Expression of Interest (EoI) Call for Research Data Community Projects (RDCP) to Promote Collaboration and Data Sharing

Call Summary

Name: EoI Call – Research Data Community Projects (RDCP)

Focus: To promote collaborative, data-driven research communities that integrate and share data across multiple PIs.

Who Can Apply: Consortia of 3-5 PIs from Swedish universities or The Swedish Museum of Natural History. Additional members who contribute and benefit from the resource should be mentioned.

Grant Amount: 1 MSEK for 2 years per project (4 projects in total)

Additional Benefits: Formal recognition as an exemplary DDLS research environment, and support from the DDLS data science nodes, SciLifeLab Data Centre and WABI services.

Deadline: March 12, 2025.

Project Start: July 2025.

Contact: ddls-calls@scilifelab.se

Aim and scope

Background and Purpose of the Call

The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg national program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) invites consortia of several Principal Investigators (PIs) to apply for the status of a Research Data Community Project (RDCP). This proof-of-concept initiative aims to foster the formation of novel, data-driven, collaborative research communities that engage in team science and FAIR data sharing. Successful RDCPs will serve as a national exemplary team science project of future data-centric research environments that integrate complementary expertise and generate valuable, widely accessible datasets.

A competitive two-stage call starting with an expression of interest, will award a team science mindset in excellent research environments and will promote and support FAIR data-sharing ambitions.  An RDCP should ideally:

  • Enhance collaboration, coordination and integration of data resources and expertise among multiple PIs.
  • Promote FAIR data sharing and open science practices.
  • Build ideal synergistic DDLS research communities that reflect the strategic goals of DDLS and could also serve as excellent research environments to DDLS fellows, postdocs, and PhD students
  • Nurture communities of scientists that can together attract external funding and collaborations (e.g., industry, healthcare, government, international funders)
  • Support future capacity building in data-driven life science in their research area and with the corresponding data science node (DSN).

The ultimate goal is to stimulate the creation of substantial, shared data resources that extend beyond individual research groups, strengthening Sweden’s position as a leader in data-driven life science.

The DDLS Research areas are:

Scope, Funding, and Benefits

The granted RDCPs are meant to serve as national exemplary team science projects of what future strong data-driven research environments would look like in each of the four research areas of DDLS.

RDCPs may either manage existing research materials with adequate data access permissions, and/or coordinate collections of new materials and the use of profiling technologies across multiple research groups, sharing data between them as well as with the broad research community. Thus, RDCPs are expected to lead to the creation of unique data resources of broad value within and outside the RDCP consortium, at a scale beyond what is typically possible to achieve by an individual research group. RDCPs create synergistic data capabilities and shared data resources for their own benefit and for the benefit of data-driven life science research in Sweden and globally.    

The RDCP is driven by a consortium of scientists with a strong commitment to collaborate with open science and FAIR data principles. The consortia consist of 3-5 main PIs leading the project and additional members building up the community. The consortia should be open and able to expand their membership over time. The RDCPs should ideally be open to collaborations across universities/organizations at a national level to represent the best joint expertise in their field in Sweden. Additional members can join from e.g. health care, for-profit organizations or international collaborators, but cannot be recipients of funding. In due time, the RDCPs should become attractive sites for collaborations with external entities, such as industry, health care, government and international funders. Existing consortia are welcome to apply, but we will emphasize the additional value, benefit and synergy created by this RDCP call.

Each granted RDCP will receive:

  • 1 MSEK over two years to support coordination, networking, workshops, symposia, and related activities that foster data sharing and integration.
  • Formal recognition as a DDLS national team science community, increasing visibility and attractiveness for future collaborations, recruitment (e.g., DDLS PhD students, postdocs and fellows), and other DDLS grants.
  • Access to SciLifeLab/DDLS Data Centre (DC) and Bioinformatics Platform (WABI) services, including services organized by the DDLS Data Science Nodes (DSN). This may include guidance from data stewards and bioinformatics experts, FAIR-compliant data storage (including for sensitive data), application hosting via SciLifeLab Serve, and DOI-based open data publication through the SciLifeLab Data Repository.

The RDCP grant does not directly fund data generation. Instead, it encourages building on past and current efforts and existing grant support to create coordination to build data resources and shared, FAIR datasets. Other host university support is viewed favorably, but is not required beyond the formal matching of KAW funding. Hence, the RDCP mechanism will promote the granted consortium and the member PIs to work together in a data-centric manner with a team science mindset to create joint resources. Standard KAW/DDLS funding conditions apply (see section Financial information), and funds can be distributed across Swedish universities.

Who can apply?

A consortium of three to five (3-5) Principal Investigators (PIs) with a strong commitment to collaborate with open science and FAIR data principles. One PI should be defined as the RDCP coordinating PI and the others as Co-PI. All PIs should be affiliated with a Swedish university or The Swedish Museum of Natural History. In addition, the RDCP should list names of additional scientists who agree to become members by contributing to and by making use of the data resources.

