RJ Sabbatical 2015

With RJ Sabbatical, researchers can get up to two years' funding to complete research that has reached an advanced stage and to write syntheses. This is a pilot initiative, and in this second call for applications the wording has been revised.

Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) is offering funds, for research periods lasting from six months to two years, for permanently employed senior lecturers and professors in humanities and social sciences at Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs).

The period of the grantees' research must be devoted to completing projects in an advanced stage and to writing major works or syntheses likely to become regarded as works of high academic value. The support may be awarded for projects that will culminate in monographs, as well as in individual journal articles. The longer the research period foreseen in an application, the more stringent the demands for precision and feasibility imposed on the application will be. RJ Sabbatical may only be used for research or for edition projects. Applications involving work on new research ideas or large-scale collection of material are referred to RJ's Project Grants. RJ Sabbatical cannot be used for the writing of textbooks. The support is intended to allow research for the whole period covered by the position, the only exceptions being for supervision of PhD students up to a maximum of 10% of full-time employment (corresponding to three PhD students). This supervision of PhD students is not funded by RJ.

RJ funds costs of salary, including LKP (employer's social-insurance contribution top-up), and also provides a grant for costs of premises and indirect costs. The size of the award is calculated according to the principles applying to research grants from RJ. Funds may also be sought for a possible stay abroad, as well as conference attendance, translation, language editing, open access (OA) publication and printing. Note that researchers who receive grants from RJ must publish their peer-reviewed writings in journals and conference publications in such a way that they become freely available on the Internet. As for monographs and book chapters, RJ encourages researchers to publish these too with free online access. RJ promotes internationalisation and academic collaboration. In RJ Sabbatical, researchers are therefore welcome to apply for funding to stay in research environments outside Sweden that are relevant to their projects.

This three-year pilot initiative offers a total of three application opportunities: in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Applicants awarded RJ Sabbatical in 2015 are obliged to start their research during 2016.

The closing application date in 2015 is 11 February (4.00 pm).

Instructions

  • Only one (1) RJ Sabbatical application may be submitted on each application occasion.
  • Prior to the application date, a final report must have been issued on any previous research project supported by an RJ Project Grant.
  • The applicant awarded funding in the form of RJ Sabbatical is obliged to conduct research throughout the period covered by the position. An exception may be made only for supervision of PhD students on a limited scale, up to a maximum of 10% of full-time employment (corresponding to three PhD students) and not exceeding the scale at which the researcher is engaged in this supervision at the time of the application.
  • The applicant is personally responsible for the planning and all practical arrangements for a stay abroad (insurance, accommodation, visa and the like), in consultation with the applicant's own HEI and the research environment abroad.
  • RJ will fund travel, accommodation, an expense allowance and insurance (but not costs of any accompanying person).
  • Researchers who are drawing retirement pension, or who will start drawing retirement pension during the period covered by the funding, may not apply for RJ Sabbatical.
  • Funding within the RJ Sabbatical form of support can never cover more than the scope of the applicant's position.
  • It is not possible to apply for support in the form of an RJ Project Grant until after the applicant's final report on funding in RJ Sabbatical has been issued.
  • The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the research is compatible with the ethical guidelines laid down by the Swedish Research Council.

Assessment criteria

Applications are assessed in terms of the academic value of the research, i.e. the quality and feasibility of the research plan and the researcher's qualifications. In situations where applications from two researchers are judged to be equivalent, priority will be given to applications where, by staying abroad, the researcher intends to extend personal, and the department's, international academic contacts.

Review process

Applications are examined by a panel composed largely of international experts, with the option of calling in subject experts. RJ's Board will decide in early June 2015 which applicants are to receive the award.

Final report and follow-up

One month after the research period ends, the researcher must send in a final report on the research work that has been carried out. RJ Sabbatical is a pilot initiative. In order for this form of support to be followed up, one year after the research period ends, the researcher must submit a brief account of the outcome of the funding, i.e. its results in the form of publications, promotion, applications sent in, new collaborations and so forth.

Application instructions

Applications are submitted online, using RJ's web-based application system. From the start, the application must include all the costs of implementing the work. The application must be written in English and contain the following information:

  • Title of the project, in Swedish and English.
  • Sammanfattning (Summary), comprising a maximum of 1500 characters including spaces, written in Swedish and English. This should explain why the research task is important, its purpose and how it is to be implemented. The summary must be formulated in such a way as to be intelligible to an interested layman. If the application is approved, the summary will be posted on RJ's website.
  • Anslagsförvaltare (Grant administrator)
  • Subject choice
  • Budget, containing details of running costs (possible stay abroad, conference attendance, translation, language editing, OA publication and printing), the duration of the support applied for, annual full-time equivalent working time, salary and LKP.
  • Projektbeskrivning (Project description), up to a maximum length of 15,000 characters including spaces, written in English. The account of the academic work to be carried out must make it clear what research has already been completed and what remains to be done; the types of work input required for the various phases of the work plan; and the estimated time required. In addition, the applicant must report on the expected outcome in the form of publications and the intentions and expected benefits of any research stay outside Sweden, including contacts with the intended research environment that already exist. The description should also include a brief CV with information about the applicant's current employment, ongoing assignments and external research grants obtained. All budgeted costs must be specified and reasons for their inclusion given.
  • Certificate from the HEI head of department (in Word), guaranteeing that the applicant will be able to conduct research for the entire duration of the position, throughout the period to which the application relates. Funding received in the form of RJ Sabbatical must not adversely affect future scope for research in the position pursuant to any agreement on working hours and other conditions. Paste the certificate into the Referenser (References) field.
  • Publikationer (Publications): the researcher's two to five most important publications of relevance to the application must be listed.

Unspecified costs, or costs for which adequate reasons are not given, will not be approved. RJ has no obligation to cover the costs that are specified but, rather, has full freedom to decide the scale on which contributions may be given.

Contributions for conferences, workshops and networks that the applicant wishes to arrange personally should be applied for through the Research Initiation form of support.

Deadline

  • The application system will be open from 8 January 2015.
  • The online application must reach RJ not later than 4.00 pm on 11 February 2015.
  • The application must be approved by the grant administrator as follows. The first page of the application must be printed out, signed by the researcher and head of department or equivalent, and sent by letter post to RJ within a week after the deadline. Only the form bearing signatures should be sent in, not the whole application. The signed certificate from the head of department should be enclosed as well. RJ processes only complete applications, i.e. both the signed application and the certificate from the head of department must be submitted.