The purpose is to allow the recipient to complete research in the humanities and social sciences that has reached an advanced stage. 

Summary 

• Area: Humanities and Social Sciences 
• Applicants: individual researchers with a permanent position at a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) 
• Approved for: 6–12 months 
• The application system opens: 2 April 2024 at 09.00 
• The application system closes: 23 April 2024 at 15.00 
• Final decision: 24 October 2024
• RJ Sabbatical can begin at the earliest on 1 December 2024 and at the latest on 1 January 2026 

Focus 

RJ Sabbatical allows senior lecturers and professors within the social sciences and humanities to complete ongoing scholarly work or to finish writing major works or syntheses. The intended purpose of the grant is also to support the international contacts in the research through a stay abroad. 

Requirements 

• Stays abroad must be a part of RJ Sabbatical. RJ prefers for sabbaticals to be divided into maximum of two periods. One of these periods is to be of at least 30 consecutive days. 
• The applicant is responsible for the planning and all practical arrangements for the time abroad (insurance, accommodation, visa and the like). This is done in consultation with the researcher’s own HEI and the foreign host institution. 
• Researchers applying for RJ Sabbatical must be permanently employed at a Swedish higher education institution. 
• Final reports for any previous research grants from RJ must have been submitted by the application date. 
• Only one RJ Sabbatical application may be submitted per application occasion. 
• Applicants who have previously received RJ Sabbatical grants, can apply again no earlier than five years after the final report has been submitted.
• Only one researcher may be included per application. 
• The grant never covers more than the work time of the applicant’s permanent position.  
• Researchers with RJ Sabbatical grants are required to conduct research for the entire time covered by their employment. Exceptions are only possible for supervision of PhD students, up to a maximum of 10 per cent of full-time employment and no more than the amount committed to at the start of the RJ Sabbatical. The supervision of PhD students is not funded by RJ. 
• Researchers who are drawing retirement pension or will start drawing one during the period covered by the funding may not apply for an RJ Sabbatical grant. 
• The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the research is compatible with the ethical guidelines established by the Swedish Research Council and that ethical review is carried out where necessary. 
• All Swedish higher education institutions are approved grant administrators. RJ reserves the right to determine what other organisations can be approved for each application. 

Applications 

Applications are submitted through RJ’s application system. Familiarise yourself with the application form while reading the instructions below. 

Summary 

Write the summary in Swedish and English. The summary may contain up to 1,500 characters including spaces and should explain why the research task is important, its purpose and how it will be conducted. Formulate the summary so that a layperson can understand it. If the application is approved, the summary will be posted on RJ’s website. 

Project description 

Write the project description in English and formulate it to allow RJ’s multidisciplinary review panel to assess its scientific quality. The description may contain up to 15,000 characters including spaces and is to present: 

• Specified time period and location for all stays abroad 
• A plan explaining how RJ Sabbatical will allow the completion of already begun research and how this will result in publication. Describe the previously completed work along with any remaining work. 
• The research question 
• The purpose 
• The theory and method 
• The contribution to the international research front  
• How the stay abroad can lead to international contacts and collaboration of benefit for the applicant’s home higher education institution even after RJ Sabbatical has been concluded. 
• A short curriculum vitae with details on the applicant’s current position 
• Whether and, if so, how RJ’s grant will be combined with research time included in the researcher’s position at the home institution. 

Budget 

• List costs for salary and employer’s social-insurance contribution top-up (LKP). 
• List costs related to the sabbatical abroad (including any costs for accompanying family members) under Operating costs. RJ awards up to SEK 55,000/month for listed expenses during the RJ Sabbatical period and assumes that the grant administrator, as the responsible employer, will cover any costs beyond this amount. 
• Specify costs for open access and production support. 
• Do not list any indirect costs or university-wide fees (e.g., IT, premises, and administration) in the application. 
• RJ adds an additional amount to each grant for indirect costs and costs of premises based on RJ’s own model for determining such costs. This also includes costs arising at other research units, both in Sweden and abroad. 

Budget specification 

Write the budget specification in Swedish or English. Specify and explain all budgeted costs. Unspecified or unexplained expenses will not be approved.  

The grant administrator must approve the application, and the project leader and head of department or equivalent must sign the application electronically when the application is submitted. RJ will process only signed applications. 

Data management plan

You need a data management plan for the data generated in the research for which we have awarded the grant. You are not to submit the plan to us, but the project leader and grant administrator guarantee through their signatures that a data management plan will be in place when you begin your project and that the plan will be maintained and followed. 

Assessment criteria and review process 

Applications that do not meet the requirements will be rejected.

The crucial criteria for RJ’s decisions are scientific quality and feasibility of the project. The potential of the sabbatical abroad to lead to international contacts of a more lasting character is weighed in the assessment. 

Projects are evaluated and prioritised by a multidisciplinary review panel consisting of international researchers. Formally, RJ’s board of directors makes the final decision. No explanation for the decision is provided.