Flexit is a project that seeks new, flexible solutions to spread research and researchers outside higher education institutions (HEIs). Its main purposes are:

• To build bridges between humanities and social sciences (HSS) research and companies and organisations outside academia.
• To facilitate knowledge exchange and encourage contacts so that more non-academic organisations can perceive and profit from the expertise of postdoctoral HSS specialists.

We also hope, through this programme, to point out alternative career opportunities for HSS researchers. In the long term, RJ seeks to influence the academic merit system so that academia values experience from the business world more highly, and vice versa.

Experience to date has been very good, both for the host establishments and for the researchers. In the new version of Flexit, we hope to enhance academic institutions' involvement in the programme and bridge-building. After an evaluation of the Flexit pilot project, RJ has opened the programme to senior researchers as well and organised the positions so that the researcher is employed at the host establishment (company or organisation) for two years, followed by a year at an HEI. Accordingly, applicants must have established affiliations to their departments by the time of the application.

The companies and organisations taking part in this Flexit call are Research and Development in Sörmland (Forskning och Utveckling i Sörmland); Leanlink's Advice & Support (Leanlink, Råd & Stöd); the City District Administration of Angered (Stadsdelsförvaltningen Angered) and the West Sweden Tourist Board (Turistrådet Västsverige).

Below, they describe the research areas that interest them. As a prospective Flexit researcher, your task is to transform the issues into an inspiring and practical research plan. Get in touch with the contact persons for the organisations concerned to discuss your ideas and so that you can draw up a research plan with a realistic budget.

You are welcome to contact current Flexit researchers as well.

Research and Development in Sörmland (Forskning och Utveckling i Sörmland, FoUiS)

In the past few years, social development has entailed new views of citizens' status and role. Requirements concerning participation based on citizens' perspectives and experience are increasing. To meet them, municipalities and county councils need to develop skills in communicating at individual, operational and/or organisational level.

We are therefore interested in research on communication that impedes or facilitates participation. This may concern, for example, communication problems relating to ethnicity, disability and/or gender, where more of a focus on the individual and personal circumstances is needed.

Do you think this sounds intriguing and aspire to carry out research on communication in a research and development environment that is closely associated with practice? Within the framework of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond's Flexit initiative, we are looking for a committed researcher wishing to tackle the challenge of contributing to society's future development. In the application, we want you to write a research plan that describes how you would like to address the above area. Describe, too, what you think about putting the research results into practice. We envisage you as having a PhD in, for example, a behavioural science subject, gender studies, educational theory and practice, language studies or linguistics, but we are also open to other subject areas.

The research will be carried out in collaboration between Research and Development in Sörmland (FoUiS) and the Development Unit of Sörmland County Council (Utvecklings-enheten i Landstinget Sörmland). FoUiS is a resource shared by municipalities and the county council for developing knowledge in the social services and associated parts of the health and medical care services. FoUiS is a link between R&D and practice, while the Development Unit is a resource for supporting management and activities in developing and monitoring healthcare and medical services in Sörmland.

Read more (in Swedish) at www.fou.sormland.se.

Contact person
Carina Forsman Björkman, head of FoUiS
telephone: 016-541 40 31, 070-348 87 09
email: carina.forsman@fou.sormland.se

Leanlink's Advice & Support unit, municipality of Linköping (Leanlink, Råd & Stöd, Linköpings kommun)

Evidence-based practice has long been topical in the social services at local, regional and national level. Now the clients' or users' experience and wishes are also to be taken into account to enhance the quality of services offered. Combining the client or user perspective with professional expertise and research may, however, be challenging. This is why we need to expand our knowledge of these processes and are interested in research in this field.

How can we best develop an organisation that combines the experience and wishes of clients or users with research findings and professional expertise? What happens when the client or user joins in creating the services? What tensions exist and how can they be managed? What happens to the division of power among different operators in a process of change of this manner?

