FAS announces Programme Grants in the area of Care Sciences

Transcription

1 FAS announces Programme Grants in the area of Care Sciences The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research supports basic research and needs-driven research concerning social challenges in regard to health, working life and welfare that can elucidate issues from a crossdisciplinary perspective. Provided that the Swedish Government s 2012/13:30 Research and Innovation bill is adopted by the Swedish Parliament, FAS announces grants of SEK 30 million in 2013 for health care research. This is the first announcement within the Swedish Government s focus on care sciences and will be followed up by a major announcement in 2014 in a joint funding project between FAS and the Swedish Research Council. It was proposed in the 2012 Research and Innovation bill (2012/13:30) that funding of care sciences should be boosted. It was established that there is a need to reinforce both the scientific base for care sciences and its relation to health and nursing care requirements, and that the multi- and inter-disciplinary character of care sciences should be recognised. Utilisation of research within the areas of nursing and health care furthermore needs to increase and innovative practical research cooperation needs to be boosted. FAS will therefore fund cross-disciplinary research that embraces cooperation between actors within health care, nursing and research with the aim of reinforcing the scientific base and implementation of research results into practice. The call will primarily fund applications with relation to care and nursing activities. FAS has been allocated the task by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs to draw up a proposal for a collective research strategy for the Ministry s policy areas within health and welfare. Four social challenges within the health field are listed in the strategy: 1 (9)

2 Changes in the population structure Legitimacy in the welfare system including health care New rising expectations - increased costs Low participation - inequality The strategy points out that it is important to increase the usefulness of research in society and for its citizens. An important part of the practicerelated research is how knowledge is implemented into practice. This type of research describes how research results shall be used, for example via innovation chains within health care and nursing, and health promotion activities. It can also increase knowledge of how new discoveries and technology are disseminated, applied and implemented in practice within health care and nursing in a way that ensures high safety, quality, equality and cost-effectiveness. In light of Swedish Government bill 2012/13:30, the following broad areas can act as a guide as where boosted health care research is particularly important: 1. Complex needs of patients and users Person-centred health care and nursing - improved participation for patients, users and family and close friends Cooperation between various actors, for example health care providers, health promotion activities, patients, users and family and close friends. 2. Implementation research and innovative practice-related research How new research-based knowledge is put into practice, and how this can be improved. The usability of social innovations and innovative technology in order to improve health care and nursing and in order to increase participation, including for people who are living with functional and activity impairments or chronic illness. Empirical and theoretical studies for the development of the knowledge field, how this new knowledge is put into practice. 3. Research based new activities within primary and open health care and local authority care/nursing 2 (9)

3 Preventative initiatives and rehabilitation within primary and open health care and local authority care/nursing. Preventative and health promotion initiatives aimed at loneliness and ill-health among persons with mental function impairments, and chronic illness. 4. Work organisation, work environment, knowledge management in health care and nursing How a healthy working life for personnel within the health care and nursing sector can be reconciled with high quality in health care and nursing for patients and users. Models and systems for a knowledge-based and knowledgebuilding health care and nursing sector. New constellations will be required for innovative research if the challenges facing care and nursing are to be met. It is therefore important to stimulate research cooperation between different research disciplines on the basis of the perspective of patients, users and family and close friends, and in cooperation between users and family and close friends. A cross-disciplinary approach and cooperation with business and industry as well as the public sector is viewed as positive in order to achieve an overall view of the problems facing Swedish society. FAS announces a call consisting of the following types of funding: Programme Grants (3-4 grants), Senior Research Grants and Preliminary Study Grants. See the separate announcements for Senior Research Grants and Preliminary Study Grants. Scientific quality as well as social relevance will form the basis for the evaluation of applications and the allocation between the different types of grants. What is a programme grant? The purpose of programme grants is to support and expand research environments in a longer perspective. It is a basic financial support that should enable research groups to tackle new research questions and work with them during longer periods of time. Programme grants will only be given established research groups. Single researchers or not fully organized research groups are therefore discouraged 3 (9)

