Instructions on funding applications for conference grants in 2026

15/12/2025

Funding may be applied for in order to arrange conferences that are clearly relevant to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe. The purpose is to promote international collaboration, knowledge exchange, and dissemination of research findings on this area. The call is open to researchers in and outside Sweden.

Eligible to apply: Individual researcher with a doctorate.

Intended for: Costs connected with arranging an individual conference that is clearly relevant to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe. The conference must have at least 25 attendees.

Grant availability period: Maximum of one year.

Grant amount: SEK 250,000.

Grant administrator: Södertörn University.

A.   Key dates

Calls for proposals – round 1

• The call for applications opens on 15 December 2025 at 9:00 am.
• The deadline for applications is 28 January 2026 at 3 p.m.
• Decision on application will be announced in March 2026.
• Start date: 1 July 2026. The grant availability period is one year.

Calls for proposals – round 2

• The call for applications opens on 17 August 2026 at 9:00 am.
• The deadline for applications is 29 September 2026 at 3 p.m.
• Decision on application will be announced in November 2026.
• Start date: 1 January 2027. The grant availability period is one year.

B.   General conditions

1. Grant administrator: Approved conference funds must be administered at Södertörn University; that is, the University must be the grant administrator. The conference need not take place at Södertörn University.
2. Approval: Applications must be approved by the grant administrator, through digital signature or a signed form (before the application is submitted). See Södertörn University’s checklist with the internal procedures. See more about signing and what it means under F. Instructions for application, Signatures.
3. Co-funding: The Foundation approves co-funding of conference grants with another research funder. Clearly indicate the Foundation’s contribution to the total budget in the application. If funds for the same or a similar conference are also applied for from another funder, this must be stated in the application. If funding is received from another funder for the conference, the Foundation’s secretariat must always be notified of this fact. Funds granted cannot be used for costs covered by another research funder.
4. Government’s request: The Foundation is complying with the Government’s request to ensure that contacts and collaborations with Russian and Belarusian state institutions cease immediately, and no new ones are initiated. The Foundation will not fund research collaborations linked to the state in Russia or Belarus.
5. Use of AI: The project manager is responsible for following Foundation’s Guidelines for the use of AI tools in the preparation of research grant applications.
6. Open access: If funds are also applied for a conference publication (abstract collection or proceedings), it must be published with immediate open access.
7. Data Privacy Policy: The Foundation collects and processes personal data as part of the application process. The project manager must ensure that all participants in the application are aware of the Foundation’s Data Privacy Policy.
8. SweCRIS: Information on grants awarded by the Foundation is submitted for publication in SweCRIS, a national database of grant-funded research.
9. Website: The Foundation publishes information about the funds granted on its website.
10. Follow-up:
    • Final report:  A final report (financial and scientific) is due within four months of the last grant availability date.
    • Project monitoring may take other forms as well.

C.   Applicants

1. Project manager:
   • The project manager must have obtained a doctorate by the date of application.
   • The project manager is responsible for the ongoing work with the conference. The project manager is also the contact person for the conference vis-à-vis the Foundation and the grant administrator when the application is created, during the assessment period and after a funding decision has been made.
2. Number of participants: At least 25 attendees.
3. Organising committee: At least one employee at Södertörn University must be included in the conference organising committee.
4. Number of applications: It is possible to submit several applications for conference grants at the same time and to apply during ongoing projects. For more information see ‘Which grants may I apply for and have simultaneously?’.

D.   Assessment

Applications for conference grants are assessed by a specially appointed assessment panel. See the composition of the panel. The panel assesses the applications in competition and on the basis of the set assessment criteria and makes decisions on funding. The applicants are notified by email. No reasons for the decisions are given.

Assessment criteria

• scientific/scholarly quality
• relevance of the conference to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe
• relevance to society

Relevance to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe

The content of the conference must be highly relevant to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe. The same description of this relevance as the one applying to research projects is also applied with respect to conference grants.

