The target group for the call is researchers with competitive research projects that are yet to be financed by regional grants (financial means) from the university/ALF/TUA or Region Västerbotten and that:
- Has come close to receiving external grants, e.g. a researcher whose application qualified to the second stage in the review process at governmental research funding bodies.
- Has previously received research funding from external national or international funding bodies in competition, but whose funding has not been renewed.
- Has ongoing external funding of insufficient size, and is not one of the faculty's top researchers concerning ongoing, large external grants.
General information
The long-term goal is to annually announce up to ten 3-year grants of 700 000 SEK/year (that is, thirty ongoing grants, three years in length.) The distribution of the grants with respect to different research areas will be evaluated annually. Originally, the investment concerned 2017, 2018, and 2019, and after these three calls, an extensive evaluation will show whether the grants have resulted in an increased competitiveness in attracting external grants received in competition.
The application should be written in English (since the reviewers may be English speaking); must be signed by the applicant and the head of department. The head of department will certify that the application has undergone an internal peer-review process at the department and will also describe the internal peer-review process. In the next call, an attestation regarding ongoing research funding from a governmental funding body, or regarding a filed application for such funding, will be required (2020, concerning the years 2021-2023.)
The applicant will select whether the application should be reviewed by Review panel 1, which will review the application using the criteria of the Swedish Research Council (VR) for scientific quality, or by Review panel 2, which will review the application using the criteria for scientific quality, and societal relevance as used by FORTE/FORMAS. Only one application per applicant can be submitted; consequently, the applicant has to choose whether the application should be reviewed by Review panel 1 or 2.
Also, the applicant has to tag the application with the relevant SCB-codes, as to form a basis for the composition of the respective review panels.
Eligible to apply
The call is open for researchers/teachers, holding a PhD, that are at least 50% tenured1 during the entire period 2020-01-01 to 2022-12-31 and that has not;
A) Obtained financial support of 500 000 SEK or more from the faculty/UmU/Region Västerbotten (RV) (including ALF/TUA) during 2018
or:
B) Obtained corresponding support (as A) during 2019, as of August 31st, 2019
Please note that A or B is sufficient to exclude eligibility. Example of support can be funding from the faculty/UmU or RV, this includes all co-funding and support for salaries, resources and/or indirect support, for example support for KAW Fellows/Projects/Scholars and WCMM fellows. Other examples of financial support are co-funding of doctoral students, start-up grants, funding linked to promotion or recruitment, basic science biotechnology grants (bioteknikmedel) and the following grants from RV: centrala ALF, TUA, spjutspetsmedel and funding granted for research when employed as professor.
New in this call is that the applicant must not obtain a total annual revenue for research (including external funding as well as local grants according to A and B above) equivalent to 4 MSEK or more during the previous year, excluding travel grants or funding for infrastructure. Revenue is defined as the amount that has been both requisitioned and paid out to the applicant's account at the department/section. If the said funding/grants are shared, the applicant need only to account for the sum that has been requisitioned and paid out to him/her.
For questions on eligibility to apply, the administrator of the department may contact Maria Israelsson Nordström, maria.nordstrom@umu.se.
1 Researchers with a Ph.D. and a permanent employment at the Faculty of Medicine on a teacher/researcher position according to the Appointments Procedure for Teachers at Umeå University, valid as of 2019-07-01 (FS 1.1-1672-18), including such positions covered by the transitional rules of the appointments procedure, i.e., assistant professors (biträdande universitetslektorer) on a permanent employment, tenured senior lecturers/associate professors (universitetslektorer) and tenured full professors, and employees on a permanent position as Researcher (Forskare).
Review panel and grant decisions
The applications will be evaluated by Review panel 1 or 2 respectively; the review panels will be appointed by the Faculty Board (FN) and the Strategic Board for Research (FON). The chairperson of each review panel will be recruited externally and should have extensive experience from review panels at national research councils. The panel members will mainly be recruited among external researchers with experience from work in review panels in national and international research councils. The goal is to appoint panel members who have the required competence to assess applications from all research areas at the faculty. If the review panel finds that it needs to be supplemented by members in order to evaluate all applications, then the panel will be complemented accordingly. For each review panel two persons are appointed as observers, one member from the Strategic Board for Research (FON) and one member from the Faculty Board (FN).
