Research Project Grant

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Guidelines
Practical information
To apply
Changes in your grant and reporting
Do you have questions?

The application period is now closed. The next call will be in March/April 2026.

The Swedish Cancer Society, organisation number 802005-3370, 101 55 Stockholm, is the body responsible for the collection and processing of personal data in connection with grant applications.

The Swedish Cancer Society has a digitised grant application system called Fenix. Fenix uses BankID and Swedish social security numbers for both identification and the signing of the application.

More information about Fenix

Guidelines – generative AI

When you apply for research grants at the Swedish Cancer Society you can use generative AI-tools or other tools when you write your application. You don’t have to state that you have done so.

Regardless of if you write the application yourself or with the help of an AI-tool the same rules apply:

It is your responsibility that everything in the application is correct.
It is your responsibility that everything has been filled in in accordance to our application process.
You have to follow good research practices. It is forbidden to plagiarize, forge or fabricate the content of your application.

When you sign and send in your application you certify that you have followed the above.

Guidelines

Objectives

The Swedish Cancer Society finances research that can lead to improved understanding of cancer diseases, prevention, earlier diagnosis and effective treatment, including palliative and rehabilitative care.

The perspective is broad and applications are welcomed from researchers in different fields such as medicine, healthcare, pharmacy, natural sciences, technology, social sciences, public health sciences, behavioral and communication sciences.

All parts of the application must be written in English, unless it is clearly stated that a part should be written in Swedish.

Practical information

Formal eligibility requirements

In order to apply for and receive funding for a Research Project, employment at a Swedish university or healthcare institution with a salary equivalent to at least 20 % of full employment is required. If you only have a position at a healthcare institution, it is required to have an affiliation with a Swedish university, which must be approved by the head of department signing the application.

This employment must already have been started at the deadline of submitting the application.

This is possible for those working with other employers (foreign or Swedish) under conditions that allow the project to carry on through continued research activities connected to a Swedish university.

This must be specifically justified and assessed with each new application, or if there are changes in employment conditions during the current grant period.

Applicants who have retired after working at a Swedish university are not subject to the 20 % employment requirement, but affiliation to a Swedish university must be confirmed by the Head of Department signing the application.

Project grants are primarily intended for researchers holding a PhD with the scientific merits equivalent to docent and/or independence as a principal investigator.

Applicants must have obtained their PhD before 1 January 2023.

In case of absence from research, you will be given the opportunity to provide more information about your absence for a longer period of time, e.g. parental leave, sick leave, etc.

One principal investigator – one research project grant. You are not eligible to apply if you have an ongoing research project grant during the grant period for which you are applying for.

You can apply for a project grant the year your current grant period ends.

Grant period

The grant period is 1 January-31 December. The grant is usually granted for three years.

The period of performance is the grant period plus a further 12 months.

The application for extended disposition time is submitted in Fenix.

Basis for assessment

The application will be assessed according to the evaluation criteria below:

Scientific quality
Competence of the applicant
Cancer relevance, according to the Swedish Cancer Society’s statutes, the association shall "support, organize and coordinate cancer research".
Scientific progress (for continuation grants)

The size of the grant

Research Project Grants are given for funding of personnel and operating costs.

The grant may be used to supplement a scholarship etc. depending on local regulations at each institution. Please note that the grant may not be used for the grantee's own salary or for the remuneration of a permanently appointed lecturer or professor.

All amounts in the application must be stated in SEK, i.e. not in thousands.

The research project application may include funding for personnel costs for the project: doctoral students, postdocs, visiting researchers, BMA or research nurses. For staff who are not yet employed, the average salary of the personnel category should be stated.

The Swedish Cancer Society allows deductions for overhead costs up to a maximum of 15.25 % of the grant.

Ordinary grants can be awarded from SEK 1 million to a maximum of SEK 3 million per year. You can apply for less than SEK 1 million per year if your project is less expensive.

The Swedish Cancer Society does not grant higher amounts than those applied for, so be careful in what you include in your budget.

Amounts are given according to fixed funding levels:

1 000 000
1 500 000
2 000 000
2 500 000
3 000 000

Priority Committees (Pk)

In the application, you can choose which Priority Committee (Pk) your application will be evaluated in.

You have the option of selecting a first and second choice, the Swedish Cancer Society will try to accommodate your request but cannot guarantee that your application will be evaluated in the desired priority committee.

Applications for project grants are considered by ten Priority Committees, each with approximately 8 members.

The Pks have different expertise profiles, but with significant overlap, to ensure that applications are allocated fairly evenly and also to avoid conflicts of interest.

Applicants have the possibility to propose one Pk for their application, but it is not uncommon that an application may fit in 2-4 different Pk.

The allocation of applications is prepared by the Scientific Secretariat (taking into account, among other things, the wishes of the applicants) and is ultimately decided in consultation between the chairpersons of the respective Pk.

Clinical projects are usually handled in Pk D, E, F or G, but can also be handled in Pk A1, A2 and C. Basic research projects are often handled in Pk B1 or B2, but can also be handled in Pk A1, A2 and C.

