The Swedish Foundations Starting Grant (SFSG) initiative is aimed at recently graduated PhDs across all fields of research who are based in Sweden. Applicants must have applied for a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) and received the highest rating, but not been awarded funding due to the ERC’s limited budget.

 

Each year, around 4,000 researchers compete for the prestigious ERC Starting Grants, and competition is extremely strong. The assessment process is also rigorous, and the ERC is widely regarded as having world-class evaluation panels. SFSG therefore does not conduct a new scientific assessment of the applications; instead, the funders rely on the evaluations made by the ERC panels.

 

“By relying on the ERC’s assessment, the workload for us as funders is low, while at the same time we can make a major difference for the researchers,” Anna says.

 

More grants benefit research

SFSG grants provide funding equivalent to that offered through ERC Starting Grants, up to EUR 1.5 million over five years. The aim is not to replace EU funding, but to encourage more researchers in Sweden to participate in ERC calls. Since researchers are expected to continue applying for ERC funding throughout the project period, the initiative benefits both individual researchers and research in Sweden as a whole.

 

Identifying and supporting talent

“We are a group of foundations that want to support outstanding early-career researchers and give them a head start the next time they apply to the ERC. We want to support them in conducting groundbreaking research and establishing themselves as independent researchers. In this way, we hope to give them a scientific head start when they next apply for the grant,” Anna says.

 

“Compared with other similar countries, researchers in Sweden are awarded fewer ERC grants. Our long-term goal is to change this. By offering a second opportunity for funding through SFSG, we hope to encourage more researchers to invest the time and effort required to prepare an ERC application. We believe this will increase the overall number of researchers in Sweden who apply for and are awarded ERC Starting Grants. At the same time, we are sending a strong signal to the Swedish research system about the importance of generating more applications.”

 

A unique initiative

The SFSG initiative is unique in Europe in that a group of private research funders have joined forces to support high-quality applications across all disciplines.

 

“In addition to project funding, we also support activities such as workshops for ERC applicants and work to disseminate knowledge through dialogue with universities and other stakeholders,” says Torbjörn Eng, research secretary at Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

 

SFSG comprises seven foundations: the Erling-Persson Foundation, the Kempe Foundations, the Knowledge Foundation, the Olle Engkvist Foundation, Ragnar Söderberg foundation, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and, most recently, ÅForsk.

 

ÅForsk funds research projects focusing on sustainable technology and process development and supports applied and forward-looking research.

 

“An important focus for us going forward will be to further develop the foundation’s grants and increase its visibility,” says Per Dannetun, CEO of the ÅForsk research foundation. “Our involvement in SFSG fits very well with these ambitions.”

 

“The Erling-Persson Foundation focuses on supporting outstanding researchers in Sweden. We generally fund research conducted by somewhat more senior researchers. This is therefore an excellent way for us to also support research projects involving early-career researchers,” says Ylva Linderson, research secretary at the Erling-Persson Foundation.

 

“Our collaboration within SFSG is like an ecosystem, and an additional benefit is that it provides a valuable and rewarding forum where we can share experiences. Both small and large foundations participate, which means that we can learn from one another and become even better research funders for Sweden,” Ylva continues.

 

A wide range of research fields

“Riksbankens Jubileumsfond supports research in the humanities and social sciences,” Torbjörn says. “SFSG is intended to identify researchers whose projects are highly qualified across a wide range of fields. The goal is for more researchers in Sweden to apply to the ERC. This benefits Swedish research and knowledge production.”

 

“Researchers in our fields do not apply for ERC Starting Grants very often, however. The most recent researcher we funded was in 2018. All the foundations participating in SFSG have different statutes and target groups for their activities. Ultimately, it is the board of each foundation that decides what it wishes to support,” Torbjörn says.

 

“We also have a general exchange of experience in which we discuss various issues, such as procuring a new application system and different review processes. SFSG is an excellent forum for discussing issues that concern us as foundations,” Torbjörn concludes.