Advances in digital technology are generating a series of new challenges and opportunities of researchers in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. The amount of digital information and access to it is increasing. Research faces challenges that are both methodological and theoretical in nature. Both opportunities and limitations in hitherto used standard methods emerge as new approaches are introduced that allow analysis of texts, images and sounds more extensively, faster and with better precision. These changes also require new demands for technical expertise, infrastructures for storage and accessibility, and interdisciplinary and international collaboration.

Due to these changes there is potential for innovative combinations of qualitative and quantitative methods, holistic understanding of societal phenomena and for fruitful development of traditional humanities and social sciences perspectives. A common term for this approach is often mixed method research.

This call for proposals aims at research that develop or applies innovative methods and projects with meta-oriented perspectives. The call aims at improving researcher´s opportunities for critically analysing and using the new types of data and methods that digitization results in and challenging established methodologies and scholarly paradigms. The development of new methods can be relevant for researchers regardless of if they work with small or large data sets.

It is important that the project has a significant research question, international relevance and that the expected results are generalisable outside of one's own field of research. The research project must be driven by analytical priorities, choice of collaborative partners and methodological self-reflection, and, when necessary, have clear strategies for collecting, processing and interpreting data.

RJ requires that the research projects awarded funding actively participate in developing close and long-term collaboration with each other. To further support cohesion and strengthen long-term effects, RJ will appoint a coordinator to ensure contacts between the research groups that receive funding.

Instructions

• Every participating researcher applying for salary funding are to have obtained a PhD by the application date.
• By the application date, all project participants are to have issued final reports on previous research grants awarded by RJ. The exception is researchers with grants within Infrastructure for Research and grants within Collections and Research.
• It is only possible to participate in one application on mixed methods, irrespective of whether you are a project manager or a project participant.
• Project work time for the project manager is to equal at least 20 per cent for each budget year.
• Up to four years of research funding can be applied for.
• Costs of non-Swedish project participants working in Sweden or other countries and costs of research stays outside Sweden may be included.
• Researchers aged 67 and over can be paid in the project provided that the researcher is employed by a grant administrator approved by RJ.
• At least two researchers are to be included in each individual project.
• It must be ensured that the research is compatible with the ethical guidelines established by the Swedish Research Council and that ethical review is carried out where necessary.
• Since RJ fully funds approved projects, we normally do not accept co-financing of projects with other external sources of funding. Normally, projects that have already begun cannot receive partial or full funding from RJ. The applicant is required to report any existing, ongoing external funding and grants obtained in parallel with a project grant from RJ.
• Projects may not apply for more than SEK 10 million.

Assessment criteria

• The application's scholarly quality, particularly its innovativeness linked to method development and theoretical awareness.
• The feasibility of the research plan.
• The application's potential to contribute to new research, generalisable results within the research on mixed methods and potential synergy effects outside one's own research environment.
• The application's grounding in and contribution to the international research front in the field.

Review process

Projects are evaluated and prioritised by a review panel consisting of international researchers and appointed by RJ. RJ's Board makes the formal decisions on research grants.

Applications

The application must be approved by the grant administrator and signed by the project manager and head of department or equivalent. Only the cover pages with the budget and signature are to be sent in, not the whole application. RJ only accepts signed applications.

The summary, to be written in Swedish and English, may comprise up to 1500 characters including spaces. It should explain why the research task is important, its purpose and how it will be implemented. The summary must be formulated in such a way as to be intelligible to an interested layperson. If the application is approved, the summary will be posted on RJ's website.

The project description may contain up to 40,000 characters including spaces. It is to be in English and include:

• the research question
• the purpose
• theory and method
• the project plan and grounds for the project period
• contribution to the international research front
• the internationally most important work in the research area concerned
• the research's expected results and synergies outside one's own environment
• the role of the researcher(s) in the project and their relevant skills and qualifications
• the current employment situation of all research staff involved
• plan for how information about the project and the research results will be communicated, both within the academic community and in society at large.

Budget:

• Salaries, LKP (employer's social-insurance contribution top-up), operating costs and working time for non-research staff are to be specified. Do not, on the other hand, state indirect costs and costs of premises.
• 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 are not being paid within the project.
• Report working time and salary costs for any non-research staff, such as assistants and technical staff, under 'Drift', but do not name them.
• Resource needs (salaries and operation) and working time for non-research staff are to be specified and explained under Budget comments.

Costs not to be included in the application:

• For every project grant, RJ adds a grant for indirect costs and costs of premises according to the model applied by RJ.
• For every project grant, RJ also awards a grant for internationalisation. This may be used for research stays abroad; inviting foreign research colleagues; travel to attend conferences abroad and in Sweden; and language editing of manuscripts in languages other than Swedish.
• For every project grant, RJ also awards a grant for publication with open access.

Unspecified or unexplained costs will not be approved. RJ has no obligation to cover the costs that are reported and, instead, enjoys full freedom to decide on the scale of support that can be awarded.

Application deadline

The application system will open on 15 February.
Applications must reach RJ not later than 4.00 pm on 15 March.