Sweden-Korea Research Cooperation Programme

The aim of the Sweden-Korea Research Cooperation Programme is to increase the competitiveness of universities and other higher education institutions by developing and establishing international partnerships. The programme supports projects of high scientific quality which are clearly contributing to the activities of participating educational establishments.

Projects may last for up to four years, conditional upon the acceptance of an interim report after two years. Applicants should be working at a university in Sweden and have obtained their PhD. A parallel application is to be submitted by the Korean party to the National Research Foundation of Korea. The proposed project must encompass at least one Swedish and at least one Korean party and be in a position to start no later than the October after the call closes. Applicants may have ongoing projects in the Initiation Grant programme, but otherwise there must not be any ongoing STINT projects.

The ideal partnership project will have activities encompassing research as well as higher education, although STINT is able to support pure research partnerships. It is particularly important for young researchers and doctoral students to participate in the exchanges. In this programme, STINT wants to encourage new collaborative patterns and will not prioritise long-standing partnerships. The partnership must be balanced, i.e. the personnel exchange should not be primarily in one direction.

Applications will be assessed by experts, focusing on how the proposed international partnership fulfils the following three criteria: 1) scientific quality and novelty, 2) contribution to the educational establishment’s activity and 3) planning and support. Typical questions which clarify the criteria are given under the Assessment heading. Please note that only scientific results from the last five years are taken into consideration for the assessment.

Budgetary requirements:

• The annual budget can be a maximum of SEK 200,000. In other words the maximum budget of a four-year project can be SEK 800 000, of which the budget for overheads should follow STINT’s rules.
• The budget may only include costs for internationalisation activities, such as short or longer stays abroad for those involved in the partnership and for organising workshops, conferences or similar to strengthen and further develop the partnership.
• The budget may not include salary costs. However, compensation equivalent to a salary may be granted to doctoral students and postdocs for up to six months’ stay abroad.

It is important that the collaborating parties agree as to the management of any intellectual property rights in connection to the project and its results. Furthermore, the project must be well established with the applicant parties. All applicant parties must have read and approved the final version of the application.

A formal report on the assessment and decision is normally conveyed around five months after the call closes.

If you have questions about the Sweden-Korea Research Cooperation Programme, please contact Mattias Löwhagen at 08-671 19 96 or mattias(#dot#)lowhagen(#at#)stint(#dot#)se.