Review panel 1 will evaluate the applications according to the base criteria and grading scales of The Swedish Research Council (VR):
• Novelty and originality (1-7)
• Scientific quality of the project (1-7)
• Merits of the applicant (1-7)
• Feasibility (1-3)
• An overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application (1-7)
Scoring according to these criteria aims at facilitating the assessment of single components of the application. There will also be an overall assessment regarding the scientific quality of the application. Based on the assessment, all members of the review panel will rank the reviewed applications. The individual rankings of each reviewer will be combined to give a preliminary ranking for further discussion at the review panel meeting. When two or more applications are assessed as equal based on their total score, the score for scientific quality will be ranked most important. The chair of the review panel will present the final ranking at a meeting with the Strategic Board for Research (FON), which will put forward a suggestion for the Faculty Board (FN); FN will make the final decision.
Review panel 2 will evaluate the applications according to a combination of the assessment criteria as used by Forte/Formas and include:
• The scientific quality of the project (1-7)
• The research competence of the project leader and research group (1-7)
• Social relevance (1-7)
• Feasibility (1-3)
• Societal benefit and plan for communication of research results (1-3)
• An overall assessment, reflecting the scientific quality and societal benefit of the application (1-7)
Scoring according to these criteria aims at facilitating the assessment of single components of the application. There will also be an overall assessment regarding the scientific quality of the application. Based on the assessment, all members of the review panel will rank the reviewed applications. The individual rankings of each reviewer will be combined to give a preliminary ranking for further discussion at the review panel meeting. When two or more applications are assessed as equal, based on their total score, the score for scientific quality and societal relevance will be ranked most important. The chair of the review panel will present the final ranking at a meeting with the Strategic Board for Research (FON), which will put forward a suggestion for the Faculty Board (FN); FN will make the final decision.
The application must include the following attachments and be sent in as one cohesive PDF file
Attachment A CV
The CV should consist of no more than 2 A4 pages, Arial font 11, single spaced, 2.5 cm margins.
Specify the details in the CV according to the structure below. (Details that are not relevant to the application should be left blank.)
• Higher education qualification(s): Year, subject area, university.
• Doctoral degree: Year, discipline/subject area, university, title of dissertation and name of supervisor.
• Postdoctoral positions: Year and location.
• Qualification required for appointment as a docent: Year.
• Current position: Term of appointment, dates for that employment and % time for research within that employment.
• Previous positions and periods of appointment: Describe the type of employment and specify dates of employment.
• Interruption in research: In this section you have the opportunity to list reasons for any longer interruptions that may have affected your opportunity to improve your career; for instance maternity/paternity leave, clinical work as either "AT- or ST- läkare", positions of trust in trade union organisations, or other reasons. Also state number of months or years of the interruption.
• Supervision: Name the doctoral students and postdocs that you have been principal supervisor for and specify the dates.
• Other information of relevance to the application: Please note that CVs and publication lists of participating researchers are not to be sent in with the application. The roles of the participating researchers are described in the research plan (please see below).
Attachment B Publications
Add your list of publications, according to the headlines and information below. Add only articles that have been published or accepted for publication. The list cannot be longer than five numbered A4 pages (corresponding to Arial, font 11, single spaced). Publications listed beyond these five pages will not be considered in the review process.
1. Selection of publications: List (at the most) the ten most important publications to the application. You should state, for each of the ten most important publications, your contributions to the publication and in which context the publication contributes to the intended project. (This must not exceed four lines per publication.)
Mark your name in the list of authors in bold. Include number of citations for the publication, and the Impact Factor for the journal during the year of the intended publication.
2. Total number of publications of the last 8 years: sort the publications, with your name highlighted in bold in the authors list, under each heading (category of publication) in the following order. Include number of citations for the publication and the Impact Factor for the journal during the year of the intended publication for those publications of most importance for the application.
• Peer-reviewed original articles
• Peer-reviewed conference contributions: the results of which are not included in other publications.
