Södertörn University is now offering funding to initiate and facilitate collaboration with external partners

Since 2017, initiating and developing long-term, mutually value-creating collaboration with non-academic partners has been a prioritized area in Södertörn University's strategic
partnership efforts.

Södertörn University has strategic partnership agreements with Botkyrka Municipality, Huddinge Municipality, and the City of Stockholm/Skärholmen, as well as a letter of intent with Järfälla Municipality. In addition, a range of collaborative activities are ongoing with other external actors from the public, private, and non-profit sectors. These activities are often driven at the individual level, making them person-dependent and vulnerable. It is in the university’s interest to support researchers and teachers in building sustainable collaborations — i.e., to establish robust relationships and working processes, and to enable new, initially uncertain initiatives that may evolve into mutually beneficial projects.

To fund new initiatives and develop existing ones in the form of activities and projects with strategically selected partners, researchers and teachers may now apply for initiation/planning grants.

Funding Amount and Eligible Activities

Up to SEK 150,000 may be applied for to support larger activities. The funds may be used, for example, to develop joint applications or project ideas related to research or educational collaboration, promote dissemination or innovation, test new models for commissioned education, or set up arenas for knowledge exchange and networking.

Examples of eligible activities include:

• Meetings for idea generation and project planning with partners in preparation for a joint external funding application.
• Conferences for knowledge exchange between different actors.
• Activities to develop commissioned education or research assignments with an external partner.
• Creating meeting spaces/platforms/arenas for researchers/teachers and
  professionals in other organizations, where practice-based challenges are
  formulated into scientifically relevant research questions for assignments, joint research projects, or student work.

Who Can Apply?

Applications must be submitted by researchers or teachers at Södertörn University in collaboration with an external organization, which is expected to cover its own costs including salary costs) equivalent to the amount applied for. Researchers/teachers with temporary employment ending during the project period are not eligible. Members of the Strategic Collaboration Council are also ineligible to apply.

How to Apply

To avoid investing time in an application that does not align with the call, a consultation meeting (online or in person) with a collaboration officer is recommended to review the project idea. Contact: samverkan@sh.se

Applications must be submitted in consultation with the department head, who should be cc’d.

Deadline: 31 August 2025.
Projects must be completed during 2026.
A brief report must be submitted within three months of the project/activity’s conclusion. Approved projects are expected to present their results and insights at events or conferences hosted by the university.

Application Format (max 2 pages)

Submit the application along with a full cost calculation to samverkan@sh.se. The application must include the following sections:

• Description of the idea and collaboration partner
• Purpose/Objectives
• Implementation and timeline
• Expected results, potential challenges, and possible impacts
• Plan for dissemination of results
• Description of continuation/sustainability after the activity
• Contact person for the external organization, including contact details
• Preliminary budget outlining expected costs covered by Södertörn University and the collaboration partner.
• Attach a completed full cost calculation signed by the applicant, head of department,
  and financial officer. Note: Salaries must include all indirect costs and overhead (OH). The applicable OH rate depends on whether the project’s primary focus is research or educational collaboration.
  

Evaluation Criteria

The Strategic Collaboration Council, or a group appointed by the council, will assess the project’s collaboration potential based on the following criteria: purpose, mutual benefit for both parties, feasibility, continuation/sustainability, potential impact.

For more information, please e-mail the External Relations team at samverkan@sh.se.

Apply for a planning grant to prepare an EU-application!

This internal funding scheme aims to provide seed funding for applicants to larger international calls, most importantly within the EU framework program Horizon Europe. Funds are primarily meant to be used for consultancy services to develop or review funding applications, but salary costs as well as other well-motivated costs can also be considered. A requirement for this planning grant is that Södertörn University is the main applicant for the particular call of interest. Generally, only calls that require an international consortium will be considered for funding, but exceptions can be made in special cases for some competitive single-beneficiary calls such as MSCA Post Doctoral Fellowships with Södertörn as a beneficiary (note however that planning grants for ERC calls are subject to a separate application process, see the plusbox below on this page).

