Questions and answers

02/11/2023

1. I’ve changed my email address. How can I update it in the application system?

Contact the Foundation’s secretariat and we will change the email address in the system for you. You cannot update the email for your account yourself.


2. I cannot see the whole text of the application form, or the text looks strange, what should I do?

Use one of the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer 11 and later versions or the latest version of Microsoft Edge.


3. I want to change my already submitted application. Is this possible?

Once the application has been submitted, you cannot change it yourself. If you need to make changes, please contact the Foundation’s secretariat. It is only possible to introduce changes in an application before the application deadline.


4. Must a person have a doctoral degree to apply for funding from the Foundation? Can a doctoral student be included in an application?

Two- and three-year projects: All participating researchers must have a doctoral degree by the application date. Regarding ‘non-research staff’, see below.

Postdoctoral projects: A doctoral student can apply for a postdoctoral project on condition that the student will obtain doctoral degree before the start of the grant period (for the call in 2024, no later than 2024-12-31).

Research networks: Doctoral students can be included in the research networks (however, no salary funds can be applied for in this form of support).


5. Can I apply for and/or have funding from the Foundation for more than one project?

The answer depends partly on whether you are a project manager or a project participant. See ‘Which grants may I apply for and have simultaneously?’.

You can participate in only one application for research funding in one year’s application round (refers to a total of one application within one of the following forms of support: project, postdoctoral project or grand project). Exceptions are applications for research networks, conference grants and publication grants.


6. Can I apply for the Foundation’s project funding if I am not employed at Södertörn University?

Yes, applications for research projects may have project managers and participants from other higher education institutions in Sweden or abroad. However, if the application is approved for funding the project manager must be employed at Södertörn University for the duration of the project period, while the other participants must normally spend some time there. That means that Södertörn University must be the grant administrator for an approved research project. A project manager must agree with the head of department (prefekt) concerned on the extent to which the other participants must be present at the University.

Exceptions are research networks and publication grants which can be located at other Swedish higher education institutions. Research networks must, however, include researchers at Södertörn University. Publication grants can only be applied by project managers that preciously have had a project funded by the Foundation, up to three years after final reporting.


7. Who can be a grant administrator?

For ‘projects’, ‘postdoctoral projects’, ‘grand projects’ and ‘conference grants’, Södertörn University must be the grant administrator.

For ‘research networks’ and ‘publication grants’ higher education institutions from Sweden can be grant administrators. There may be other Swedish grant administrators, but the Foundation’s approval must be obtained before the application is submitted.


8. Can I apply for project funding if I am over 67 years old?

No age limit applies to funding from the Foundation. However, to be paid salary within a project, the researcher must still have an employment and cannot be in full-time retirement.


9. I’m retiring, can I continue to be project manager?

It is not possible to continue as a project manager when fully retired. To be a project manager, one must hold an employment at the grant administrator. A part-time retired researcher, who retains a part-time employment within the project, can continue to be a project manager.


10. Can professors and associate senior lecturers within the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe Programme funded by the Foundation apply for project funding?

If, at the application date, a researcher belongs to the the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe Programme funded by the Foundation (professors and associate senior lecturers), the researcher can apply for project funding, but not for their own salary for any part of project period ahead.


11. Does the Foundation require open access publishing?

Yes. For researchers funded by the Foundation who wish to publish their peer-reviewed texts in journals and conference publications, these must be published open access. The Foundation funds OA publication and other costs related to dissemination of project results with a flat-rate grant, which is automatically added in the application system.

Results published with the Foundation’s publication grants must be immediately published with open access. This also applies to monographs.


12. Does the Foundation require data management plan?

Yes. The Foundation introduced requirement for data management plans for the granted projects in the 2021 application round and onwards.


13. Can I apply for funding for conferences and workshops within a research project?

Funds for arranging conferences can only be applied for within a special form of support: conference grants.

Within research projects funding may be applied for attending conferences that are relevant, in terms of research, and for holding minor workshops in connection with the project. These must be an integrated and well-motivated part of the project’s research design. Funds for organizing a larger conference that concludes a project cannot be applied for within the framework of a research project, these costs must be applied for separately within conference grants.


