Information to applicants for research grants

1   General principles for awarding research grants

• The project must concern research where the objective is to evaluate labour market policy, studies of the functioning of the labour market or an evaluation of the effects of different reforms and measures within the educational system.
• The research that is being supported must be of high scientific quality and have a good potential to contribute to society through a large degree of policy relevance.
• Since the researchers at IFAU are primarily economists and statisticians, we very much welcome researchers from other scientific areas to also apply for research grants from IFAU.
• Grants are not awarded to fund top-ups on the researcher's regular wage.
• Grants are not awarded to project leaders who have not fulfilled their obligations in accordance with previous agreements with IFAU.
• The applicant must have documented competency as a researcher within the area. Graduate students can only apply for grants if a researcher with a PhD is the project leader.

The applications are evaluated by IFAU’s scientific council. After reviewing the applications, the scientific council makes a recommendation on which projects that should receive funding. The Director General takes the formal decision, which is based on the recommendations of the scientific council as the starting point.

2  The deadline for applications for grants is October 1 at the latest

IFAU has a fixed deadline for applications each year and applications for research grants must have reached IFAU by October 1 at the latest. All research grant applications must be submitted through two methods: electronically and via traditional mail. Please follow the instructions below for each submission method.

3  Processing applications

The personal data that is entered into applications for research grants is only used for IFAU’s processing of research funds. An application that has been awarded a research grant will be kept. All applications for research grants are entered into the registry and are uploaded in the organisation’s content management system. For those who are not awarded a grant, the e-mail and the original application will be erased in accordance with the IFAU document management plan. Due to technical limitations, uploaded applications are currently not erased from the content management system.

4  Information about awarded grants in December

IFAU’s scientific council will meet in November in order to make recommendations on which applications that should be granted funding. All applicants receive written information about awarded funds when the decision has become public.

5 How to apply for a grant

The project application should consist of three parts:

1. The form Application for research grants.
   
   
2. An appendix (1) which must contain a description (with fixed headings) of the project’s:
   

   • Objective and specific questions as well as the value added in relation to earlier research (max 5 000 characters, blank spaces not included)
   • Policy relevance in relation to the needs of society and IFAU’s objective (max 1 500 characters, blank spaces not included)
   • Study design, work plan and implementation (max 4 000 characters, blank spaces not included)
   • Ethical considerations (max 2 000 characters, blank spaces not included)
   Please comment on the ethical aspects of the project, for example if there are any problems, if special ethical considerations are required, if the application is to be evaluated by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority or has already obtained an ethics approval. Motivate why the project requires or does not require an ethics approval. Read more at https:\\etikprovningsmyndigheten.se (information in Swedish, documents in English for guiding purpose available).
   • Budget, including
   - timeline (one can apply for funds for one or two years, and the financial needs for every year are to be specified)
   - (estimated ) salary, including payroll taxes for those who are to draw a salary from the project
   - operating costs (for example travel funds, material and other equipment) and
   - total amount applied for, including indirect costs.

   All costs must be motivated and the possibilities for co-funding are to be reported.

   There is no limit to the number of characters in the budget document.

3. An appendix (2), containing a description of the research competency and qualifications of the project leader and the research group that are relevant for implementing the project. This is stated under the headings:

   This is stated under the headings:
   - education
   - professional experience
   - qualifications and awards as well as
   - publications.
   
   There is no character limit for Appendix 2

Electronic and traditional mail submission

The complete project application is to be sent as a PDF to IFAU, ifau@ifau.uu.se in electronic format, on October 1 at the latest.

You must complete the electronic application with the original application signed by the applicant and the head of department. The original must be sent by regular mail on October 1 at the latest. We do not consider applications where there is no signed original.

Address: IFAU, Box 513, S-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

6   Final report

When a project that has been awarded funds has been completed, the project leader must submit a scientific final report to IFAU. The report should not exceed 50 pages. The main rule is that the report is published in Swedish in IFAU’s report series. In those cases where there is also a research report in English, the results are normally also published in IFAU’s working paper series. Normally, research is to be published at IFAU before it is published elsewhere and exceptions from the principle to first publish at IFAU should be approved by the editor in charge at IFAU.

IFAU has the right, but no obligation, to publish all research reports that the project results in. Please read more about our peer review process and other important information for those who have received a grant.