Are you interested in carrying out research on this? We want you to include in your application a research plan that describes how you would like to address one or more of the above questions. Alternatively, you can approach the problem from another perspective. As an applicant, you may have a PhD in anthropology, an economics subject, philosophy or some other relevant field. In Advice & Support, we endeavour to make practice evidence-based and we want this practice to be included in everyday work. Advice & Support is the municipal provider of various support and treatment measures in the Linköping area. Exercising public authority is not included in its remit.

Read more (in Swedish) at www.leanlink.se.

Contact person
Margareta Junghard-Lindell, Operations developer
telephone: 013-26 34 68
email: margareta.junghard-lindell@linkoping.se

Angered City District Administration (Stadsdelsförvaltningen Angered)

Although public health trends are generally positive, there are widening gaps between different groups in Sweden. Among people in the category with the best health status, improvement is continuous; those in the category with the worst public health, on the other hand, are at a standstill. Just as a number of studies have shown since Michael Marmot presented his Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health in 2008, inequality in health is correlated with socioeconomic inequality. The City of Gothenburg has decided to take remedial action. The progress report published in spring 2015 made the disparities within the municipality clear. Public health in Angered as a city district is below the average for Gothenburg.

Our efforts to remedy this have revealed clearly that we need to mobilise civil society and its resources. How can local authorities act in such a way as to sustainably include and involve civil society in a broad sense? How can the population itself be mobilised in the work of improving public health and eliminating disparities in living conditions? Might there be other ways of reversing the adverse trend?

If these issues interest you, you are the researcher we seek to help us in building knowledge when we tackle this challenge. In your application, we want you to include a research plan that describes how you would like to address one of the above questions. Alternatively, you can approach the problem from a different direction. As an applicant, you may have a PhD in sociology, human geography, language studies or linguistics, or some other relevant field.

Angered is one of ten city districts in Gothenburg and includes housing areas like Hammarkullen and Lövgärdet. Registered residents of Angered number some 50,000, the population is young and many people have roots in other countries. Many move in and out, so the demographic composition is far from static. The City District Administration is in charge of preschool and compulsory education, elderly care, health and medical care, social services, culture and recreation, and also bears some responsibility for issues of urban planning and building. In this and many other matters, we collaborate throughout the city of Gothenburg. Process owners for the task of making the whole of Gothenburg equal are the Social Resources Administration.

Read more (in Swedish) at www.goteborg.se/angered

Contact person
Marianne Olsson, District Council Director
telephone: 072-240 4656
email: marianne.olsson@angered.goteborg.se

West Sweden Tourist Board (Turistrådet Västsverige)

Since the Tourist Board was formed in 1999, questions relating to sustainable tourism have been central to its work. Economic, social and ecological sustainability are taken into account in the development of saleable products and tourism companies are offered an advisory service on how they can develop their activities in terms of sustainability. In the visitor industry, sustainability has emerged as a self-evident component in these years. Nevertheless, we can state that relatively little is known about the environmental impact of the visitor industry. We are therefore interested in research that addresses such questions as the following.

What is the nature of the visitor industry's environmental impact in terms of transport, meals, accommodation and activities? How is the environmental impact of this industry related to its functionality — to the job opportunities generated by the sector, for example? Given this, how can the environmental impact of the visitor industry decrease in the future? How heavy is its environmental impact in relation to that of other industries? How does it vary among different types of tourists?

Are you interested in this subject area and in establishing links between research and the tourist industry? If so, apply for this Flexit position based at our office in Gothenburg. We would like you to include in your application a research plan describing how you wish to address one or more of the questions above. Alternatively, you can approach the problem from another perspective. We envisage you, the applicant, having a PhD in an economics subject, ethnology or the history of ideas, but we are also open to other subjects.

The West Sweden Tourist Board is the enterprise in the Västra Götaland region for developing and marketing the visitor industry in this part of Sweden. Nationally and regionally, the visitor industry is of great importance. In Västra Götaland, it has an annual turnover of some SEK 43 billion, corresponding to approximately 28,000 person-years (annual full-time equivalents).