Under the Statutes, the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies funds research related to ‘the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe’. The ‘Baltic Sea Region’ is the Baltic Sea itself and the surrounding areas. ‘Eastern Europe’ refers to post-communist Central, Southern and Eastern Europe (see further information on the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe). The Foundation does not fund research relating exclusively to Sweden or Swedish conditions. However, support may be provided for research that concerns Sweden, or countries entirely outside the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe in comparative studies when this is scientifically justified.

For the research to be judged highly relevant to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe, it must make a specific contribution to our knowledge of this area. Research within the area involving collaboration with researchers, research institutions and other stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe is particularly relevant. Research with a more theoretical main question, in which the importance of the Baltic Sea Region or Eastern Europe is not explained in terms of the main question, or where the link to the region is indirect, is judged less relevant.

Relevance to society

The relevance of the research to society, where it can be applied, is another key criterion in the assessment of a funding application. Relevance to society can be interpreted both as the practical application of research results in society or as a question of how the results help us to understand societal phenomena, empirically or theoretically.

E.    Budget

1. Grant amount: The conference budget may not exceed SEK 250,000.
2. Costs:
   • Funding may be applied for costs of holding a conference, such as costs of premises; fees for conference speakers; costs of travel, food and lodging; costs of a conference publication of the abstract collection type or proceedings type; and indirect costs (overheads).
   • In the estimates for travel, board and lodging, these costs must be compatible with the grant administrator’s rules for travel and work-related entertainment.Funds cannot be applied for to cover salaries.
   • If a conference anthology issued by a publisher is planned, the funds are applied for separately in the publication grants support form.
3. Budget commentary:
   • Please note that all costs must be specified and justified in detail in the space for ‘Budget commentary’. This means, first, that a realistic calculation of individual costs must be provided, and they must be stated precisely at a level of detail that enables assessment of how reasonable they are in relation to the purpose of the conference. Second, it means that the costs must be justified, and arguments for them presented, in terms of the purpose and implementation of the individual conference. Unspecified or unjustified costs are not approved.
   • The calculation of the amount of indirect costs must be stated in the budget commentary.
   • Note that the commentary is obligatory.

F.    Instructions for application

Important information

• Application system: Applications are submitted through Apply.
• Language: The whole application must be written in English. Applications partially in Swedish or incomplete will not be considered.
• Changes in a submitted application: Once submitted, applications cannot be modified by the applicant. Contact the Foundation’s secretariat if changes are needed.
• Mandatory attachments: Project description, references and CV must be uploaded as separate PDF files. No attachments may be included other than the PDF files requested in the application system.

Application form

Summary: may be up to 1500 characters, including spaces, in length. It must describe the purpose of the conference, its implementation and its relevance to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe.

Project description: must comprise a maximum of three pages of text (Times New Roman 12 points, line spacing 1.5, normal margins).
The project description must give a clear account of:

• purpose and scientific/scholarly relevance
• relevance to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe
• relevance to society
• implementation of the conference, for example:
  • target group
  • dissemination of information about the conference
  • organisation committee
  • how the conference is to be documented
  • a programme for the conference

It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide detailed justification of the relevance to the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe, as well as the relevance to society.

Signatures

The application must be signed by the project manager and the grant administrator’s authorised representative, who is usually the Head of the School (prefekt) where the project is intended to be based. Please note that applications cannot be submitted without the signature of the Head of School. The Foundation processes only signed applications.

The application is digitally signed with BankID in the application system Apply. If BankID is not available a special signature form is downloaded from the application system. Each party chooses the signing method in the application system.

The project manager’s signature represents confirmation that:

• the information in the application is correct and in line with the Foundation’s instructions
• the project manager will comply with all the conditions applying to the grant.

The grant administrator’s signature represents confirmation that:

• the grant administrator approves the cost calculation in the application
• the grant administrator will comply with all the conditions applying to the grant.

The parties must have discussed the above points before the project manager and the grant administrator’s representative approve and sign the application.