• Peer-reviewed edited volumes
• Research review articles
• Peer-reviewed books and book chapters
• Other publications including popular science books/presentations
Note! Please sort the publications under each heading in reverse chronological order so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. Please include only articles or corresponding that have been published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The order of authors in the publication list must be identical to that of the published work. Also note that the publication list cannot exceed five pages.
Attachment C Received revenue (erhållna intäkter)
Please note that this section is described and is to be reported in Swedish.
The department's economy administrator may assist you in assembling the requested information.
Erhållna intäkter år 2018 (för lokalt stöd från fakulteten/UmU/Region Västerbotten inkl. ALF/TUA även beviljade medel år 2019 per den 2019-08-31) redovisas enligt anvisningar i Bilaga C:
1. Samtliga bidragsintäkter (bukod 320) samt försäljningsintäkter (bukod 340) på vh 22 exklusive finansiär Region Västerbotten
2. Medfinansiering av UGEM och FGEM på vh 23 avseende finansiär Region Västerbotten
3. Medfinansiering av UGEM och FGEM på vh 21 och vh 22
4. Utbetalda lokala stöd från fakulteten eller UmU till den sökande
5. Utbetalda/förbrukade medel från Region Västerbotten år 2018 avseende centrala ALF-medel, TUA-medel, spjutspetsmedel och medel för forskning vid anställning som professor
Anvisningar Bilaga C Erhållna intäkter
1) Utskrift ur Raindance/Beslutsstöd/Uppföljning/Frågor & Analys/Utfall med den sökandes samtliga erhållna bidragsintäkter
(bukod 320) och försäljningsintäkter (bukod 340) på vh 22 exklusive projekt med finansiär Region Västerbotten (22100) år 2018: rapport V20P Projekt inklusive passiva anpassas och tas ut för aktuell period och den sökande enligt bild nedan och exporteras till Excel. Projekt som avser resemedel eller medel för forskningsinfrastruktur exkluderas.
2) I förekommande fall utskrift ur Raindance/Beslutsstöd/Uppföljning/Frågor & Analys/Bas och medfinansiering med utbetald medfinansiering från fakulteten av UGEM och FGEM inom vh 23 år 2018 avseende projekt med finansiär Region Västerbotten (22100): rapport V73 Utfall bas medfinansiering anpassas och tas ut för den sökande enligt bild nedan och exporteras till Excel. Anslag för medfinansiering beräknas därefter enligt utfall bas för samtliga projekt på vh 23 med finansiär RV och en schabloniserad OH enligt genomsnittligt UGEM och FGEM inom FO för Medicinska fakulteten 2018 (17%). Schablon tillämpas för att eliminera effekten av skillnader i OH-nivåer mellan olika institutioner.
3) I förekommande fall utskrift ur Raindance/Beslutsstöd/Uppföljning/Frågor & Analys/Bas och medfinansiering med utbetald medfinansiering från fakulteten av UGEM och FGEM inom vh 21 och vh 22 år 2018: rapport V73 Utfall bas medfinansiering anpassas och tas ut för den sökande enligt bild nedan och exporteras till Excel. Anslag för medfinansiering beräknas därefter enligt utfall bas för samtliga medfinansierade projekt på vh 21 och 22 och en schabloniserad OH enligt genomsnittligt UGEM och FGEM inom FO för Medicinska fakulteten 2018 (17%). Schablon tillämpas för att eliminera effekten av skillnader i OH-nivåer mellan olika institutioner. Projekt märkta "ÖVR" avser lokala beslut om medfinansiering och inkluderas därför inte i underlaget.
4) I förekommande fall utskrift ur Raindance/Beslutsstöd/Uppföljning/Frågor & Analys/Utfall över utbetalda lokala stöd från fakulteten eller Umu till den sökande år 2018 samt ev. beviljade lokala stöd år 2019 per den 2019-08-31 exempelvis finansiering eller medfinansiering av anställningar, stöd till KAW Fellows/Projects/Scholars och WCMM fellows. Andra exempel på stöd är samfinansierade doktorandanställningar, startbidrag/resurs i samband med befordran, rekryteringspaket, flyktfara, bioteknikmedel: rapport V20P Projekt inklusive passiva anpassas och tas ut för aktuell period och den sökande enligt bild nedan och exporteras till Excel.