Translational projects may be handled by several committees, depending on whether they are mainly based on preclinical models (Pk A1, A2, B1, B2, C) or are studies using patient material (Pk A1, A2, C, D, E).

Epidemiological projects are mainly handled by Pk F, health sciences by Pk G and prevention by Pk F or Pk G.

Pk A1

Cell biology, genetics, translational research.

Pk A2

Pathology, molecular diagnostics, translational research.

Pk A3

Cancer biology, epigenetics and translational research

Pk B1

Gene regulation, biochemistry, metabolism, structural biology.

Pk B2

Model organisms, developmental biology, systems biology.

Pk C

Immunology, microbiology, cell transplantation.

Pk D

Clinical and translational cancer research, pharmacology.

Pk E

Clinical and translational cancer research, radiotherapy, radiobiology, diagnostic imaging.

Pk F

Epidemiology, biostatistics, public health. Pk G Palliative care, prevention, behavioural sciences.

Patient perspective

Many of the projects supported by the Swedish Cancer Society either take advantage of patients' experiences, or lead to knowledge that can affect patients.

If your project belongs to this category, you need to indicate whether the patient perspective has been taken into account and, if so, in which way.

There is a specifically designated box for such description in the application process, under the heading “patient perspective”.

You need to write a short summary of your project that will be provided for our patients participating in the assessment of the project.

Examples can be that patients have been involved in the planning of a clinical study, that there has been a discussion with patients in the development of the research program, that the research project is based on patient contacts, or that the project has otherwise considered the family/patient perspective in its design.

There are co-opted patients in some of the Swedish Cancer Society's assessment panels.

If you consider that the patient perspective is not relevant to your project or the development of your research program, you should justify this in the designated box as well.

To apply

How to apply in Fenix

If you already have an account you can login:

If you don’t have an account, you need to create one:

Create an account in Fenix

More information on how to apply in Fenix

The following headings are based on the application process in Fenix.

Applicant

In this tab you need to fill in general information about yourself as an applicant.

This is, for example, your name, date of birth and current employment.

Organisation

In this tab you need to fill in information about your university, department and Head of department.

The Swedish Cancer Society pays research grants only to Swedish universities.

The Swedish Cancer Society approves deductions for overhead costs with a maximum of 15.25 % of the grant.

By signing the application the Head of department guarantees co-financing of the project if the above deductions prove to be insufficient.

This applies only to Postdoctor abroad:

Under the tab Organisation you should enter the Swedish department.

Under Head of department, you need to fill in your head of department at the Swedish department.

Under Main supervisor you need to fill in information about your main supervisor at the foreign department.

Under Invitation from the host department, you need to attach an invitation from the foreign department.

CV

In this tab you need to fill in your CV and attach a list of publications and other merits. You can add CV details under "My Profile" in your account and easily transfer them to your application. The advantage of saving the details in your profile is that they are retained and can be reused for future applications to the Swedish Cancer Society. Please note that you need to enter this information under your profile before opening an application form in order for the information to be used in your application.

You also have the option to enter CV details directly in the application. However, please note that these details will not be saved under "My Profile" and therefore cannot be reused for future applications.

All attachments must be attached as PDF.

Appendices

Publication list of your own 10 most relevant articles for this application with full reference. The list should be arranged: author, title of the work, name of the publication, volume, page, year. (attached as PDF)
Not yet published manuscripts with original data max 3. (attached as PDF)
Full publication list. The list should be arranged: author, title of the work, name of the publication, volume, page, year. The publication list should be listed in three categories: peer reviewed original publications, reviewed articles and other articles. (attached as PDF)

Project information

In this tab you need to fill in everything related to your project, for example your research program and patient perspective.

The research program must be written in English and may comprise a maximum of ten pages including references (12 pt, single line spacing, 2.5 cm margin).

The following is the recommended outline:

Specific objectives
A brief account of the aim of the proposed research work.
Background
Summary of your own and others' results in the research area.
Work plan and preliminary results
Detailed description of hypotheses, planned work and any preliminary results. The work plan should also include a methodological description where it is made clear that current technology/methodology also tools for statistical considerations, power calculations etc, is in place and mastered, or is otherwise available for the project in question.
Significance
Brief account of the expected importance for cancer research.
Literature references
Author, title of work, publication name and year of publication. Include only the absolutely essential references.
Independent research line
Applicant that is active, or will be active, in a research group or network shall clarify how the project here applied for connects, or differs, from other ongoing research projects in this group. If the applicant continues in a project that was initiated during a doctoral or postdoctoral period, the relation to the project here applied for and the research of former supervisors needs to be clarified.

Collaborators and research group composition

When applying for a Research Project, a description of collaborators and key personnel involved in the project is mandatory.

The purpose of the description is to provide an overview of everyone involved in the project and their competence and specific areas of responsibility.

For large multicenter studies, it is not necessary to provide all participants' names, but only the number of centers and key participants.