14. My application will include researchers from other HEIs than Södertörn University, in Sweden or abroad. What salary should I specify for these researchers?

Agree with the head of department (prefekt) responsible at Södertörn University about the salary payable and the payroll overhead in the form of social security contributions (lönekostnadspålägg, LKP).


15. In my project, I need to include non-research staff i.e. an interpreter and a statistician. How and where do I state the costs for them?

The costs of these participants must be stated under ‘other costs’. The total amount specified here must include their salary and the payroll overhead in the form of social security contributions, LKP, concerned. Specify and justify these costs in the ‘budget commentary’ space. You need not name non-research staff. The head of department responsible is in charge of how these participants can, in practical terms, be included in the project.


16. What are the rules for calculating costs in connection to stays abroad?

The applicant is responsible for the planning and all practical arrangements for a stay abroad. This is done in consultation with the grant administrator. The applicant must present a calculation of the expenses for the stay abroad in the application. Calculate a stay abroad for no more than 90 days in accordance with government regulations for reimbursements for service abroad. Calculate longer stays abroad, particularly if costs include other family members, in accordance with the URA government agreement. The Foundation does not fund travel costs for other family members in connection to shorter stays abroad. Questions regarding the calculation of the cost for stays abroad are to be addressed to the grant administrator.


17. Accommodation costs for researchers from other countries that during the project travel to Sweden. What applies to these?

The research grant cannot be used for accommodation costs in Sweden for longer periods. If you have questions please contact the Foundation’s secretariat.


18. If I am awarded a grant, I cannot start my project on 1 January 2025. Is that a problem?

An extra availability year is added to the grant period from the approved start date of the project. If you are awarded funding for a three-year project with start 1 January 2025, you will have a four-year grant availability period, up to and including 2028.

No additional availability time is added to the grant period for research networks, conference grants or publication grants.


19. I am applying for funding for the same project from other funders too. What happens if I am awarded funding from both the Foundation and another funder?

In the application, you must state that you are also applying for funding from another funder for the same or a similar project. If you are awarded funds from another funder as well as from the Foundation, you must notify the Foundation’s secretariat. You must then choose which of the grants you wish to use.


20. Do I need to create a new application for the second stage of postdoctoral projects and two- and three- year projects?

No, you need to revise and develop your existing application in the application system. Practically, in the application system you click on “create application” and choose stage 2 for the relevant form of support. Then the system retrieves data from your application in stage 1. The attached documents are not retrieved from application in stage 1, all the pdf files need to be attached again.


21. Should I attach the university’s calculation of costs form to my application?

No. Only pdf files requested in the application system, such as project description, references, CVs and signature form, may be attached. The Södertörn University’s calculation of costs form may not be attached to the application.


22. Can I attach a letter of recommendation to my application?

No. Only pdf files requested in the application system, such as project description, references, CVs and signature form, may be attached.


23. References – what does that mean?

References concern the academic literature that you refer to in your project description, not for example letters of recommendation or other certificates. References are attached as a separate pdf in the application system.


24. I have an ongoing research network with a grant from the Foundation, can I apply for a continuation of the ongoing network?

Yes, you can submit a new application in the call for research networks that concerns continuation of an earlier network. Please note, the application must clearly describe what has been achieved in the network and how the network is to be managed in the period ahead.


25. Can an application be signed electronically?

Yes, an application may be electronically signed by both parties in the Foundation’s application system Apply or a signature form is downloaded, signed on paper by both parties, scanned and uploaded in the application form.

These rules apply to signing of both project applications and final reports for projects.


26. Can I obtain an extension of the grant availability period or introduce changes in my project?

You need to apply to the Foundation if you want to introduce larger changes in your project, such as:

  • extension of the project’s grant availability period
  • change of project manager or project participant
  • changes of scientific character
  • larger changes in the project budget.

Use the form for ‘Application for change in an ongoing project’ and send it by email to the Foundation. The application for change must have the grant administrator’s support. The Foundation then decides on these issues. See more about extension of grant availability period and changes in an ongoing project, including the form for application.


27. What applies to employment and remuneration of project participants?

Employment conditions are the responsibility of the grant administrator. Contact the head of department (prefekt) in charge.