field of register-based research. The priority area aims to strengthen and develop interdisciplinary and intersectoral research that is based wholly or partly on micro-data, for example from public authority or quality registers (data collected primarily for purposes other than research) and that can be linked to data from other sources, such as research-generated data, biobank data or survey data. In this context, interdisciplinary and intersectoral research refers to when researchers with genuinely differing scientific backgrounds work together and in parallel to investigate and solve research problems.

In addition to this grant for a national doctoral programme, we are also issuing a call for grants for research environments within register-based research. The priority area is based on a Government mandate from the Government Bill on Research and Innovation 2016.

The Swedish Research Council’s aim for the grant for a doctoral programme is to develop knowledge of how register-based research is conducted in Sweden, and to support a new generation of researchers and research leaders within interdisciplinary and intersectoral register-based research. The doctoral programme shall have a national catchment area, be active throughout Sweden and offer education relevant to all research fields that use register-based data. The added scientific value from the planned activities of the doctoral programme must be clearly shown.

The doctoral programme is expected to stimulate and contribute to internationalisation of register-based research by developing knowledge about register-based research abroad, and by cooperating with international researchers and research institutions.

The doctoral programme is also expected to

• offer relevant education of high scientific and pedagogic quality that is not otherwise included in the HEIs’ regular doctoral programmes
• include both theoretical and practical elements relevant to register-based research
• offer doctoral students within register-based research opportunities to develop general skills and knowledge that are necessary for research
• educate doctoral students about good data management of relevance for register-based research
• disseminate information on and enable doctoral students to participate in courses of relevance for register-based research outside of the doctoral programme’s programme
• give doctoral students the opportunity to present and discuss their own research.

Applicant

The applicant for the grant shall be a Swedish HEI that is approved as an administrating organisation by the Swedish Research Council. The HEI shall coordinate the national doctoral programme, and shall also be responsible for activity reporting and for scientific and financial final reporting of grants awarded. The doctoral programme shall be operated by no less than three HEIs in cooperation. The participating HEIs do not have to be Swedish.

The application shall include one named researcher, who shall be the coordinator of the doctoral programme and responsible for coordination and follow-up of studies. The coordinator shall be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further additional availability period, unless the Swedish Research Council approves an exception. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent. The coordinator does not have to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of applying. The coordinator must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or a corresponding foreign degree, awarded no later than the deadline for this call. The degree award date we use is the date of fulfilment of all the requirements for a doctoral degree, such as mandatory courses, oral defence and an approved doctoral thesis. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies.

A named representative from each of the participating HEIs shall be listed (see instructions under “Research programme” below), and shall be included as a participating researcher in the application.

Number of applications and previous grants

There is no limit to the number of applications a single HEI may submit or participate in, provided the applications from the same HEI are not headed by the same project leader.

Participating researchers

A representative for each of the HEIs participating in the doctoral programme shall be included as a participating researcher in the application (a minimum of 2). The participating researchers shall be researchers with a doctoral degree or corresponding competence, whose scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the proposed doctoral programme’s activities.

Participating researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application.

Costs and grant amounts

Grants may be used to finance the costs of implementing a doctoral programme. Grants may not be used to pay salary to any doctoral student or for scholarships. The amount applied for may be for a maximum of 3 million SEK per year, including indirect costs.

The Swedish Research Council assumes that the administrating organisation will cover any costs in excess of the amount received.

Grant period

The grant period is four years, starting in January 2020. The first payment will be made no earlier than October 2019.

No later than 1 January 2022, the project leader shall submit a report to the Swedish Research Council that focuses on the collaboration between the participating organisations and the added value from the doctoral programme, as well as on how the doctoral student programme fulfils the required focus on interdisciplinary and intersectoral register-based research.

Evaluation process

Your application is evaluated by a review panel where the members are Swedish and international researchers.

At least three members review and grade your application individually. The entire review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and finally to make a proposal for a decision to the Director General.

All applications receive an individual final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application.