Junior Investigator Award

Guidelines

The signing deadline for applicants in Fenix is Thursday 6th October 2022 at 3pm.

The Swedish Cancer Society, organization 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 digitized grant application system 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 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.

Objectives

The purpose is to provide postdoctoral cancer researchers who do not have a permanent position within a university establishment the opportunity to devote themselves to cancer research full-time for a six-year period.

The position can be combined with a maximum of 20 percent ancillary work, for example clinical employment.

The Swedish Cancer Society pays research grants only to Swedish universities and higher educational institutions.

Formal eligibility requirements

Researchers that hold a position as a senior lecturer or professor are not eligible to apply for the Junior Investigator Award.

Exceptions can be made for applicants that hold a position as associate senior lecturer, research associate, as well as adjunct professors.

Applicants must have been awarded their doctorate after 1 July 2015 (i.e. no more than seven years ago) but before the application deadline. 

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

Junior Investigator Award is awarded for six years. The grant period can begin between 1st July of the same year in which the decision is made and up to and including 1st January of the year following the decision.

Regardless of the choice of start date, the contract starts from July 1st . Payments are made quarterly, and the first payment is made in September and is retroactive from 1st July the same year as the decision is made.

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 Department's deductions for indirect costs (15.25%).

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.

Current fixed amounts in salary standards

Basis for assessment

The application is assessed according to the following assessment criteria:

• Scientific quality
• Applicant's competence
• Cancer relevance - According to the Swedish Cancer Society's statutes, the society must "support, organize and coordinate cancer research".

The assessment board may call some applicants to interview before making their decision. Interviews usually take place at the Swedish Cancer Society's premises during the month of January.

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 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 and planned work. 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. Preliminary results are of vital importance in applications for grants for new projects. 
• 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. 

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.

Attachments

• 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.

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.

Note that you as applicant must do this no later than 6th October 2022 at 3pm. Make sure, therefore, that you allow enough time for your application to be signed by your head of institution and then for you as applicant to sign and submit the application before the application period closes.

Application signing period

The signing deadline for applicants in Fenix is Thursday 6th October 2022 at 3pm.

Decisions

Decisions will be made at a meeting of the Research Committee in March. Written feedback reports will be available in Fenix under the corresponding applications. Unfinished applications will be deleted after the end of the call for applications.

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 Junior Investigator Award and during the grant period apply for and are appointed to a position at a 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 senior lecturer or research associate 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 Departmental contact information is entered into the Fenix application portal.

Change of administrative authority / Department

When transferring grants to another administrative authority or to another Department 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. 

Log in to Fenix

If you already have an account, you can logga in i Fenix. If you do not have an account yet you can skapa ett konto här.

For more information, please look at instructions for Fenix.

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 here.