Application

Project grants for research are advertised at higher education institutions at the beginning of each year.

Announcement of project grant 2024

The letter “Invitation to apply for project grant” is sent out to Swedish higher education institutions during the announcement of the upcoming application year.

Who can apply for grant?

The Lars Erik Lundberg Foundation for Research and Education supports projects that bring together the fields of engineering/natural science and economic disciplines and thereby focus on the role of technology for the competitiveness of enterprises. This area includes research with a business administration and technology orientation that addresses the dynamics in the building and exploiting of the operational and strategic capabilities of businesses. Projects involving research on production and product development processes also fit into this area, as do projects relating to the conditions which are fundamental for innovative business climates, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship.

Projects that hold distinct and novel research questions that also appear to be answerable with the proposed research methods have precedence, as do the projects that clearly identify the knowledge platform on which they are based, and how they can be expected to move the research front forward.

Grants can be paid to senior researchers, as well as postdocs and PhD students. Support is normally issued for a project period of 1-3 years. However, the funding of doctoral projects can also be extended to cover a continuous four-year period (“Lars Erik Lundberg’s PhD position”). A guideline for the amount granted is 1-1.5 million SEK per year for one, two and three-year projects and 4 million SEK in total for a four-year doctoral project. Salaries of appointed/employed professors are not financed by the project grant, but associate professors (“biträdande professor”) and emeritus professors can be financed that way.

All applications regardless of time span must follow the instructions for stage 1 and stage 2.

Usually around two to four research projects are granted funding each year.

Refer to THE BOOK ABOUT THE FOUNDATION  (in Swedish only) for more information about the Foundation’s aims and direction.

Online application procedure

The Foundation uses an online application system. The following provides you with information about the different steps required when applying for grants from the Lars Erik Lundberg Foundation for Research and Education. It is important that you read these instructions before you create an account, log in and begin an application.

The Foundation receives applications during only one period each year. You can apply for a grants via our online application system and the application period opens on January 1, 2024 at 00:01 a.m. The application must be received by the Foundation not later than JANUARY 31, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.

The application form can be opened and viewed as an exercise application before the start of the application period, but you will not be able to save changes to the form until after the turn of the year.

To access the online application system, click on the APPLY HERE button above to the right.

For technical support; Contact support@researchweb.org.

Create a user account– applicant and fellow applicants/coworkers

Before you can use the application system, you need to create an account with your own personal profile. Your personal profile contains your contact details, such as your name, place of work and e-mail address.

Click on #Log in” and “Create New User,” fill in the form for your personal profile according to the instructions and click on “Register.” An e-mail message will be sent to you with login details, including a temporary password. Follow the instructions to create your account.

To change to your own password, click on your name in the upper right corner, go to “My Profile” and “Password.” Your new password must contain at least eight (8) characters, of which at least six (6) are not the same, and your password must contain at least one upper-case (capital) letter and two digits (0-9).

You can then log in using your e-mail address and your password.

Ask your fellow applicants/coworkers to create a user account in the same way. They can then be invited to the application so that they can also view it via their own accounts.

Create application stage 1

There are two steps involved in an application. Create a new application in step 1 by filling in the application form on the screen according to the instructions. Link your co-applicants/project collaborators to the application using the “Link” button in the form. These persons will then receive an invitation that they must accept in order for the link to work.

Print the form from the system by clicking on the “Print” button in the form. It’s important that you do this after all the fields in the form have been filled in so that the form contains the right information when you sign it. The form must then be signed by the principal applicant and the head of department (or an equivalent representative from the higher education institution’s department).* Scan the signed form in PDF format.

*) The foundation do accept e-signed documents.

Then upload the required PDF documents: the signed form, the CVs of the principal applicant and co-applicants, the research team’s published scientific journal articles, and a project outline. Note that all attachments must be in PDF-format!

The project outline must contain concise details about:

– The purpose of the project, theoretical framework and relationship to the international research front, general plan and methodology and expected scientific contributions.

– The skills and qualifications of the researcher/research team for the project as well as their current employment circumstances.

The project outline must be no more than 10,500 characters including spaces and excluding references (with standard margins, line spacing 1.5 and font size 12). Longer application texts will not be processed.

You can save your application and continue with it at a later time. Up until the last day for applications, it can be changed and resubmitted.

Selection process stage 1

Review and evaluation of applications received in step 1 are carried out by the Foundation’s Expert Committee. The projects selected for further consideration are then given the opportunity to submit a complete application. Applicants will be notified by e-mail by FEBRUARY 17, 2024 of the decision regarding which projects have been selected for further consideration in stage 2. The projects not selected for further consideration are rejected without further motivation and applicants are notified by e-mail.

Create application stage 2

Applicants who have been given the opportunity to submit a complete application have until MARCH 11, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. to submit it. The application form for stage 2 is only made available to these applicants.

Create a new application in stage 2 by clicking the button “New application” in the application system. Fill in the application form on the screen according to the instructions. Link your co-applicants/project collaborators to the application using the button on the form. They must once again accept the invitation in their own account for the link to work.

If the information in the application form’s fields has not changed since stage 1 (such as changes to the budget, project collaborators or schedule), the previously signed sheet from stage 1 can be reused, scanned and uploaded again. However, if changes need to be made to the content of any of the fields in the form for stage 2, enter them in the form, and then print the sheet from the system using the “Print” button on the form. It’s important that you do this after all the fields in the form have been filled in so that the sheet contains the right information when you sign it. The sheet must then be signed by the principal applicant and the head of department (or an equivalent representative from the higher education institution’s department).* Scan the signed form in PDF format.

*) The foundation do accept e-signed documents.

Then upload the required PDF documents: the signed sheet and a project description. Note that all attachments must be in PDF-format!

The project description must relate to the complete application, and contain an account of the project’s scientific background and the nature of the research plan. The following aspects must be addressed:

• Aim of the project – It must be clear what problems the project intends to illuminate. The importance of the project for research in the area should also be described.
• Relationship to previous research – An overview and analysis of the theoretical framework of the planned research and its relationship to previous research in the area (own research and that of others).
• Methods, schedule – The research plan is to clearly describe how you intend to implement the project. Data collection, data processing, schedule, intermediate objectives, etc., should be specified.
• Dissemination of the research – It is important that the application describes how the researcher/research team intends to disseminate information about the project and its results to users, including users who are not part of the scientific community.
• Research team’s qualifications – Completed postgraduate studies or other university education is to be specified. For researchers holding a doctorate, the year of its award must be specified. A list of the research team’s published journal articles must be attached. If the application also includes doctoral students, these are to be named.
• Cost estimates – The cost estimates reported in the application form are to be justified, item by item. The cost estimate is to include details about the time that individual project participants (as a percentage of full-time employment) will spend on the project for each year. The amount applied for must be adapted to generally accepted academic salaries and expenses.

The complete application must not contain more than 55,000 characters including spaces and excluding references (with standard margins, line spacing 1.5 and font size 12). Longer application texts will not be processed.

You can save your application and continue with it at a later time. Up until the last day for applications, it can be changed and resubmitted.

Selection process stage 2

Decisions on which projects will be offered research grants are made at the Foundation’s Board meeting in April.  Applicants are notified by e-mail (without further motivation for the decision) as soon as possible after the decision has been made.

Applicants who are offered a grant are required to confirm that they accept the grant. Instructions for this can be found on the page “For grant recipients.”