Guidelines 

The deadline to sign the application in Fenix is Thursday 7th of October 2021 at 3pm.

The Swedish Cancer Society grant application system is called Fenix.

Fenix uses BankID and Swedish social security numbers for both identification and signing. The application is signed digitally by both the Head of Department and the applicant directly in Fenix. Applicants sign the application last, i.e. after the Head of Department has signed.

Note that if you make changes to the application after sending it to the Head of Institution 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.

The deadline to sign in Fenix is Thursday 7th of October 2021 at 3pm.

Objectives

To promote radiation therapy research in Sweden to enable researchers to devote themselves full time or part time to research in the field of radiation therapy for a period of three years, with the opportunity to include studies at an institution abroad.

The applicant's research project must be focused on radiation therapy or in some other way be relevant to research in radiation therapy. In their assessment, the Research Board will give special consideration to applications where the applicant was awarded their doctorate after 1 July 2006 and where part of the Fellowship period will be spent at an institution abroad.

Fellowships can be applied for both by full-time researchers and by clinically active researchers intending to spend 50–70% of their time in research. The rest of the time is then assumed to be used for clinical work.

In addition to applications by researchers active in the field, also those who have specialized methodology or skills in another field that will enable them to carry out projects that are important for radiation therapy are welcome to apply.

For legal reasons, the Swedish Cancer Society pays research grants only to Swedish universities and colleges.

Formal eligibility requirements

Researchers that hold a position as a senior lecturer or professor are not eligible to apply for the Fellowship in Radiation Therapy Research.

Exceptions can be made for applicants hold a position as associate senior lecturer, research associate or adjunct professor.

Applicants must have been awarded their doctorate after 1st of July 2006.

Exceptions to the eligibility rule regarding the date of the award of a doctorate:

The following exceptions must have taken place after the award of the doctoral degree. Complete your request in the application system.

Exceptions can be granted after absence due to:

1. Sick leave; exceptions may be granted if the applicant has been on at least 50% sick leave for at least 30 consecutive calendar days. A certificate from the employer's HR / payroll department or the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) must be attached.
2. Parental leave;
   a. Applicants who have had children and been on parental leave may be granted an exception with the standard 275 calendar days per child. Certificates may be requested.
   b. Alternatives to the standard deduction above can be granted to applicants who have had 100% continuous parental leave exceeding 275 calendar days. This must be attested by a certificate from the employer's HR / payroll department or the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, covering the entire parental leave in question from day one.
3. Internship or equivalent compulsory work experience required to obtain professional certification; a certificate stating the date, scope and type of internship must be attached to the application.

Certificates from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency must not contain personal data for children.

Grant period

Fellowships are awarded for a maximum of three years, and the grant period usually begins on 1 July of the same year as the award.

For exceptional reasons the start of the grant period may be postponed for a maximum of 6 months, but no later than 1st January of the year following the award.

The size of the grant

This is calculated in accordance with the current salary standard from the Swedish Cancer Society's research committee. The salary standard is adjusted annually.

The grant is calculated on the current salary standard, holiday pay (1.3%) and salary fees (51.7%) plus the managing institution's deductions for indirect costs (15.25%).

Grants for Fellowships for those who are clinically active are calculated on the basis of the specified research time (50–70%).

The grant holder's actual salary is determined by the employer.

It is a requirement of The Swedish Cancer Society that the entire grant be used to finance the position. The grant from the Swedish Cancer Society may not be used as project funds or for another person's salary

Fellowship grants for full-time radiotherapy researchers can be combined with a maximum of 20% secondary employment, for example clinical service.

The Swedish Cancer Society will reimburse travel expenses for the grant holder and any accompanying family members for one round trip per grant period in the event that part of the Fellowship is spent at an institution abroad. The Swedish Cancer Society's travel regulations must be followed.

