FAQ – Postdoc Scholarship

Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about postdoc scholarships from the Lundberg Foundation. If you cannot find what you are looking for here, you can look for answers in the other sections of this website. Otherwise, send your question to us by e-mail stipendiestiftelsen@lundbergs.se. We regularly update this page with new FAQs.

About the postdoc scholarship

A full-year scholarship for 12 months of postdoctoral work is currently SEK 348,000. It is distributed in advance, divided into a maximum of two payments during the year, around the 25th of the payment month.

For a full-year scholarship, this means a payment of SEK 174,000 per month in month 1 and in month 7. The result corresponds to a monthly salary of SEK 29,000 and if you apply for a shorter period than twelve months, the amount must be adjusted proportionally.

You can apply for a maximum of 12 months at a time.

It is also possible to apply for a continuation scholarship for a second year.

To receive continued support, without interruption in payments, a new application then needs to be submitted to the foundation during next year’s application period in January / February. The same application form is used for both years, but the application for a second year must be accompanied by a report on the current state of the project, for the first scholarship year.
The foundation assumes that applications submitted meet the requirements for scholarship funding at the higher education institution where it operates.

No, scholarships are personal and tax-exempt, but do not entitle the holder to any social welfare benefits. It is not pensionable income, and does not include any national social insurance protection. Ask your university which insurance coverage you get through them and, if necessary, supplement yourself with your own insurance, e.g. accidents in leisure time.

The scholarship is only paid for the time you are actually undertaking postdoctoral work, and therefore ceases in the case of parental leave or an extended period of illness.

You should apply to the Foundation for a deferral via e-mail as soon as possible after knowledge of upcoming interruption. Adjustments will be made in the Payment Plan and Reporting Plan as agreed. When the time is approaching to resume your postdoc project, you should contact the administration in good time to ensure that your payments start again at the right time.

The scholarship amount will be the same as before when you return to your studies, even if the Foundation in the mean time has made a board decision to raise the general scholarship amount for new applicants.

The scholarship holder are not covered by any insurance through the Foundation. The postdoctoral fellow should check with the department what insurance coverage comes through them. Insurance for e.g. personal injury, travel, illness and even possibly parental leave is important. If necessary, supplement yourself with your own insurance, e.g. personal accident insurance.

Who can apply?

Scholarships can be applied for by those who have, or will soon have, a Swedish doctoral degree and wish to do a full-time postdoctoral work within subject areas sorted under the broad concept of the built environment.

The doctoral degree must be at most five years old at the time of application.

The applicant must have an invitation from a research group at a higher education institution, but lack employment or other funding for their living expenses.

The foundation assumes that applications submitted meet the requirements for scholarship funding at the higher education institution where the postdoc project will be operated.

No. Applications of these kinds will not be processed.

No, the application for travel scholarships will not be processed. The scholarship is personal and intended to cover the living expences of a postdoctoral fellow who conducts research projects for a maximum of one year. The scholarship holder can of course choose to use part of the money for travel.

The research project must be conducted at and in collaboration with the academic university.

Yes. Applicants may be foreign nationals, but like all applicants must have (or will soon have) a Swedish doctoral degree. People with a foreign doctoral degree cannot receive a scholarship.

However, people with a foreign doctoral degree cannot receive a scholarship.

Yes. If this is the case, a letter of recommendation must be attached, from a university contact in Sweden, where it is explained in what way this postdoc benefits from being conducted in another country. What is there to gain? What contacts are there to make? Is there a future in Sweden for those who have had these experiences?

Application

No. The Foundation has only one application period per year and it is only possible to apply after the Foundation has advertised the scholarships and the online application system is open for applications. The application period is from January 1 to early February. 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. For exact dates and other instructions, please see the APPLICATION -POSTDOC page.

No. As of the 2017 scholarship year, advertised in December 2016, we are using an online application system with online forms accessed via this website. No documents should be sent to the Foundation in paper form. The Foundation now only accepts applications via this online system. Applications in any other form will not be processed.

Partially. The same application form is used for both years, but in the application for a second year, the scholarship holder states in a check box that it refers to a second year. In addition, a report on the current situation in the project for the current scholarship year then needs to be attached.

Yes. An invitation from the receiving institution must be attached to the application in pdf format. This invitation must include a signed declaration from the head of department that basic resources for the postdoc are offered. The person who is to host the postdoc must also sign a declaration that he or she takes responsibility for the reception. If the applicant plans to conduct postdoc work in more than one place, these insurances must be made for each place and attached to the application.

No. You can work on the application in as many sessions as you like and save it as you go before submitting it. After the last application day, the application can no longer be changed.

Yes, that’s fine. It may be useful to work on the text locally on your computer and then paste the final result into the form. Otherwise, a disruption to your Internet connection might lead to the text in the application form being lost if you have not saved your application recently. Please note that most of the fields in the form have character limits, so if your text is too long, the form can’t be submitted before adjustment. Also control that formatting in your text such as bold and italics does not disappear once you paste it into the form fields.

No. If you need to supplement your project description with formulas or graphs, you have the option of uploading these as attachments in the online application system. In that case, you should refer to the content of these attachments in your project description.

Yes. Up until the last day for applications, your application can be changed and resubmitted. After 23:59 pm on the last application day, it is not possible.

Applicants may choose to write their applications in Swedish or English.

The Foundation holds its meeting in mid-April. Notifications go out to applicants via e-mail shortly thereafter.

The first payment is made at the earliest on roughly May 25. In order for this to be possible, you need to be on site and have started your postdoc project, have approved the payment plan and report plan, have submitted a signed confirmation letter, and announced account information. Everything is done via the digital application system.

Yes. After notification that you have been granted a continuation scholarship for another year, the confirmation letters must be sent and the Payment and Reporting Plans must be approved, just like for your first scholarship year. It is important that these are submitted in good time in order to avoid any break in your payments between the two scholarship years.

Reporting to the foundation

For a full-year scholarship, a status report must be submitted four months into the scholarship period. This must be approved by the foundation’s reviewers before the second scholarship payment can be made.

At the end of the scholarship period, a final report must be submitted.

The final report must be submitted even if the doctoral student has continued support from the foundation for a second coming scholarship year.

Reports must be submitted through the digital application system. Look at the report plan. In your user account, the deadline is stated for status report and final report. About 30 days before it is time to submit the report at the latest, an automatic reminder will be sent by e-mail. Read more under FOR SCHOLARSHIP HOLDERS – POSTDOC.

Yes. Each scholarship granted (each scholarship year) must end with a final report.
The first payment for a possible scholarship year two is conditional on an approved final report for the first scholarship year.