Call for post doc grants in law 2024

Objectives of the call

The main objectives for the call are:

• to provide prominent early-career researchers in law with substantial funding that will allow them to advance in their academic career,
• to support new research findings of high academic quality in law.

 

Furthermore, we want to promote international networking and collaboration by offering grant holders the opportunity to apply for additional funding for research stays at universities abroad.

 

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible the applicant must meet the following two criteria:

• hold a PhD in law awarded after 1 September 2021 and before 31 December 2024. This period may be extended by a maximum of 2 years to allow for career breaks that took place after the doctoral degree was awarded. Eligible reasons for extension are continuous periods (of at least 1 month) of parental leave, long-term illness, or care for a close family member. Such breaks should be supported by documentation from Försäkringskassan or the equivalent.
• have full-time employment at a Swedish university* for the duration of the grant period with 80% of the time devoted to research (funded by the grant) and 20% to teaching (funded by the university).

* We use the term university to describe all higher education institutes.

 

We welcome applications from researchers that are not yet established in Sweden. In such cases, the researcher must be employed at a Swedish university by the start of the grant period. Since the application must be signed by the Head of Department the necessary arrangements with the host institution in Sweden needs to be made well in advance.

 

Note that both the applicant and the Head of Department are required to electronically sign the application before the call closes.

 

The grant

The grant may be used for salary of the applicant and direct project related cost. It must not be used to fund other employees.

 

Eligible costs are:

• 80 % of the salary for of a full-time employment at a Swedish university for 2 years, the remaining 20% for teaching should be fully financed by the university,
• direct project-related costs, including e.g. costs for data collection and analysis, publication, and dissemination of results to peers and the public,
• funding for attending international conferences. Such costs will be paid directly to the applicant as a personal stipend. The stipend is individually adapted and may cover reasonable accommodation costs, travel, and visa costs.
• funding of some of the extra costs related to a research stay abroad. The research stay abroad can include either a longer stay (e.g. for 6 months) or several shorter visits. Such costs will be paid directly to the applicant as a personal stipend. The stipend is individually adapted and may cover reasonable accommodation costs, travel, and visa costs (one return ticket for researcher and close family members such as partner and/or children) etc.

 

Please note that indirect costs (overhead) including rental costs for office space are not fully funded by the Ragnar Söderbergs stiftelse. We provide a fixed amount for overhead and rental costs according to the policy of the Foundation (link to policy text, in Swedish).

 

The Host institution must meet the following requirements:

• employ the researcher and co-fund teaching (20% of a full-time employment) during the grant period,
• co-fund indirect costs including office space,
• assist in making contacts for a research stay abroad (if needed).

 

Grant period

The grant period is two years. The starting date is decided by the applicant, but it cannot be set earlier than 1 February 2025 or later than 1 October 2025.

 

How to apply

Applications are submitted through an online grant portal available here. For further information on how to write the application and how to use the portal please refer to the application guidelines.

 

We work with both national and international reviewers and thus all applications must be written in English.

 

Note that both the applicant and the Head of Department are required to digitally sign the application (using Bank-ID) before it can be submitted. By signing the application, the Head of Department verifies that the host institution will comply with the requirement described above. If you do not have a Bank-ID you need to contact us at least two weeks ahead of the deadline.

 

Call deadline

The deadline for submission of applications is on 8 October 2024 at 15:00. Note that the chair of the Department also has to sign the application before this deadline.

 

Evaluation

The purpose of the review process is to identify applications where:

• the project has strong potential to provide new knowledge of high academic standard to the research field,
• and the applicant has a strong potential to develop into a leading researcher in their field.

 

Applications will be evaluated by a review panel consisting of five prominent law scholars from national and international universities. The review panel will assess the applications based on two criteria: scientific quality of the proposed research project and merits of the applicant.

 

General information on the review process and previous panel members may be found here (only available in Swedish).

 

Interview step

The highest ranked applicants will be invited for an interview with the review panel in the presence of representatives from the foundation. The purpose of the interview is for the review panel to ask additional questions regarding the application and the proposed project. The interviews will be held in Stockholm on November 22 and attendance is mandatory for applicants that have advanced to the interview stage.

 

Decision

The board of the Ragnar Söderbergs Foundation will decide in December 2024 which applications to fund. All applicants will receive notification by e-mail and a list of all awarded grants will be published on our website.

 

Queries

Please contact us at kansli@soderbergs.se. Note that we are a small office and may not be able to answer questions at short notice.

 

Time table 2024

• April: the call is announced.
• 2 September 2024: the call and the application portal opens.
• 8 October 2024 at 15:00: deadline for the call and the application portal is closed.
• November 2024: interview invitations and instructions are sent out to the highest ranked applicants.
• 22 November 2024: invited applicants are interviewed in Stockholm. Exact date will be provided when the call opens.
• December 2024: announcement of awarded grants – Ragnar Söderberg Postdoctoral Fellows in Law.
• Spring 2025: networking event and dinner for all Ragnar Söderberg Postdoctoral Fellows in Law (alumni and present) to be held in Stockholm.