This has been possible thanks to dividends from the foundation’s shareholding in Ratos AB, of which Ragnar Söderberg was one of the founders.

 

The foundation can proudly point to a number of successful researchers who are now working at the forefront of research, primarily in its three core areas of economic sciences, medicine and law. Our calls for proposals have attracted far more high-quality applications than we have been able to fund. It is therefore all the more regrettable that we have been forced to reduce our grant budget this year and suspend several calls for proposals: Ragnar Söderberg Researchers in Medicine and Law, and Ragnar Söderberg Projects in Economic Sciences.

 

The reduction in the foundation’s grant budget is due to lower dividend payments from Ratos. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Ratos also decided not to pay a dividend to shareholders at its 2020 annual general meeting. Instead, the company’s board intends to convene an extraordinary general meeting later in the year to decide on a possible dividend.

With an improvement in Ratos’s performance, the foundation hopes to once again be able to fund calls for proposals in all three of its core areas. The foundation currently funds around 50 ongoing research projects in medicine, economic sciences and law, as well as postdoctoral positions and assistant professorships.

 

Kjell Blückert, CEO