The Board of the Foundation for the Baltic and East European Studies has made its annual decisions on funding for research, doctoral studies and scientific infrastructure related to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe.

New research projects with start year 2022 have been granted SEK 70 million. Among those, funding was granted to a grand project, a new form of support introduced this year.

The Foundation has also granted SEK 115 million to next year’s activities at Södertörn University, after the Vice-Chancellor’s application for funding.

The Baltic and East European Graduate School, BEEGS, has been granted SEK 45 million. Other grants were SEK 26 million to the Professors’ programme at Södertörn University, SEK 19 million to Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, CBEES, and SEK 17 million to Södertörn University’s library.

Additionally, funding has been granted, among other things, to the journal Baltic Worlds, travel and conference funding, publication funding and to special communication initiatives to make the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern European research at Södertörn University visible.

On Tuesday, 9 November 2021 at 1:00-2:30 pm the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies organises an information meeting about the 2022 application round. The meeting takes place on Zoom and is held in Swedish. The Foundation’s secretariat and members of the Foundation’s research committee will participate.

Register your participation not later than 3 November 2021 to erika@ostersjostiftelsen.se.

Programme

• Welcome and information about the Foundation
• Forms of support 2022
  • Overview
  • Two- and three-year projects
  • Postdoctoral projects
  • Grand projects
  • Research networks
• Assessment process
• How to write a good application? Some advice along the way
• Time for questions

On the Foundation’s website, you can find all information concerning the upcoming application round. Available here are instructions, an overview of the forms of support, information about which forms of support you are eligible to apply for, questions and answers, and a description of research relevance to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe.

We wish you a warm welcome!

The instructions include four different forms of support. Funding for postdoctoral projects, two- and three-year projects, grand projects and research networks can be applied for. A change is that the Foundation increases the maximum employment rate possible to apply for in two- and three-year projects and in grand projects from 50% to a maximum of 75% of full-time position per year. Another change is that the start date for an approved research network will be 1 September 2022.

The instructions are separate for each form of support, in addition there are special instructions for the application system. The instructions, an overview of the forms of support, questions and answers, as well as a table explaining who can apply for which form of support are available in both Swedish and English. See For researchers.

The application system opens on Monday, 10 January 2022 at 9:00 am.

The last application date for two- and three-year projects and postdoctoral projects in stage 1, as well as for grand projects and research networks is on Wednesday, 2 February 2022 at 3:00 pm.

Information meeting

An information meeting about the 2022 application round will be held on Tuesday, 9 November 2021 at 1:00 -2:30 pm on Zoom. More information will be published on the Foundation’s website.

The Board of the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies has today made the decision on which research projects that will receive funding in this year’s calls for research projects.

–We are pleased to announce that the Foundation has decided to grant a total of SEK 70,7 million to 14 research projects focused on the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe, says the Foundation’s Research Director Britta Lövgren. One of the research projects that has been granted, with almost SEK 25 million, is within the support form “grand projects”, a new form of support.

Postdoctoral projects

Funding support for a postdoctoral project is available for an individual researcher who has recently obtained a doctoral degree. The project period is two years and the salary funding may cover 80–100% of a full-time annual position. The Foundation has approved three postdoctoral project applications in this year’s application round.

Project manager	Title	Department	Amount granted
Aleksandra Gajowy	Constructing the Polish Imaginary: Race and Ethnicity in Polish Visual Culture from Romanticism to the Present	Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education	SEK 1,473,000
Martin Dahl	Unravelling the relative influence of climate and land-use change on nitrogen retention in Baltic Sea coastal sediments over the last 300 years	Södertörn University, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies	SEK 2,836,000
Ekaterina Tarasova	Just energy transitions for whom? Exploring the concept of recognition-based justice in the case of the coal phase-out in Poland	Södertörn University, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies	SEK 2,121,000

See summaries of the approved postdoctoral projects here.

Two and three-year projects

Funding support for a project is available for an individual researcher or small group of researchers. The project period is two or three years and the amount of grant is a maximum of SEK 2 million a year. The Foundation has approved ten project applications in this year’s application round.

Project manager	Title	Department	Amount granted
Sylwia Szymańska-Smolkin	Jewish Couriers: The Forgotten Heroes of the Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust.	Södertörn University, School of Historical and Contemporary Studies	SEK 2,594,000
Julia Malitska	To Eat or Not to Eat? Human Health, Scientific Knowledge, and the Biopolitics of Meat in Eastern Europe, 1860s–1939	Södertörn University, School of Historical and Contemporary Studies	SEK 2,530,000
Yulia Gradskova	Maternity in time of “traditional values” and femonationalism	Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education	SEK 6,000,000
Katarina Wadstein MacLeod	Illustrating Neutral Nature: Scientific Depictions of the Arctic from Moscow, Stockholm, and Paris	Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education	SEK 2,789,000
Susan Lindholm	An entangled history of the Kulturnation. The German schools in Stockholm and Helsinki 1933-1995.	Södertörn University, School of Historical and Contemporary Studies	SEK 2,359,000
Lisa Källström	Pippi Beyond the Border: Pippi Longstocking in the German Democratic Republic	Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education	SEK 3,251,000
Cecilia Sjöholm	Distrusting Monuments. Art and The War In Former Yugoslavia.	Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education	SEK 5,628,000
Oleksandr Polianichev	Tropics of Tsardom: Plants and Empire in the South Caucasus, 1800s–1917	Södertörn University, School of Historical and Contemporary Studies	SEK 2,231,000
Michael Forsman	Anticipating and mediating future classrooms. Ed-tech imaginaries of learning, communication and citizens making in Estonia and Sweden	Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education	SEK 5,919,000
Olena Podolian	Authoritarian Policy Transfer in Post-Soviet States.	Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences	SEK 5,990,000

See summaries of the approved two-and three-year projects here.

Grand projects

‘Grand projects’ are those undertaken by a group comprising at least four researchers, with a joint, coherent research task. Grand projects aim to engage in collaboration across subject and institutional boundaries and national borders, and to enable researchers to form a research group that is active in the long term. Within the framework of grand projects funding may be applied for postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students. The project period is four or five years and the amount of grant is a maximum of SEK 5 million a year. The Foundation has approved one grand project application in this year’s application round.

–It has been an honourable and rewarding assignment to lead the panel that has assessed the applications in the first call for grand projects organised by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, says Helena Sandberg, Professor of media and communication studies at Lund University and Halmstad University. She adds that a form of support of this kind puts great demands on the applications as excellence is required in all parts of the application and also in its entirety. –We will with great interest follow the approved grand project as well as the development of this form of support, says Helena Sandberg.

Project manager	Title	Department	Amount granted
Martin Gullström	Climate change mitigation capacity of the Baltic coastal seascape: identification of hotspot environments for coastal blue carbon sequestration and guidance for sustainable management of the Baltic coastal landscapes under global change (CLIM-SCAPE)	Södertörn University, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies	SEK 24,997,000

See the summary of the approved grand project here.

The assessments have been carried out by special assessment panels based on the applications and on external experts’ assessments and for grand projects also on interviews with research groups. The Board of the Foundation has followed the recommendations of the assessment panels.

The research projects will start from January 2022.

Notification of the Foundation’s decisions is sent to the applicants by e-mail.

Östersjöstiftelsen, The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, funds research, doctoral studies and scientific infrastructure, and also activities that develop these areas at Södertörn University. The Foundation’s financial support must be related to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe and may cover all disciplines. The Foundation supports research projects by individual researchers and research groups after application in annual calls. It also supports activities at Södertörn University after an annual application from the university.

Next year, the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies will announce calls for the same four forms of support as in 2021: two- and three-year projects, postdoctoral projects, grand projects and research networks.

A change is that the Foundation increases the maximum employment rate possible to apply for in two- and three-year projects and grand projects from 50% to a maximum of 75% of full-time position per year.

The application system opens on Monday 10 January 2022 and the last application date for all forms of support is Wednesday 2 February 2022.

New instructions for applications in 2022 will be posted on the Foundation’s website during the autumn.

An information meeting prior to calls for applications 2022 will be held digitally on Tuesday, November 9 at 1pm. More information will be posted on the website.

The Board of the Foundation for the Baltic and East European Studies has made its annual decisions on funding for research, doctoral studies and scientific infrastructure related to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe. The largest grant goes to new research projects.

Other major budget items are:

• Baltic and East European Graduate School, BEEGS, SEK 40 million
• Professors’ programme at Södertörn University, SEK 23 million
• Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, CBEES, SEK 14 million
• Södertörn University’s library, 17 million

Additionally, funding has been granted, among other things, to the journal Baltic Worlds and to special communication initiatives to make the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern European research at Södertörn University visible.

On Wednesday, 11 November 2020 at 1:00-2:30 pm the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies organises an information meeting about the 2021 application round. The meeting takes place on Zoom and is held in Swedish. The Foundation’s secretariat and members of the Foundation’s research committee will participate. Register your participation not later than 5 November 2020 to erika@ostersjostiftelsen.se.

Programme

• Welcome and information about the Foundation
• Forms of support 2021
  • Overview
  • Two- and three-year projects
  • Postdoctoral projects
  • Grand projects
  • Research networks
• Assessment process
• How to write a good application? Some advice along the way
• Time for questions

On the Foundation’s website, you can find all information concerning the upcoming application round. Available here are instructions, an overview of the forms of support, information about which forms of support you are eligible to apply for, questions and answers, and a description of research relevance to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe.

We wish you a warm welcome!

The Board of the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies has today made the decision on which research projects that will receive funding in this year’s call for projects and postdoctoral projects. The Foundation has granted SEK 48 million to seven projects and six postdoctoral projects.

The Foundation’s research committee has carried out the assessment based on applications and assessments from external experts.

The Board of the Foundation has followed the recommendations of the research committee and decided to grant funding for a total of thirteen projects. The research projects will start from January 2021.

Notification of the Foundation’s decision is sent to the applicants by e-mail.

Approved projects and postdoctoral projects 2020-10-06

Registration number	Project manager	Project title	Department	Amount granted	Project type
S2-20-0002	Daniel Fittante	Multiscalar Ethnic Intermediation in Post-Communist Eastern Europe	School of Social Sciences	SEK 1,619,000	postdoc
S2-20-0007	Anne Kaun	Automating Welfare in the Baltic Sea Region: Consequences of Automated Decision-Making for Democratic Values (AUTO-WELF)	School of Culture and Education	SEK 3,399,000	project
S2-20-0008	Alexander Stagnell	Post-Communist Communism in Eastern Europe: A Rhetorical History of The Ljubljana School of Psychoanalysis	School of Culture and Education	SEK 2,036,000	postdoc
S2-20-0010	Ann Werner	Conservatory cultures: Nation and gender in the conservatoire music educations of Estonia, Finland, and Hungary	School of Culture and Education	SEK 5,274,000	project
S2-20-0011	Christofer Berglund	Conscription as Political Socialization in Divided Societies? Evidence from post-Soviet Estonia and post-independence Finland	School of Social Sciences	SEK 5,635,000	project
S2-20-0015	Jessica Gustafsson	Post-migrant voices in the Baltic Sea region (Sweden, Germany, Estonia)	School of Culture and Education	SEK 7,220,000	project
S2-20-0016	Gustav Strandberg	Globalisation, Nationalism, and the Question of Community	School of Culture and Education	SEK 2,197,000	postdoc
S2-20-0017	Mette Ginnerskov-Dahlberg	Student mobility at the crossroads of Western and Eastern Europe – aspirations, strategies and assets among Belarusian and Ukrainian students	School of Social Sciences	SEK 1,943,000	postdoc
S2-20-0019	Mats Grahn	Health hazard in the Baltic sea: the effect of fluorinated substances on Baltic sea organisms	School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies	SEK 7,985,000	project
S2-20-0020	Oliver Blomqvist	Language Unity and Diversity in the Administrative Writing of the Swedish Baltic Empire	School of Culture and Education	SEK 2,157,000	postdoc
S2-20-0023	Emma Hagström Molin	Provenance in 19th-Century Europe: Research Practice and Ontology	School of Historical and Contemporary Studies	SEK 2,161,000	project
S2-20-0025	Maria Lönn	Sweat, Tears, Shame: Exploiting Vulnerabilities through Chekhov’s Acting Techniques Imaginary Body and Atmosphere	School of Culture and Education	SEK 2,114,000	postdoc
S2-20-0026	Jani Turunen	Leavers and stayers – Migrant and non-migrant life trajectories in Sweden and Finland	School of Social Sciences	SEK 4,764,000	project