Applications are administrated by the Internationalisation Council. The Council accepts applications at any time and and makes funding decisions on their regular meetings in April, September, and December. The upcoming cut-off dates for getting your application evaluated:

• At the September meeting: August 31, 2025
• At the December meeting: November 23, 2025

Please note that smaller application planning cheques can be applied for on shorter notice with a more expeditive application process. These mainly aim to fund late-stage consultancy input on developed applications which are too close to the submission deadline to benefit from the regular grant application window.

Click here External link. to access the application portal.

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact grantsoffice@sh.se

Apply for a planning grant to prepare an ERC application!

In 2024, Södertörn University started a unique initiative to increase the number and quality of grant applications to the European Research Council (ERC). Two internal calls were held in 2024, and a new planning grant call will open in 2025.

What is ERC?

The European Research Council is the largest funder of frontier research at the EU level. ERC grants External link. are open to scholars in all areas of research and at all career stages (starting two years after completion of a doctorate) and provide up to five years of generous funding for project leaders and their teams. They diverge from most other research funding in that they require an innovative and ground-breaking project idea that is expected to provide high scientific returns despite involving some risk. ERC proposal writing can therefore be very different from what many researchers are used to and it can require a great deal of work to be successful. While the excellence of the project itself is the main evaluation criterion, the researcher is also expected to have a track record that suggests scientific creativity.

Södertörn's ERC initiative

Aspiring ERC applicants at Södertörn University can receive substantial support in preparing their application. Applicants with promising project outlines can be awarded funding for consultancy services and writing time to prepare their proposals. An internal ERC grant writing workshop was organised for all ERC applicants at Södertörn in December 2024. and a similar event may be organised in 2025.

The call opens in June!

The online application form is currently closed but opens on June 19, 2025. A seminar on ERC grants and the upcoming changes to ERC applications will also be held on the same date. You can sign up for Grants Office's newsletter External link. to stay informed about the call and the seminar. You are also welcome to contact Grants Office directly if you have any questions or wish to discuss a project idea.

Apply for Internationalisation funding

Once a year, the Internationalisation Council opens a call for projects that aims to promote the internationalisation of research and education at Södertörn.

Funding can be applied for in three categories:

1. International cooperation and blended mobility in teaching
2. International cooperation and mobility in research
3. Teacher mobility
   

This application is currently closed but will open again in late 2025

Application for a Grant for Participation in Academic Events Relevant to Baltic Sea and Eastern European Studies

From spring 2023 the grant is administered by CBEES in cooperation with the Schools.

The funding is provided by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen). The funding evaluation, handling and reporting are conducted in cooperation between the Schools and CBEES. The funding and its detailed handling are conducted at the School of the respective awarded applicant.

The basic criteria for evaluation are the relevance of the event and links of the intended event to the Baltic- and East European studies.
For more information and conditions please download the Application form below "Bidrag ÖSS Konferensresor". The file should be opened with Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you cant find answers to your questions in the document, please contact Vit Kysilka.

Announcement: CBEES funding for organising conferences and workshops – Application round spring 2025

The Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) grants funding for organising conferences and workshops associated with the university’s Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe profile.

Researchers, doctoral students and teachers who are active at Södertörn University are eligible to apply for funding for conferences and workshops.

Before applying for funding, applicants must contact one of the CBEES professors, -research coordinators or -postdocs to discuss target groups, implementation, relevance and how the conference contributes to strengthening the university’s Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe profile External link. – please see the webpage for more details.

It is very important to note that applications can only be uploaded to the online form here External link, opens in new window.. In addition, applications must follow the Guidelines for applications for CBEES for funding for conferences, workshops.

The guidelines, a budget template and a link to the online report template are available on this webpage.

The final date for applications is 21 February 2025. Applicants will be contacted about the outcome on 7 March 2025 at the latest.

CBEES Professors:
Per Bolin
Irina Sandomirskaja
Joakim Ekman
Jenny Gunnarsson Payne
CBEES research coordinators:
Yulia Gradskova
Johanna Mannergren Selimovic
Julia Malitska
Ramona Rat
Postdoctoral Research Fellows:
Anna Balazs
Lelde Luik
Olena Podolian
Sanita Rugina
Oscar Thörnquist

Please see documents with information, guidelines and budget template for applicants: