Martin Jakobsson: Strategic research areas and what they mean for SU

SU achieved very good results in the Swedish Research Council’s call for proposals for strategic research areas, commonly referred to using the Swedish acronym SFO. The call followed the guidelines set out in the Government’s research and innovation bill ”Forskning och innovation för framtid, nyfikenhet och nytta” (“Research and Innovation for the Future, Curiosity, and Benefit”) (Govt bill 2024/25:60). After evaluating the applications received, the Swedish Research Council recommended no fewer than four new strategic research areas, led by SU, for government funding starting in 2027.

So what exactly is the difference between a strategic research area and a research grant? For one, SFO funding is allocated to the university as a block grant, with the intention of the initiative being long-term. Secondly, an SFO aims to create an excellent research environment in the long term, while a grant is usually awarded to an individual or group of researchers to address specific research questions. Admittedly, an SFO can also be built around research questions, which is also the case for several of the initiatives we have now been awarded.

SU already leads two SFO environments and is extensively involved in a third, led by KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The environments led by SU are KlimSU, run by the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, and HavSU, which originated from the BEAM (Baltic Ecosystem Adaptive Management) project and is run by the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre. SU also represents one-third of MolbioKTH, which, together with the other Stockholm Trio universities, enables SciLifeLab research initiatives. In addition to these three, SU is also involved in U-CAN, based on an SFO hosted by Uppsala University (CancerUU). These were established following a government call for proposals in 2008 and have since made a name for themselves as very strong research environments. By and large, the 2024 call for proposals was a mirror image of the one arising from the 2008 research bill. The Swedish Research Council will now evaluate all SFOs on behalf of the Government. At the time of writing, the Research Council is in the process of developing a model for exactly how this will be carried out.

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 team take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in every edition of News for staff.