5) I förekommande fall uppgifter om utbetalda/förbrukade medel från Region Västerbotten år 2018 samt ev. beviljade medel år 2019 per den 2019-08-31 avseende centrala ALF-medel, TUA-medel, spjutspetsmedel och medel för forskning vid anställning som professor. OBS! att uppgifterna även ska inkludera sådana ALF-/TUA-medel som rekvirerats till UmU, då dessa exkluderas i redovisningen av bidragsintäkter under punkt 1.
Attachment D Budget and financial resources
• List briefly personnel costs, other costs and any other funding of the project for Year 1 – Year 3.
• Justify briefly each cost in the budget stated. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces.
• Other funding. Please state any funding for the project (whole or part) received by you or another researcher, in excess of the amount in this application. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.
Attachment E Abstract
The description may cover a maximum of 1 500 characters, including blank spaces, single spaced.
• The abstract must provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation of the research and be written in such a way that persons with a different scientific background can understand the information.
Attachment F Popular science description
The description may cover a maximum of 4 500 characters, including blank spaces, single spaced.
• Describe the project in such a way that a person who is not familiar with the subject can understand it. Describe what is to be done and why, and explain why the new knowledge may be important.
Attachment G1 Research plan for applications to Review panel 1 – to be reviewed according to criteria of the Swedish Research Council (VR)
The research plan in its entirety must encompass no more than 10 pages, (font Arial 11, or larger, single spaced, 2.5 cm margins) and must be prospective (framåtblickande) and structured according to that of a research plan in a VR application, i.e.:
• Project title
• SCB code: State three SCB codes that describe the research in the application.
https://www.scb.se/contentassets/10054f2ef27c437884e8cde0d38b9cc4/standard-for-svensk-indelning--av-forskningsamnen-2011-uppdaterad-aug-2016.pdf
• Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific goals of the research project. If you have specified that sex and gender perspectives are relevant to the application, describe in what way they will be applied in relation to purpose, aim and questions of the research project.
• State-of-the-art: Summarize briefly the current research frontier within the field/area. Indicate key references.
• Significance and scientific novelty: Describe briefly how the project relates to previous research within the area, and its importance in the short and long term. Describe also how the project moves forward and innovates the current research frontier. Please include sex and gender perspectives when relevant.
• Preliminary and previous results: Describe briefly your previous research and pilot studies within the research area that make it probable that the project will be feasible. State also if no preliminary results exist.
• Project description: Describe the project, including the following items:
o Theory and methods: Describe the underlying theory and the methods to be applied in order to reach the project goals. When applicable, describe how sex and gender perspectives relate to the choice of design, questions, method and materials, population/study participants and also data processing and analysis, for example statistics and presentation of results divided by sex.
o Time plan and implementation. Describe summarily the time plan for the project during the grant period, and how the project will be implemented.
o Project organisation. Clarify the contributions of yourself and any participating researchers to the implementation of the project. Describe and explain the competences and roles of the participating researchers in the project, and also any other researchers or corresponding who are important for the implementation of the project.
o Ethical considerations. Describe the ethical issues raised by your project or corresponding. You must also describe how you plan to address ethical dilemmas that may arise. Please justify why the research should be carried out against the background of the ethical issues you have identified. How do your research questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues? Please also state whether the research involves any handling of personal data, or experiments on animals or human subjects. If no ethical issues are raised, please justify this.
o Sex and gender perspective. State whether sex and gender perspectives are applicable in your planned research, and justify your decision. Please note that we are not asking for information about the composition of the research team (men/women).
The following applies:
- If you answer"Yes": Justify your answer and describe also how you take sex and gender perspectives into account in the research plan (see further instructions under "Research plan"). If you have stated that sex and gender perspectives are applicable, but still choose not to include them in your research plan, you will need to justify this here.
- If you answer "No": Please justify your answer.
Also, please provide the following information. If a heading is not relevant to your application, please leave blank.
• Data analysis and statistics: Modern methods often generate complex data. Describe how you plan to analyse data collected in the project, and the statistical methods used. If the project covers clinical studies, please include a power analysis.
• Equipment: Describe the basic equipment you and your team have at your disposal for the project.