Read more (in Swedish) at www.turistradet.com

Contact person
Marie Linde, deputy chief executive
telephone: 031-81 83 07
email: marie.linde@vastsverige.com

Structure of Flexit positions

The positions are for a maximum of three years, and consist of 75% research and 25% service first at the host establishment and thereafter at the HEI department. RJ funds salary costs and other expenses relating to the research, while the host establishment pays salary for the remainder of the position and bears the costs of office workspace, office infrastructure and various benefits at the workplace. For the first two years, the host establishment is the employer and appoints a contact person for the researcher, who is based on the premises as an in-house researcher but is expected to retain and develop contacts with academia.

During the third year of the project, the researcher is based at an HEI department, continues with the research in the Flexit project and maintains contacts with the host establishment. During the third year, when the researcher is located at the academic department, RJ's grants cover indirect costs and costs of premises.

Who is eligible to apply?

The applicant must have obtained a doctoral degree in a subject in humanities or social sciences (HSS). The applicant should also have good social skills and good networks both inside and outside the research community.

Application

Every researcher must send in a certificate from an HEI department. This letter must bear the signature of the head of department or equivalent and reach RJ not later than the deadline, which is 4:00 pm on 10 February 2016. The certificate must also be included with the application and placed after the application letter and CV under the heading 'Publications'.

The head of department's certificate (in Word) should also contain information about what the affiliation will include during the first two years of the Flexit project (a maximum grant of SEK 30,000 a year is payable for administrative costs of affiliation during the first two years of the project). Affiliation should include access to library services, copying facilities and some administrative assistance. The certificate from the department also guarantees that the department has the intention of employing the researcher during the third year of the project.

Selection process

After an expert review, organised by RJ, interviews will be conducted during April and May 2016. The contact persons at the host establishments (companies and organisations) will invite applicants to interviews, and any allowance for travel expenses will be paid by RJ. The positions will be filled between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2016.

The application system will be open from 11 January 2016. Applications must reach RJ by 4:00 pm on 10 February 2016.

Applications are submitted via rj.se. Read the instructions under 'Make an application' to the right.

• Specify the host establishment for your position in the heading and the application letter. Under the heading 'Publikationer' ('Publications'), you should place the head of department's certificate, a CV (describing your qualifications, including an account of your connection with a Swedish HEI), names of referees and a brief list of publications. Under 'Anslagsförvaltare' ('Grant administrator'), specify the HEI department that will host you. Specify the HEI's employer's social-insurance contribution top-up rate (LKP ). The salary you state in the application must be based on current salary, which also applies during the project (including the customary salary revision). The same thing applies to the budget item 'Drift' ('Operating costs'). The operating costs specified in the application need to be well founded and are (if approved) the ones that will apply to the project.
• For every project grant, RJ also awards an internationalisation grant. This grant may be used for research stays abroad, inviting foreign research colleagues, national and international conference travel, and language editing of material in languages other than Swedish. Accordingly, do not list these costs in your application.
• RJ also grants funding for publication with open access. These costs should therefore not be listed in the application either.
• Apart from your personal letter, the head of department's certificate (in Word) and your CV, the application should contain titles and summaries in Swedish and English, and a research plan with particulars of the research that the applicant wishes to conduct, on the basis of the research area specified by the company or organisation (under the heading Project description).
• The research plan should cover the purpose, disposition, theory, method and implementation of the research and how it relates to the international research frontline. The plan should also clarify how the researcher is planning to strengthen ties and facilitate knowledge exchange between academia and the business sector. The plan may not exceed 20,000 characters, including spaces, in length.

The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the research is compatible with the ethical guidelines laid down by the Swedish Research Council, and that ethical assessment is carried out where required.

If you have any questions about the positions, contact Maria Wikse, maria.wikse@rj.se, phone +46-(0)8-50 62 64 10, but also the host establishment concerned and its contact person.

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