The academic areas Human Science and Science are both individually and jointly successful in attracting external research funding. At Stockholm University, we spend a lot of time and resources on recruitment and therefore have many talented teachers and researchers who regularly apply for and receive external research grants. Important research funders are the Swedish Research Council (VR), the EU Framework Programme and ERC (European Research Council), Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, the Wallenberg Foundations, FORMAS, Forte, Vinnova, and others. The Swedish Research Council’s unrestricted project grants, where the applicants themselves freely define scientific questions and propose methods, are important as they are not aimed at any particular subject or require any particular research or challenge focus. They are a cornerstone of the free and unrestricted quest for knowledge.
In dialogue with the deans, the Office of the President studied how the approval rate for applications seeking VR’s unrestricted project grants differs for first-, second- and third-time applicants from Stockholm University during the period 2017–2022. A first-time applicant has not received a rejection earlier in the period, a second-time applicant has received one rejection, and so on. For SU’s academic areas Science and Human Science, first-time applicants have respective approval rates of 38 and 17 percent, second-time applicants have respective approval rates of 25 and 14 percent, and third-time applicants see a slight drop to 21 and 10 percent, respectively. The study is based on nearly a thousand applicants.
Two things are important to note here: Firstly, that the success rates for both areas were much higher than the corresponding national VR averages of 22 percent for Natural Sciences and Technology and 11 percent for Humanities and Social Sciences during the period covered by the survey. Secondly, there is a good chance of having your application granted if you reapply after a rejection.
Thus, there is every reason for more employees to apply for research grants – even if they have received one or more rejections. We deans want to encourage teachers and researchers who have the requisite qualifications, a good research idea and support from their head of department or equivalent to draft applications for current and future calls. The benefit of continuing to improve an application after a rejection rather than giving up is clear to the Swedish Research Council and also to e.g. the ERC, where we believe that Stockholm University has a particularly large potential for increased success.
This is a text written by the Deputy Vice Presidents and deans Henrik Cederquist, Jessika van der Sluijs, Yvonne Svanström and Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre. It appears in the section ”Words from the University’s senior management team”, where members take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in every edition of News for staff which is distributed to the entirety of the University staff.