WASP and DDLS announce a joint call for research projects

The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) was launched in 2020 by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW). DDLS is a 12-year funding initiative to support data-driven life science in Sweden with SciLifeLab as the host. The program will focus on four strategic research areas of data-driven research:

  • Cell and molecular biology
  • Evolution and biodiversity
  • Precision medicine and diagnostics
  • Epidemiology and infection biology

SciLifeLab and KAW share the ambition to foster the next generation of life scientists by creating a solid computational and data science base that helps scientists analyze and interpret data patterns swiftly, and to seamlessly integrate their data with the global life science data streams. Central components of such a venture include: education, training, recruiting new talent, sparking collaborations, and engagement in innovation activities.

Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) is Sweden’s largest individual research program and provides a platform for academic research and education, fostering interaction with Sweden’s leading companies. The program addresses research in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and software as enabling technologies for developing systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information, and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems of systems.

WASP strengthens, expands, and renews the national competence through new strategic recruitments, a challenging research program, a national graduate school, and collaboration with industry. The program is conducted in close cooperation between leading Swedish universities to promote the competence of Sweden as a nation within the area of AI, autonomous systems and software.

DDLS and WASP join forces for research within a data-driven future

See the webinar from June 11 on the official launch of the DDLS-WASP collaboration! The webinar combined inspirational talks and discussions on possible ways to initiate formations of strong collaborations that can bridge the gap between the scientific disciplines.

Aim and scope

DDLS and WASP have a strong ambition to form solid collaborations by bridging the gap between the scientific disciplines of DDLS and WASP respectively. The Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation has earmarked funding for such collaborations in their donations to both these programs. As a first step in their collaboration, DDLS and WASP now announce a call for proposals for bridging research projects.

The funded projects should bridge the thematic profiles of DDLS and WASP and address fundamental research problems between the WASP and DDLS research areas and be of a visionary nature. Their aims should be something else than just applying existing computational tools to biological problems or datasets. Addressing these fundamental research challenges must require significant multidisciplinary activities such as conceptual, methodological and technological elements from both the life sciences and engineering fields with powerful research methodologies based on artificial intelligence focusing on mathematics, machine learning, or autonomous systems and software. Involved researchers will apply new mathematics, modeling, or informatics to life science data in integrated computational projects. The projects must, as an integral and central part, contain both: i. Harvesting or use of empirical data from experimental, clinical, or observational studies, and ii.  Theoretical or computational method development from sciences such as mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering.

The funded projects should also build a collaborative community and a critical mass by making data, resources, and code available in accordance with the FAIR principles. Supported projects are also expected to create resources and technical capabilities that will be made available to others. Applications should thus specify how FAIR data sharing and open access publishing of data and code will be addressed and any exceptions stated at the time of application. All projects are required to establish a data management plan (DMP) at the start of the project.

Project participants (faculty and postdocs) are expected to be active contributors and participants in community events, training activities, seminars, and symposia. 

A bridging research project will have both a rapid start-up phase and a high potential impact. Thus, a project can explore new synergies between existing projects and staff, and novel ideas enabled by forming multidisciplinary teams spanning across the DDLS and WASP domains.

The projects must have two applicants, one faculty from WASP and one from DDLS (defined under Who can apply), and propose cross-program collaborations such as:

  • Twinning of postdocs (Two postdocs: one from the WASP community and one from the life science community working together on a joint project.)
  • Joint postdoc (One joint postdoc with faculties from both DDLS and WASP sides. One faculty at one university will become the primary host for hiring and reporting purposes.)
  • Transfer of postdocs (A PhD student from WASP applying for a postdoc in the DDLS field or the reverse.)
  • Two junior faculty (Two assistant or associate professors, one from the WASP community and one from the life science community, to work together on a joint project.)
  • Embedding of a DDLS expert in a WASP research group
  • Embedding of a WASP expert in a DDLS research group

Who can apply? (Call closed)

A project is led jointly by one faculty from WASP and one faculty from DDLS (at least 10% activity level dedicated to the project is expected). A faculty can be involved in maximum 2 applications.

The WASP faculty should be affiliated with one of the WASP partner universities CTH, LiU, LU, KTH, UmU, or with research groups at ÖrU or UU that are members of WASP and have their research focus within AI, Autonomous Systems or Software. Please note that it is not necessary to be a formal WASP faculty (that has signed a WASP affiliation agreement) in order to apply for this call. PhD students and postdocs from the WASP area should be/become affiliated with one of the partner universities as described above.

The DDLS faculty should work in life science with a data or computational angle within the four DDLS research areas and affiliated with a Swedish university or The Swedish Museum of Natural History.

