Call 2. Proposals from individual scientists with new contributions to the SciLifeLab-KAW COVID-19 research program

What could be applied for?

SciLifeLab encouraged applications from individual PIs (such as those who were not members of the currently funded Research Areas (RA) on innovative specific research projects.

SciLifeLab expected that only a few (4-6) exceptional proposals would be funded and these should bring important new angles to the ongoing COVID-19 research program. We estimated that at most 10 MSEK of the 50 MSEK allocated were to be used for call area 2, thus proposals should have a tentative budget of 1-2 MSEK/ project (over two years). 

The proposals should focus on molecular aspects of COVID-19, and hence SciLifeLab were not likely to support purely epidemiological, clinical, material science or psychosociological studies that did not involve such data. We expect research results, data, and methods, including code, to be released throughout the project according to the FAIR principles and as early as possible in the research process. The information sharing should be arranged with the COVID-19 data portal operated by SciLifeLab Data Centre. In particular, proposals based on patient material were asked to provide information about how samples would be made available for additional molecular profiling, and the efforts taken through consent collection and ethics approval to address data- and sample sharing. Applications should specify how FAIR data sharing and open access publishing would be addressed, and any exceptions stated at the time of application. All approved projects were required to establish a data management plan (DMP) at the start of the project.

Who could apply?

All PIs at a Swedish university.

How much could be applied for?

Only some applications (4-6) were expected to be funded with at most 1-2 MSEK each for the years 2021-2022.

Financial information

The grant only covers OH costs up to 20% and a maximum coverage of 50% for LKP (payroll overhead) on personnel costs. The researcher(s) are responsible for the necessary co-funding needed at each university/department.