Ten universities in Sweden join forces for national postdoc program

At the beginning of February 2023, SciLifeLab submitted an application for a European COFUND program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie umbrella. The COFUND action provides funding for regional, national and international programmes for training and career development, through co-funding mechanisms. The application is a joint effort between ten universities and fifteen industrial partners where SciLifeLab acts as the main applicant and coordinator.

The goal of SciLifeLab’s Program for Future Leaders in Life Science, PULSE, is to establish a holistic postdoctoral training programme with international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary components to train future academic and industrial leaders in Life Sciences with a postdoctoral fellowship. PULSE is focused on long-term career sustainability, creating resilience by taking mental health and supportive environments into account.

“We are very happy with the application, and regardless of the result it has already yielded new contacts in Swedish academia and industry, of high benefit for Swedish science and future collaborations within the research community” says Disa Larsson Hammarlöf, research coordinator at SciLifeLab and project lead for the PULSE application.

If the application is granted funding, PULSE will recruit 48 postdoctoral fellows, 32 academic and 16 entrepreneurial, that will receive three years of interdisciplinary and intersectoral career training focused on preparing them to become impactful leaders in academia and/or industry.

A final decision on the award will not be made until in the summer, but regardless of the outcome this application is a Swedish show of strength in the research community to be proud of.