The instructions include four different forms of support. As before, funding for postdoctoral projects and for two- and three-year projects, can be applied for. Now funding for grand projects and research networks is also available for application. Note that the design of previous forms of support has changed as new forms of support have been introduced.

Grand projects are applied for by a group of researchers and can include both postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students. A strong international element must characterize the research group. The time and financial scope is a maximum of 5 years and a maximum of SEK 5 million a year.

Research networks support either creating new networks of researchers or maintaining ones that are already established. The network members should contribute to forthcoming research through scientific meetings and contacts. A great majority of the participants must come from research environments outside Sweden. The financial scope is SEK 150,000 per network for maximum of one year.

The instructions are separate for each form of support, in addition there are special instructions for the application system. The instructions, an overview of the forms of support, questions and answers, as well as a table explaining who can apply for which form of support are available in both Swedish and English. See For researchers.

The application system opens on Monday, 11 January 2021 at 9:00 am.

The last application date for two- and three-year projects and postdoctoral projects in stage 1, as well as for grand projects and research networks is on Wednesday, 3 February 2021 at 3:00 pm.

Information meeting

An information meeting about the 2021 application round will be held on Wednesday, 11 November at 1:00 pm-3:00 pm. More information will be published on the Foundation’s website.

New instructions for applying for funding in application round 2021 will be published in the middle of September.

Next year, the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies will expand the forms of support that researchers can apply for directly from the Foundation. In addition to postdoctoral projects and two- and three-year research projects, the Foundation introduces two new forms of support: grand projects and research networks.

Grand projects are applied for by a group of researchers and can include both postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students. A strong international element must characterize the research group. The time and financial scope is a maximum of 5 years and a maximum of SEK 5 million a year.

Another news is support for research networks. It is support for either creating new networks of researchers or maintaining ones that are already established. The network members should contribute to forthcoming research through scientific meetings and contacts. A great majority of the participants must come from research environments outside Sweden. The financial scope is SEK 150,000 per network for maximum of one year. This form of support is open to researchers at both Södertörn University and other Swedish higher education institutions but requires collaboration with researchers at Södertörn University.

The last application date for all forms of support is Wednesday, 3 February 2021.

Instructions for application will be published on the Foundation’s website after the summer.

If a research project is at risk of being significantly delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak and cannot be completed within the grant availability period, The Foundation may grant an extension to the grant period. An application for extension of the grant availability period must be submitted to the Foundation towards the end of the grant availability period. It must include an explanation on how the Covid-19 outbreak caused the delay and, as usual, a plan for how and when the project is intended to be completed.

Information meeting before the call for project applications in 2020 will be held on Wednesday, 4 December 2019 at 2 p.m.-3 p.m. in room F11. The meeting will be held in Swedish. Welcome!