Basis for assessment

The application is assessed according to the following assessment criteria:

• Scientific quality
• Applicant's competence
• Relevance for radiation therapy research
• The Research Board will also give special consideration to applications where the applicant intends to spend part of the Fellowship at an institution abroad. 

The Swedish institution

In addition to the customary assessment of the department, the department's focus regarding research into radiation therapy is also taken into account.

Where relevant: 

The Foreign Institution

The assessment will take into account the foreign institution's current and potential significance for international radiation therapy research. The application must be accompanied by a certificate or invitation from the foreign institution.

Certificates must be attached to the application as PDF files. They must be signed by the head of department in question and attached to the confirmation.

The assessment board may call some applicants to interview.

Research program

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

The following outline is recommended:

1. Specific objectives
   A brief account of the aim of the proposed research work.
2. Background
   Summary of your own and others' results in the research area.
3. Work plan and preliminary results
   Detailed description of hypotheses and 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.
4. Significance
   Brief account of the expected importance for cancer research.
5. Literature references
   Author, title of work, publication name and year of publication. Include only the absolutely essential references.
6. 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.
   
   

Practical guidelines

Grant holders from other financing organisations than Cancerfonden 

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

Application

Applications are made in the Swedish Cancer Society's grant application system Fenix. Applications can be saved and altered until you have pressed the button "Request signing/Be om signering". Applications cannot be signed and submitted unless all the tabs in the application form are marked in green.

Applications cannot be altered or supplemented after the end of the application period.

When applying in more than one category in the same application round, the priorities for these applications must be submitted by emailing forskning@cancerfonden.se.

An invitation from a foreign host institution is mandatory if a stay at a foreign host institution is included and attached to the application.

Attachments as PDF

• Invitation from the host institution.

• Complete list of publications.

  1. Give the total number of publications under each category (type of publication) below.

  a) Total number of peer reviewed original publications.

  b) Total number of peer reviewed published reviews.

  c) Total number of other publications including patents.

  2. Sort your publications under each category in reversed chronological order with the most recent publication on top of the list. Include only articles published or accepted for publication at the time of submitting your grant application. The order of author names should be identical to the order of the published article. The publications should be of the type; peer reviewed original publications, conference abstracts, reviews, books and book chapters, other publications including popular science articles or books.

• Max. 3 x manuscripts, not yet published, with original data. 

• Research program, max 10 pages.

• If applicable, basis for requesting an exception to the eligibility rules. 

Signing the application

When you have completed your application, you must send it to your Head of Department by going into the "Preview/Förhandsgranska" tab. At the bottom of the page you click on "Request signing/Be om signering". This sends the application to your Head of Department, who receives it and signs it digitally with BankID.

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. This should be done no later than 7th of October 2021 at 3pm.

Application signing period

The deadline for signing the application is Thursday 7th of October at 3pm.

Decisions

Decisions will be made at a meeting of the Research Committee in March 2022.

Miscellaneous

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.
• 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 Fellowship in Radiation Therapy Research and during the grant period apply for and are appointed to a position at the higher education institution (senior lecturer, professor) cannot retain funding from the Swedish Cancer Society.

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

• Are appointed associate university lecturer or research assistant, in which case funding from the Swedish Cancer Society can be retained.

Change of address

The applicant/grantee is responsible for ensuring that up-to-date personal and institutional contact information is entered into the Fenix application portal.

Change of administrative authority / institution

When transferring grants to another administrative authority or to another institution within the current university or college, the application for transfer must be made in Fenix with digital signing / approval from both the current and receiving Heads of Department.

Reports (financial and scientific)

Not later than three months (see contract) after the end of the period of performance, a report must be submitted via Fenix. Unused funds must be repaid. 

Feedback regarding decisions

Written feedback reports for short-listed candidates will be available in the corresponding applications.

Queries?

Contact the Research department at telephone number 010 - 199 10 10, or by email forskning@cancerfonden.se.

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).

The guidelines in pdf-format

Download the guidelines in a pdf-format here.