Financial information

Each selected RDCP will receive 1MSEK over a two-year period (July 2025-June 2027).

  • The grants will be funded by KAW and administered by KTH. Any necessary co-funding should be covered by each university/department. 
  • The KAW funding conditions for the DDLS program allows a maximum of 18 – 20% of the approved grant to be used for overhead and premises costs. Additionally, there is a maximum coverage of 52,5% for LKP (payroll taxes and social security contributions including holiday allowance %) on gross salary and allowance costs. We expect that the additional overhead and LKP be covered directly by the department’s or university´s governmental funding and not by the PIs other external funds or grants.
  • A detailed budget in a provided budget template will be requested upon final approval.
  • The grant will be transferred retroactively for reported costs according to the approved funding.
  • Requisitions and cost reporting will be sent semi-annually to the SciLifeLab Operations Office/KTH. KTH as SciLifeLab/DDLS program host university coordinates the cost reporting and reimbursement processes. All necessary templates will be provided for these purposes at a later stage.

The department of the coordinating PI is responsible to cover the additional overhead and LKP, a letter of support must be provided upon final approval.

Proposal structure/format

Submission, how to apply

The consortia define one PI as the coordinating PI who submits the RDCP expression of interest by providing the requested information in the Anubis application system.

The application should include a project description, collaboration strategy, intended benefits to the parties and to the global community, data science contributions, budget and motivational letter indicating how the consortium was formed and what purpose it serves.

If the proposed RDCP is granted, a detailed budget and a letter of support from the head of department must be submitted before final approval (templates will be provided).

In addition, approved projects are required to set up and maintain a data management plan (DMP) in the SciLifeLab Data Stewardship Wizard (https://dsw.scilifelab.se).

The following information should be entered according to the templates in the application system:

  1. Name of the Research Data Community Project (RDCP)
  2. DDLS Research area (check boxes, allow for multiple choices)
  3. Coordinating PI
    Name, affiliation and contact information
  4. Co-PIs
    List Names, affiliations and contact information and contributions
  5. Additional members of the consortia
    List Names, affiliations, positions and roles in just a few words, max 1 sentence per member (free text)
  6. Project summary (max 2000 characters (approx. 250 words))
  7. Upload research proposal including motivation (max 4 pages)
    Use application template provided.
  8. Upload Short CV, including a list of up to 10 relevant publications, only for coordinating PI (max 2 pages)
  9. If the proposed RDCP is granted:
    • I as the coordinating PI, understand that a detailed Budget must be submitted before a final approval (check box) according to a provided budget template.
    • I as the coordinating PI, understand that a letter of support from the head of department is required before a final approval (check box) according to a provided template.
    • I as the coordinating PI, understand that if approved, a Data management plan will need to be set up and maintained throughout the project in the SciLifeLab Data Stewardship Wizard (check box).

Evaluation

The expression of interest proposals will be evaluated based on the evaluation criteria listed. After the top-ranked applications have been identified, they will be contacted to amend their proposal before final approval of the project based on comments from the evaluation and external review. Individual smaller proposals may be suggested to be combined into a bigger consortium, but not without prior consent of the parties.

Evaluation Criteria:

  • Scientific Impact & Synergy: Quality of research and how the collaboration enhances data-driven science among participants.
  • Added value of the RDCP: Synergy created from this RDCP call for the community creationand data sharing
  • National and Global Value: Potential to create widely useful data resources with lasting impact.
  • Data Sharing & Collaboration: Effective and feasible plans for internal and external data sharing.
  • Open Science & FAIR Principles: Alignment with open science, FAIR data standards, and SciLifeLab Data Policy.
  • Innovation & Sustainability: Ambition and potential for growth, sustainability, and attracting further support.

Reporting and Follow-Up

The granted RDCP consortia will be showcased at the annual DDLS conference and/or at DDLS RA-specific meetings, they will be featured in the SciLifeLab news as examples and inspiration of the future DDLS communities A short progress report of each RDCP is requested annually and will be shared publicly to highlight best practices and inspire the scientific community.

Timeline:

  • Call Opens: January 15, 2025
  • Application Deadline (EoI): March 12, 2025
  • Review and Shortlisting: April 2025
  • Final Proposal Submission (by invitation): April 2025
  • Decision and Grant Start: June-July 2025

Contact Information:

For questions, please email: ddls-calls@scilifelab.se

FAQs:

Q: What is the typical duration of these RDCP projects?

A: Projects are expected to last 2 years, with the possibility of both extension and expansion based on progress and impact as well as availability of funds in the next DDLS budget periods.

Q: Can industry or international partners be included?

A: Yes, industry and international partners can be included as collaborators, provided they meet the eligibility criteria and comply with all relevant regulations and open science principles.

Q: Can this call support me to join an international research community that shares data, such as EU projects?

A: The RDCP mechanism can support collaboration with international consortia, but is not meant to be an additional support to e.g. EU consortia, where Swedish scientists have only a minor role.

Last updated: 2025-01-16

Content Responsible: Johan Inganni(johan.inganni@scilifelab.se)