As an applicant you need to certify that the collaborators have consented to participate in the project. We may conduct random sampling. The collaborators listed may be contacted by the Swedish Cancer Society.

Progress

This tab should only be filled in by those who will apply for a continuation grant.

A continuation grant is a grant where your grant period or disposition time has not expired.

If you have received funding in the past, but your application were rejected the last time you applied for a project grant, your grant does not count as a continutation grant.

The experts in the committees must be able to assess the progress of the project during the most recent grant period.

Applicants who have an ongoing project must submit a scientific report in Fenix.
Make a list of the scientific articles (either printed or in manuscript form) funded by the most recently received project grants. Abstracts should not be included in the report.

References must be complete including title and all authors. The list of authors should be consistent with the one used in PubMed. Patents obtained during the grant period must be listed.

Work related to projects not funded by the Swedish Cancer Society should not be included in the report.

The absence of a progress report result in a grant for a maximum of one year.

Popular scientific description

If your application will be granted, this text may be published at our website:www.cancerfonden.se and can be read by people who donate to the Swedish Cancer Society.

Therefore, write as easily understandable and concise as possible. Please avoid any personal data.

The text must be in Swedish and a maximum of 650 characters per question/section.

Your text will not be edited. It will be published as you write it.

A title that is easy to understand.
The background of the project.
What is the project about? Describe, for example, what cancer diseases are being studied, what treatment it is about, whether it is in diagnostics, epidemiology, prevention or care of cancer patients, or whether it is about how cancer arises.
What do you hope to achieve with your research?
A very brief summary for those who quickly want to know what the project is about.

Statistics

To help the Swedish Cancer Society track research statistics, please indicate what proportion of your project relates to each research area and which of the Swedish Cancer Society’s four key goals for Sweden by 2030 aligns with your proposed research.

State whether the research covers the handling of experiments on animals and/or studies involving humans.

Grants

Here you enter all of your ongoing research grants, as well as those you have applied for, from both the Swedish Cancer Society and other research funding bodies. State total amount and not per year.

Applicants holding grants from, or having appointments at, the tobacco industry can not apply or be awarded financing from the Swedish Cancer Society.

The Swedish Cancer Society attaches considerable importance to ensuring that project applications contain accurate budget information.

A complete picture of all the applicants' grants relating to the project applied for, and any other funding is important both for assessing the project's chances of successful implementation and in calculating the need for funding.

Please note that applications with incomplete financial statements may be rejected because the information is insufficient to enable a decision to be made.

Preview (and signing)

In this tab, a preview of your application is shown. You can, for example, see if there is any missing information.

If the application is filled in correctly, you can start the signing process by first sending it to your Head of department. When the Head of the department has signed the application you need to sign it before submitting the application.

Signing your application

At the bottom of the page, you click "Request signing/Be om signering". This sends the application to your Head of department, who receives it and signs it digitally with BankID.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: The latest date and time for submitting your application can be found at the top of this page.

Note that if you make changes to the application after sending it to the Head of department for signing, you must send a new request for signing by your Head of department, as the application has changed. This applies regardless of what changes have been made.

When the Head of department has signed the application digitally with BankID, you as the applicant will receive an email. You can then log in and sign the application digitally with BankID.

Make sure that you allow enough time for your application to be signed by your Head of department and then for you as the applicant to sign and submit the application before the call closes.

Use of personal data

Read more about the Swedish Cancer Society's handling of personal data in the Swedish Cancer Society's privacy policy (in Swedish).

Changes in your grant and reporting

Changed circumstances during the grant period

Changed employment and financing circumstances must be reported immediately to the Swedish Cancer Society for reconsideration of the grant.
If the grantee applies for and receives an advertised position as a senior lecturer or professor within the first three-year period, the grantee can not keep the grant. If the grantee is promoted to professor or senior lecturer before the end of the first three-year period, the grantee can keep the funding already awarded but can not receive an additional three-year period.
If the grantee applies for and receives an advertised position as a senior lecturer or professor within the second three-year period, the grantee can not keep the grant. If the grantee is promoted to senior lecturer or professor before the end of the second three-year period, the grantee can keep the funding that has been awarded.
A researcher who has been awarded funds can retain these funds if the person in question continues their activities but is promoted in the meantime.
Researchers who have been awarded a grant for the Senior Investigator Award and, during the grant period apply for and are appointed to a position as senior lecturer or professor cannot retain funding from the Swedish Cancer Society.
Researchers who have been awarded grants for Postdoctoral Positions cannot use the funds for any other type of work. If the Postdoctoral Position is terminated, the grant will also be terminated.

Exceptions to the above rule are researchers who during the grant period:

are appointed associate senior lecturer or research associate, in which case funding from the Swedish Cancer Society can be retained. (not applicable for Postdoctoral grants)

Transfer to another university/department

When transferring grants to another university or to another department at the current university, the application for change must be made in Fenix with digital signature/approval from both the current and receiving head of department.

Transferring grants to another university or to another department is not permitted for postdoctoral positions.