4 from applying. Since one purpose of the programme grants is to strengthen the long term development of the area, the inclusion of junior researchers in the group is considered positive. The applicants must have a solid programme idea and show affinity with literature and theories in the field as well as good methodological competence. Close contacts with excellent researchers, in Sweden and abroad, is valuable. It is possible for an applicant to apply for all three types of funding within the call for care sciences. Application Programme grants amount to 3 million Swedish crowns per year including indirect costs and are applied for periods of three plus three years. The entire application should be written in English since it will be reviewed by international experts. Assessment The assessment will be made by an international group of experts. Applications will also be sent for additional assessments by other experts. Scientific quality as well as relevance to society is important in the assessment process. Grant decisions will be made in November The programmes will be evaluated during the grant period as well as when the grant has terminated. Instructions for applicants Since the application will be assessed by an international expert panel, it must be written in English. Application forms are available in FAS electronic system eklara ( To be able to submit an outline via eklara you need a user account. A person who has previously submitted an application to FAS has a user account. To create a user account, go to För att skaffa användarkonto (To create a user account) on the eklara starting page. Templates for the appendices Ekonomi (Budget), Personal (Personnel), Projektbeskrivning (project description) and Meritförteckningar (CV) - are available in the application form. Templates should be downloaded and saved in your own computer before you start writing. Since the application form cannot be saved as a draft and submitted later, it should not be completed until you are ready to submit the application. 4 (9)

5 The process of completing and submitting an outline in eklara is described in Handledning för eklara (eklara guidelines in Swedish) on eklara's starting page. Instructions can also be found under the blue icons in the application form. Log into eklara, go to Söka medel (Apply for grants). After having read the instructions on the page Söka medel (Apply for grants), go to the form Programstöd (Programme grant). Ansökningsformuläret (the on-line application form) PROGRAMANSVARIG (PROGRAMME RESPONSIBLE) The application should be written using the eklara user account of the person responsible for the programme. The researcher in charge of the programme has the scientific responsibility for the programme and will be representing the programme in all contacts with FAS. This person should have a relevant background and at least the qualifications required for appointment as an associate professor (docent). Only one person can be the programme responsible. PROGRAMTITEL PÅ SVENSKA (PROGRAMME TITLE IN SWEDISH) The empty field contains the word Programstöd ; leave this text intact and add Vård. The result should read Programstöd Vård: After this fill in the programme title in Swedish, maximum 200 characters altogether including spaces. PROGRAMTITEL PÅ ENGELSKA (PROGRAMME TITLE IN ENGLISH) The blank box contains the words Programme grant; leave this text intact and add Care: and a translation of the Swedish title into English, maximum 200 characters including spaces. PROGRAMMETS HEMVIST (HOME INSTITUTION OF THE PROGRAMME) Indicate the name of the institution where the programme will be carried out or, if it is collaboration between institutions, where most of the programme activities will take place. The applicant s home institution will appear automatically in the electronic form. If the programme takes place somewhere else, please mark the box Annan institution (Other institution) and fill in the university/college, institution or equivalent in the appearing empty field. 5 (9)

6 SÖKS HOS FAS (AMOUNT APPLIED FOR FROM FAS) Fill in 3,000,000 Swedish crowns (SEK) for each of the six years of the programme grant without any spaces or signs between the numbers. SAMMANFATTNING (ABSTRACT) The abstract should be written with the purpose of giving FAS evaluators and decision-makers complete information about the content of the proposed programme. The abstract should be able to stand on its own, which is why you should make no references to other parts of the outline. It is important that laymen will also be able to understand the abstract. The abstract must not exceed 2,000 characters including spaces. Ekonomi (Budget) Use the eklara appendix template Ekonomi (available in English at the bottom of the application form). Please follow the instructions available in Handledning för eklara (eklara guidelines) regarding how to handle the appendix templates etc. SPECIFICATION OF FUNDS Give a broad overview of how you plan to spend the programme grant over the first three years. Fill in the personnel costs, including social security contributions, of the persons that will draw salary from the programme grant as well as other programme costs to be covered by the grant. Also, please add your university s indirect costs for administration and premises (if applicable) in per cent. It should be noted that the indicated distribution between personnel and other costs is not binding; grant recipients are allowed to change the financial distribution. INDIRECT COSTS As of January 1, 2010 there is no agreement between FAS and SUHF (The Association of Swedish Higher Education) concerning indirect costs for external research grants. This means that in the current application procedure there are no pre-set percentages for indirect costs. Under this heading the percentage calculated for the project should be entered. The model used for calculating the indirect costs should be described in the Projektbeskrivning (Project description). 6 (9)