Budget

The total funding available in this call is 40 MSEK over 2 years (20MSEK WASP and 20MSEK DDLS) with a maximum of 15 funded projects.

The maximum available funding for each project  is 1 MSEK/year/partner, i.e., a total budget of 4 MSEK for two years. Projects with transfer or joint postdocs or projects with embedding experts can apply for  smaller sums; 0.5-1MSEK/year/partner, i.e.a total budget of 2 MSEK for two years. We prefer all projects to last for two years, but some embedding and transfer projects may justify shorter single-year funding.

Financial information

  • The grants will be funded by KAW. Faculties are responsible for any necessary co-funding needed at each university/department.
  • Overhead and premises costs will be covered according to respective programs terms and conditions.
  • There is also a maximum coverage of 50% for LKP (payroll overhead) on personnel costs.
  • All costs applied for in the projects are to be specified in the budget template
  • Costs will be reimbursed by requisition to KAW. KTH and LiU  will coordinate this process, templates will be provided for this purpose at a later stage.

Proposal structure/format

Submission – Call is now closed

One person applies as the main PI (main applicant) of the project with a commitment letter from the co-PI (co-applicant).

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

  1. Name of project
  2. Name, affiliations of main and co-PI
  3. Project plan (max 2 pages) with clearly specified subject area and focus on data science and FAIR aspects
  4. Explanation of the collaborative benefits and the role of each of the PIs and parties (max 1 page)
  5. Short CV and top publications only for main PI and co-PI (max 2 pages each)
  6. Commitment letter for the main PI, should be signed by the Head of the department.
  7. Commitment letter for the co-PI should be signed by the co-PI and by the Head of the department
  8. Budget

Evaluation criteria

Projects will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Novelty and Originality from a data-driven perspective
  • Multi-Disciplinarity
  • Scientific quality
  • Merits of the applicants
  • Synergies in the planned collaboration, i.e. complementarity and team science

We will also consider:

  • Impact on both life science and of the computational challenges addressed
  • Open science and data sharing aspects
  • Impact on WASP/DDLS community
  • Industrial and societal relevance
  • Diversity of gender of the applicants

Timeline

Call opens: May 27, 2021
Call closes: September 1, 14:00, 2021
Funding decision by WASP and SciLifeLab boards: October-November 2021
Communication to applicants: No later than 2 weeks after decision 
Project start: April 1, 2022 at the latest

Questions regarding the call

Please feel free to contact ddls-calls@scilifelab.se. Please note, the address will not be manned during the month of July, 2021.

FAQ

How to collaborate?

Q: Where can I find researchers to collaborate with?
A: In the abstract book available at WASP’s and SciLifeLab’s webpages:
https://wasp-sweden.org/calls/wasp-and-ddls-joint-call-for-research-projects/
https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/wasp-collaboration/joint-call/#matchmaking

Q: If you are working in a WASP related area but are not part of any the WASP partner universities, can you have a partner within the DDLS or does it have to be within the WASP community?
A: In this case, the partner needs to be affiliated with WASP.

Q: I am part of the WASP community, but I would consider myself as part of the life-science community as well, can I choose which I belong to?
A: Yes, you can choose, make sure that the project represents both WASP and DDLS research.

Q: What if you do half your research in AI/machine learning and half in precision medicine/epidemiology; WASP or DDLS side?
A: You need to find a collaborator that makes the project represent both WASP and DDLS research.

Q: I am working in life science, but I am not part of the 11 DDLS partners, can I apply?
A: Yes

Q: If I get funding for two projects, do I have to choose between them or can I do both?
A: From the call text: A faculty can be involved in maximum 2 applications. The applications are evaluated individually and in theory both can be funded if selected for financial support and there would be no need for you to choose one of them. Also make sure that you fulfil the requirement to have at least 10% activity level dedicated to each project.

Q: Are there opportunities for industrial partners to take part in this call?
A: Industry can be engaged but they  cannot receive any funding from WASP or DDLS.

Q: Is this call targeted towards new DDLS/WASP collaborations or it is also applicable to strengthen existing collaborations between WASP faculty members and DDLS researchers? I.e. is it an advantage or disadvantage that the applicants already have some joint publications?
A: The collaboration should give a clear added value to the project. A new idea or direction within an existing collaboration could of course be of interest as well.

Q: Is there any possibility for the international partners to join the project, without being funded directly? One partner from WASP and Sweden and one from outside Sweden in life science?
A: It is possible to involve international partners, but they cannot receive any funding from WASP or DDLS. It is important that the link between WASP and DDLS is strong in the project.

Q: Is it desirable that both partners are at the same or different universities?
A: We are flexible, no preferences.

