The programme is open to all society's memory institutions that manage collections of possible use for research on humanities and social sciences. The funders will only provide financial support for projects based on in-depth collaboration between memory institutions and academic departments. The programme accommodates all types of initiatives aimed at making the contents of the collections known, accessible and usable. In response to observations in the evaluation of the above-mentioned ALM programme, projects oriented towards the digitisation of, and the effects of, research and work at memory institutions are particularly welcomed.

Instructions

Depending on the focus of the project, funding applied for may be awarded for projects of two to five years' duration.
• Each project manager may submit only one (1) application.
• Every applicant must be employed at either a memory institution or a higher education institution (HEI).
• All participating researchers at HEIs whose salary funding is applied for must have obtained doctorates (PhD degrees) by the application date. Employees at memory institutions are not required to have PhDs.
• Professors' salaries may be funded in the project.
• Researchers or employees at ALMs who are aged 67 or above may have their salaries funded in the project, provided that the position held is at a grant administrator approved by RJ. The corresponding requirement applies to employees at memory institutions.
• It is possible to include costs of foreign project participants working in Sweden or abroad, and of research stays abroad.
• At least one Swedish memory institution and one Swedish HEI must be included in the project. One of them must be the grant administrator.
• Applications relating to joint projects that have already been commenced are also acceptable. In such cases, results attained must be reported and the purpose of the new application presented.
• The applicants must contribute to the funding, either with money or with working time, equipment or the like. This co-funding must correspond to at least 30% of the amount applied for. Co-funding in the form of payment for indirect costs or costs of premises is not accepted.
• By the application date, the applicant must have a plan for the long-term management of the project, and reciprocal legal, institutional and economic obligations and rights must have been investigated. Permissions and any agreements that are necessary for implementing the project must be disclosed.
• The application must contain a clear plan for how the research-related results are to be presented and made available in academically relevant contexts.
• The results from the project must be generally and freely available.
• For every approved project, an additional grant is provided for indirect costs and costs of premises, according to the model applied by RJ.
• The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the research is compatible with the ethical guidelines laid down by the Swedish Research Council, and also that ethical review is carried out where necessary.

Assessment criteria

The assessment criteria are the quality of the application; its relevance to memory institutions and the research; the prospects of bringing about lasting, in-depth cooperation regarding joint concerns; and the feasibility of the work plan. The nature and scope of the co-funding are valued within the framework of these criteria.

Review process

The applications will be reviewed by a panel comprising prominent representatives of memory institutions and research. The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and RJ will jointly, in June 2016, decide which applications are awarded grants. No reasons will be given for the decisions.

Content of the application

The summary, to be written in Swedish and English, may comprise up to 1500 characters including spaces. It should explain why the project is important, its purpose and how it will be implemented. The summary should 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.

The project description may contain up to 15,000 characters including spaces, must be in English or Swedish and must cover:

• purpose and research questions
• theory and method
• the project plan and justification for the project period
• how the project relates to other similar projects, including which needs the expected results may meet
• the originality and relevance of the project, from the perspective of the research community and the memory institutions
• the relevant skills and qualifications of the project participants
• the current employment situation of all staff
• resource needs (salaries and operation)
• informal and formal agreements with the parties concerned
• how the initiative will be received, maintained and developed further in the long term
• a publication plan and other corresponding account of how the results will be made known to various users and an interested public
• funding from the grant administrator and from the other co-funders (co-funding in the form of payment of indirect costs and costs of premises is not approved)
• information about international contacts, if any, for example in the form of declarations of intent from the participants
• specification of and grounds for all budgeted costs.

The budget must relate to the amount of funding applied for. The grant administrator's co-funding must be clear from the project description.

• Name all staff. List them as project participants with their monthly salaries, LKP (employer's social-insurance contribution top-up) and working time in the project. Do not state indirect costs or costs of premises.
• Specify SEK 0 for project participants who are not being paid in the project, but state their working time.
• State operating costs.

No unspecified or unexplained costs will be approved.

Deadline

• The application system will be open from 11 January 2016.
• Online applications must reach RJ not later than 4:00 pm on 17 February 2016.
• The application must be approved by the grant administrator as follows. The first page of the application should be printed out, signed by the researcher or employee at the memory institution and the head of department or equivalent, and sent to RJ by regular post not later than one week after the deadline. Only the cover pages with the budget and signatures, not the whole application, must be sent in. RJ processes only complete applications, i.e. for an application to be processed, the signed hard copy must be sent in by post.