• Need for infrastructure: Specify the project's need for international and national infrastructure. Specify also the need for local infrastructure, if depreciation costs for this are included in the application.
• International and national collaboration: Describe your and the team's collaboration with foreign and Swedish researchers and research teams. State whether you contribute to or refer to international collaboration in your research.
• Independent line of research: If you are working or will be working in a larger group, please clarify how your project relates to the other projects in the group. If you are continuing a project that was wholly or partly starting during your doctoral or postdoctoral studies, you must also describe the relationship between your project and the research of your former supervisor.
• Clinical significance: Explain if and, if so, how the results of the project may be transferred into clinical use within the area medicine and health.
The application must be sent electronically as one single PDF file to medel@diarie.umu.se no later than September 15th. Name your file: Fakultetsfinansierad strategisk forskningsresurs B1_Your Name.
Write the registration number (FS 2.1.6-1119-19) in the subject line of the email.
Attachment G2 Research plan for applications to Review panel 2 – to be reviewed according to criteria of the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE)/FORMAS
The Research plan (Project description and Relevance) in its entirety must encompass no more than 10 pages, (font Arial 11, or larger, single spaced, 2.5 cm margins) and structured according to that of a research plan in a FORTE/FORMAS application, i.e;
Project description
• Project title
• SCB code: State three SCB codes that describe the research in the application.
https://www.scb.se/contentassets/10054f2ef27c437884e8cde0d38b9cc4/standard-for-svensk-indelning--av-forskningsamnen-2011-uppdaterad-aug-2016.pdf
• Purpose, research questions, theories, background and the originality of the project: Describe the project's purpose, specific research questions, background and originality. Write a brief literature review and analysis of the theoretical starting points and describe the project's added value in relation to previous research in the area. If the project is based on a previously completed or still ongoing project, describe how the projects relate to each other and summarise the results of the previous research.
• Study design, methods for data collection and analysis: Describe the study design, which data will be used, how the data collection will be undertaken and the principles and methods for data processing and analysis. When applicable, include a brief description of current and possible novel need for basic equipment necessary for the completion of the project.
• Interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary approach: Describe the disciplines involved in the project and the way in which the project is inter- or multidisciplinary.
• Gender and diversity perspective in the content of the research: Describe in what way theoretically based gender and diversity perspective is important for the research project. This applies in addition to a description of the variables included in the research project, such as gender, ethnicity and disability. Disability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age and sexual orientation are aspects that are included in the diversity concept.
• Work plan: Clearly describe what is going to be done and how the work will be organised. The work plan should also contain information about the staffing of the project, including details of the persons' project tasks. Cooperation with other researchers outside of the project group is described here. The work plan should be written so that the reviewers can appraise the feasibility of the project.
• Ethics: Comment on the project's ethical considerations. Comment if the project lacks ethical problems, needs ethical considerations, will be submitted to the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Etikprövningsmyndigheten) or has already received ethical approval. Comment on why the project needs or does not need ethical review. If no ethical issues are raised, please justify this.
Relevance
• Relevance in relation to societal needs: Comment on the relevance of the project in relation to the societal needs of increased knowledge in: public and individual health; efforts to promote good health and prevent ill health; rehabilitation and nursing and healthcare processes and systems. Explain how the research questions relate to societal needs.
• Collaboration and user participation in the research process: Comment on the project's planned collaboration with representatives for relevant organisations, authorities, users or other actors. This concerns cooperation with actors primarily outside the scientific community. Describe which actors you will engage, in which phases of the research process and in what forms. Justify the relevance of the collaboration and describe expected effects.
• Utilisation and communication of research results: Outline the plans for utilisation of the project's research results. Discuss possible target groups and describe the actors that are to be contacted and involved, methods that are to be used and the expected outcomes. This may relate to policy, practice and working methods etc.
The application must be sent electronically as one single PDF file to medel@diarie.umu.se no later than September 15th, 2019. Name your file: Fakultetsfinansierad strategisk forskningsresurs B2_Your Name. Write the registration number (FS 2.1.6-1137-19) in the subject line of the email.
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(This document has been translated into English. In case of divergence of meaning between the English and Swedish
wording of this document, the Swedish wording shall prevail)