Q: How do you plan sustainability of the granted projects?
A: This is the first step of the collaboration, there are no decisions yet for how the projects and collaborations will be continued over the coming years. There is of course always the possibility to continue with the projects with funding from other sources.

Q: How does the call align with recent calls from VR research environment? Can one who has a VR environment project funded also apply for the WASP-DLLS call?
A: This call does not align with the VR research environment call. You can apply to this call even if you have funding from other sources.

Q: Should the main applicant be a professor or is it okay to be a researcher or docent?
A: The faculty can be at associate/assistant/senior professor level. Please also note that two senior professors can apply, and two younger researchers can be active in the project.

Q: What about larger collaborations, involving more partners (where the two applying partners are representing the consortium)? Is that strengthening, weakening, or irrelevant to the evaluation of the application?
A: It should be realistic and give added value to the project. The roles and engagement of the different partners should be well motivated.

Q: Are there plans to incorporate WASP-HS as well?
A: Not for this call but both WASP and DDLS are expected to collaborate with WASP-HS.

Q: Can I be considered junior faculty if I don´t have an assistant professor title?
A: To be eligible for the project for “Two junior faculty” (as stated in the call) one has to have a faculty position when one applies, that is by the 1st of September at the latest. Faculty positions are considered to be: assistant professor, associate professor or professor.

Q: Do a list of references for the proposed project need to be included within the 2 page limit for the call application?
A: No, references do not need to be within the page limit. 

How to think about the project?

Q: How will I know if my intended project would be considered belonging to one of DDLS four strategic areas?
A: Please read the DDLS strategic plan: https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/ddls-strategy/

Q: Is medical imaging included within DDLS?
A: Please read the DDLS strategic plan: https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/ddls-strategy/

Q: “Precision medicine” is wide. Is it possible to specify a bit more the related areas inside DDLS?
A: Please read the DDLS strategic plan: https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/ddls-strategy/

Q: Does the project need to be connected to a real-world application (experiment) such as the protein structure for drug discovery?
A: The project does not need to have an experimental part but must be of relevance for life science.

Q: How high risk can the projects be?
A: High risk projects are welcome but make sure that you describe the feasibility and address the foreseeable risks within the project. Novelty and originality are encouraged.

Q: What is your view of mechanistic modelling, i.e. models describing physiological and biochemical processes, e.g. using differential equations? Are such mechanistic models enough “AI” to be relevant for this call, or do they need to be combined with machine learning models into hybrid models, in order to be considered?
A: The call is for projects within the intersection of WASP and DDLS, and not tied to any particular implementations of AI. Mechanistic modelling falls well within the WASP areas of AI, autonomous systems, and software.

Q: Is the focus in WASP-DDLS on method development or applications?
A: From the call text: The projects should be something else than just applying existing computational tools to biological problems or datasets. Addressing these fundamental research challenges must require significant multidisciplinary activities such as conceptual, methodological and technological elements from both the life sciences and engineering fields with powerful research methodologies based on artificial intelligence focusing on mathematics, machine learning, or autonomous systems and software.

Q: It says in the call that at least a 10 % activity level is expected from the main applicants. Does this mean that if a main applicant is a senior professor applying for the sake of a younger researcher to make the work that senior professor is still expected to put in the 10 % on top of the work that the younger researcher does?
A: The main applicant has the overall responsibility for the conducted research so the expectation of the 10% involvement is necessary. 

Q: Is the funding restricted to the support of postdoc positions only or are PhD positions included as well?
A: In this particular call PhD students are not included.

Handling of data

Q: Is data generation (in addition to data use) included in this call?
A: Data generation can be included but should not be focus of the project.

Q: How widely/open will data be shared? Do you envision to exchange data internationally or with industry? Is privacy-preserved learning and data-disclosure control relevant for DDLS? Beside technical challenges, I think there are legal and ethical challenges that need to have sufficient technical understanding to make the right decision.
A: From the call text: Applications should specify how FAIR data sharing and open access publishing of data and code will be addressed and any exceptions stated at the time of application. All projects are required to establish a data management plan (DMP) at the start of the project.

Financial matters

Q: Could you give more details on what exactly can be funded?
A: Eligible costs are for example: Reagents, salaries for project participants, including supervision for postdocs/experts/junior researchers, possible other collaborators that are affiliated with WASP or DDLS as defined under “Who can apply?” in the call text. For equipment, depreciation costs are eligible. Please check the budget template in the application system (Anubis) for more guidelines.

Q: The form goes into details about funding from WASP vs DDLS. Is it preferably (for evaluation) to somehow land on a 50/50 in the application?
A: There is no need to divide the funding 50/50 between WASP and DDLS.

Last updated: 2022-07-15

Content Responsible: Heidi Törmänen Persson(heidi.t.persson@scilifelab.uu.se)