Initiation Grants

The purpose of STINT’s activity is to strengthen the competitiveness of Swedish universities and colleges through the development of international relationships. The internationalisation of higher education and research is mainly based on concerted, long-term efforts. Sometimes however, it is important to be able to act quickly when the opportunity arises. STINT offers an Initiation grant for this purpose. Initiation grants are given for the implementation of short-term projects targeting the building of new and strategically interesting international relationships. The information given at this page may be downloaded HERE.

Call dates

Applications may be submitted continuously throughout the year. Assessment of received applications starts on the following dates in 2013: January 29, April 9, June 11, September 10 and November 26. Considered applications shall be submitted the above dates at 5 pm at the latest. Complete applications should be made via STINT’s electronic application system. Applications may be written in Swedish or English. The electronic forms are in Swedish.

Formal conditions

Applications shall meet the following requirements in order to be assessed:

1. Candidates shall be active at a university or college in Sweden and have defended their doctorates. 

2. The main emphasis of the partnership shall be outside the EU/EEA area (the principal collaborating party shall be outside this area). 

3. The proposed activities within the project shall be completed within twelve months from present closing date.  

4. The applied amount shall not exceed 150 000 SEK.

5. The budget shall report costs for travel (number of journeys, distance and estimated cost, accommodation (type, duration and estimated cost) and subsistence (duration and cost). No funds may be budgeted for overhead, salaries, infrastructure or companions.

6. The application should explain how the planned partnership will contribute to the activity at the educational establishments concerned (benefit to the main parties in each country must be described).

7. The application should detail how the proposed activities may lead to ongoing, broadened international collaboration.

8. The application should include a report by a head of department (or equivalent) at the home institution plus that of the principal collaborating institution, describing the value of the proposed partnership.

Please note that, although the applicant must have defended their doctorate, the project may equally well include one or more doctoral students and undergraduates.

Assessment criteria

The following three main criteria guide the selection of projects:

• Anticipated contribution to the educational establishments’ activity on various levels (e.g. individual, research group and faculty) in the short and longer terms.
• Anticipated contribution to new international partnerships which are permanent and strategic in nature.
• Credibility and affiliation with other activities at home and with the foreign partner.

Typical questions links to the principal criteria:

• Why is this partnership necessary?
• What are the vision and goals for the partnership?
• Why should the particular people named in the application be involved?
• How do the competences and resources of the respective educational establishments relate to each other?
• Is there a balance between the parties’ potential benefit from the project? (Projects aimed at unilaterally ‘bringing in’ foreign knowledge generally have less chance of leading to enduring relationships, whilst aid-type projects are not in keeping with STINT’s aims).

Other aspects beyond the principal criteria also influence the selection, such as:

• Scope of the planned partnership – does it include both education and research?
• Cohesion and quality of the project plan.
• Quality and anticipated benefit of the budget in relation to the size of the investment.
• Any previous experience of the applicant’s STINT projects (references should be given for any such projects).

Initiation grants are intended for starting international partnerships. The emphasis in the assessment is on internationalisation activities. A high degree of scientific quality is taken as read and thus is not the main assessment criterion. Consistent with this, the activity in the application must also relate primarily to internationalisation activities. In other words applications containing a major proportion of ‘ordinary’ research activity, such as comprehensive field studies, have little chance of approval.

Project implementation and final report

A decision on the results of the assessment will be given within about two months of the respective closing date. Funds are normally disbursed in the form of a grant but there may also be scholarships. Given the programme’s aim to facilitate relatively limited start-up activities over short periods, requests for extensions will be handled stringently.

A final report is to be submitted to STINT upon completion of the project.