The application process has two rounds. Projects selected for closer review submit a more detailed application in the second round. The application must include the following parts for the relevant rounds:

First round

In the first application round, the project leader must inform the head of department or equivalent about the application for RJ funding.

Summary

Write the summary in Swedish and English. It 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 immediately on RJ’s website.

Project description

Write the project description in English and formulate it to allow one of RJ’s multidisciplinary review panels to assess its scientific quality. The description may contain up to 9,600 characters including spaces and is to present:

• The research question
• The purpose
• The theory and method
• The research plan and explanation for the project period
• The project’s contribution to the international research front
• The most important international work in the research area;
• The role of the researcher(s) in the project and their relevant skills and qualifications
• The current employment situation of all research staff involved
• The plan for how information about the project and the research results will be communicated, both within the academic community and in society at large. Learn more about RJ’s guidelines for open access to scientific production.

Budget

• Name all research staff. List them as project participants with their monthly salaries, employer’s social-insurance contribution top-up (LKP) and working time in the project.
• Specify SEK 0 as the monthly salary of project participants who will not be paid in the project.
• Report working time, salary costs and LKP for any non-research staff, such as assistants and technical staff, under Operating costs. Do not name them.
• Specify and explain resource needs (salaries and operating costs) and working time for non-research staff.
• Specify costs for disseminating results, including 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.

Second round

Write the project description in the second round in English. The description may consist of up to 32,000 characters including spaces and is to include the same points as the first round but in more detail. RJ allows only minor corrections to the budget between the first and second application rounds.

The grant administrator must approve the application in the second round, and the project leader and head of department or equivalent must sign the application. Mail the pages with the budget and signatures to RJ, or email these to the responsible research manager no later than one week after the deadline. RJ will process only signed applications.

If RJ awards a grant to your project and if the project generates, collects or uses digital data, you should have a data management plan in place from the start. Do not send the plan to RJ, but we may ask questions about the plan at the project's midpoint follow-up.

Through their signatures, the project leader and the head of department guarantee that any necessary data management plan will be in place at the start of the project and that it will be updated as needed through the project period. Read more about data management plans or contact your university. All Swedish higher education institutions have the resources to support researchers in managing digital data.