7 FUNDING SOURCES Fill in all other funding received by the programme group. Please indicate the name of the funding organisation (contributor), the project leader (principal investigator), project title, project period and funding amount (grant). OTHER INFORMATION Indicate here if the programme application has any relation to ongoing programmes or project grants funded by FAS. Please fill in the FAS reference numbers of such grants and attach abstracts of these in the programme description. Personal (Personnel appendix) The personnel appendix should be written using the eklara template Personalbilaga (available in English only). Mall 1 (Template 1) is for personnel teams of 1-7 persons, while mall 2 (Template 2) is for programmes with 1-14 persons. Please follow the instructions available in Handledning för eklara (eklara guidelines) regarding how to handle the appendix templates etc. The appendix should include the current composition of the research group and qualifications of its members. Please fill in the names, academic titles, institutions, gender (write male or female), year of birth, year of obtaining the Ph.D., as well as the academic research area/discipline of Ph.D. thesis (e.g. sociology). Please remember to use English also when filling in titles, institution and research area. Programbeskrivning (Programme description) The appendix should be written using the eklara appendix template Projektbeskrivning (Project description). Please follow the instructions available in Handledning för eklara (eklara guidelines) about how to handle the appendix templates etc. The project description should be written in English and be maximum 10 A4 pages plus a list of references of maximum one A4 page and a list of publications. All separate pages should be merged into one document. The programme description should: 7 (9)

8 Define the programme area and present the problems the group will work on. Develop the fundamental idea of the research programme and the research tasks contained. Present the relation between the proposed research activities with earlier research and describe what methods will be used. Account for how the research group was formed, previous activities carried out by the group, as well as the current composition and seniority of the group. The programme grants are forward-looking, which is why it is important that the group contains senior as well as younger researchers. The Swedish and international research contacts of the group should be well developed. Name any collaboration partners, nationally or internationally, with whom cooperation is planned or already has been established. Account for any existing plans at this stage of scientific publication and how information about the programme and its results will be disseminated outside the scientific community. Comment on the budget overview that was submitted in the appendix Ekonomi. The programme description should furthermore contain a list of publications in which the members of the research group collectively present publications from the past five years in the research area for which it is applying. In the list of publications, please mark the publications that are attached to the application (maximum five of the internationally most important publications, five copies of each). Meritförteckningar (CVs) The appendix should be written using the eklara appendix template Meritförteckningar. Please follow the instructions available in Handledning för eklara (eklara guidelines) about how to handle the appendix templates etc. Attach CVs that are maximum two A4 pages per person for each of the persons working in the programme. The CVs should be compiled into one document. The CVs should be written in English and contain information about education, employment and earlier larger research grants (project title, funding agency, amount, and year). The programme responsible should also account 8 (9)

9 for which other research projects he or she will be leading during the time of the programme. Submission of the application The application should be submitted electronically via FAS web service eklara ( and in a signed hard copy version to FAS together with five photocopied versions of the application and the submitted publications. The programme leader has the scientific responsibility of the activities. Once the E-klara form has been filled in and all templates are in place, click Skicka in. To confirm the submission to FAS you will receive a page with the registration number of the application and instructions on how to print, sign and send the application to FAS, Box 894, Stockholm, Sweden. Deadline for sending in the electronic application is Wednesday April 3, 2013, 5 pm CET. The printed and signed hard copy version of the application must similarly be submitted by post to FAS by April 3, The hard copy of the application must be signed by the programme leader and the vice-chancellor of the higher education institution or equivalent. Note that the entire outline, i.e. the first page as well as all the appendices, should be submitted on single-sided paper. The copies may be printed on double sided paper. All information submitted in the application must be in English in order for the international reviewers to be able to read it. More information Questions concerning the administration of the applications can be directed to the Secretary General of FAS, Erland Hjelmquist, tel: , e- mail erland.hjelmquist@fas.se, the Programme Director of FAS, Lars Wärngård, tel: , lars.warngard@fas.se or Research Secretary Carin Håkansta, tel: , carin.hakansta@fas.se. QUESTIONS CONCERNING EKLARA Please contact Susanne Gabrielsson, Programme administrator, tel: , sg@fas.se 9 (9)