Martin Jakobsson: Valuable survey of strategic focus areas

A new initiative related to strategic focus areas was launched by the Government in the latest research bill (2024/25:60). We have already discussed the bill, as well as some possible implications for Stockholm University, in Words from the Management. This time, I thought I would reflect a little more on strategic focus areas (SFO in Swedish), since how we should handle our own path forward when it is time to prepare applications is currently a hot topic. The Swedish Research Council has been tasked with managing this initiative, which means that they will create the call and be responsible for the subsequent preparation, including the evaluation. The Swedish Research Council has communicated a preliminary timetable, in which information about the call will come before the Midsummer holiday and the call itself is planned to take place in the autumn.

What is an SFO? In essence, the initiative mirrors the one launched with the centre-right Government’s research bill 2008/09:50, in which the initiative was described as a “new approach to research funding”, with the aim of allocating SEK 1.8 billion to SFAs by 2012. The areas identified at that time were medicine, technology and climate. It is interesting to go back and read the criteria that had been set up to guide priority setting. According to the bill (page 24, 2008/09:50), an SFO should include:

• Research that can contribute to finding solutions to pressing global problems and research questions,
• Areas in which Sweden already has world-class research, and
• Areas in which there are Swedish companies conducting their own research and development, and in which the Government’s efforts will strengthen the development and competitiveness of the business sector and Sweden.

In the current bill, the initiative aims to provide SEK 400 million in funding to new SFOs by 2028. The motives are the same as in 2008, but more areas are covered this time (see the list below).

At SU, we recently conducted an initial mapping of our strengths in the newly identified areas by asking our departments and centres to suggest possible SFOs. This survey proved to be a valuable first step, in which several very strong research areas have been identified. The suggestions received range from project-like proposals to more comprehensive descriptions of strengths and possible directions for new initiatives. Although the latter is more in line with what is traditionally understood to be an SFO, the former contributions have also been very valuable.

At SU, we did well in the previous call! I thought I would briefly describe how an SFO can emerge, using the Bolin Centre for Climate Research as an example, simply because I was involved in its establishment. An embryo of the interdepartmental collaboration that later became the Bolin Centre can be traced to the Climate Research School established in 2005 with funding from the Faculty of Science. This was followed by an application to the Swedish Research Council's “Linnaeus grant” for strong research environments in 2006. The application was granted and resulted in SUCLIM (Stockholm University Climate Centre). SUCLIM brought together the climate research that had emerged to date, mainly at the Department of Geological Sciences, the Department of Environmental Science, the Department of Physical Geography and the Department of Meteorology.

The grant enabled an initial build-up of climate-related numerical modelling at some departments that had previously lacked such activities. When the time came for the SFO application in 2009, the main goal was to further strengthen climate modelling, mainly by appointing senior lecturers at the participating departments. Climate modelling research and development was specifically called for in the 2008 bill. We therefore emphasised strategic recruitment of senior lecturers in climate modelling to strengthen the research environment and create new synergies. This proved to be a very successful approach, and the activities have grown considerably as a result of the recruitments made at that time.

The Bolin Centre is now Sweden’s largest natural science climate research environment, which also includes the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI)/Rossby Centre. You can read more about how the centre came into being on the Bolin Centre’s website. Key individuals behind the work are also highlighted there.

Our path forward now is that, for each SFO, the President will appoint contact persons who will be given the authority to prepare an application. This includes involving colleagues in discussions and writing work, as well as engaging in dialogue with potential partners at other higher education institutions in the country. It is not certain that we will lead an application in all of the identified SFOs. In some cases, we may have the role of collaborative partner. Although we have not yet seen how the call will be formulated, I suspect that it will revert to the original criteria of the 2008 bill. We will therefore need to build on the strong research environments we already have, and identify how we can further develop them to become even stronger.

SFOs specified in Government research bill 2024/25:60

Area, SEK million 2027–2028

Health, life sciences, and artificial intelligence 31–61.5 SEK million
Quantum technologies 50–100 SEK million
Polar research 22–44.5 SEK million
Climate-related research 22–44.5 SEK million
Crisis preparedness and total defence 24–47 SEK million
Practice-oriented professional research on crime 12.5–25 SEK million
Excellence in schools 25–50 SEK million
Research on advanced materials 13.5–27.5 SEK million

This text is written by Martin Jakobsson, Deputy Vice President. It appears in the section ”Words from the University’s senior management team”, where the management take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in News for staff.