Rules and instructions - project funding

Applications for research funding from the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science (Centrum för idrottsforskning, CIF) are made once a year. The application system for the next financial year (2023) opens in June and closes on Thursday 15 September 2022 at 5 PM (CEST).

Please note that we accept only on-line applications. The application should be electronically signed using bankID and sent in before the application system closes. If you do not have the opportunity to obtain bankID, please contact us.

The chief applicant must have a Swedish doctoral degree or equivalent foreign degree or other equivalent competence. The chief applicant must be employed by a Swedish academic institution and the research must be conducted within the framework of the chief applicant's employment at a Swedish university. Each application must have a chief applicant who is also a project leader, scientifically responsible for the project and must be active in the project.

The chief applicant must be employed by a Swedish academic institution when the grant period begins. The exception is clinical researchers where the department and another employer agree on affiliation. The chief applicant do not have to be employed at the time of application.

The chief applicant can be a senior professor or equivalent retired researcher with employment (at least 20% on an academic institution). However, the retired researcher must be employed at the time of application.

Three co-applicants can be added to the application and it should be clear how the work is distributed among you. Read more in the section on Research collaboration.

Researchers, who have received grants from CIF from 2008 onwards, must send in their final accounts by the stipulated date. If you do not report your completed project, you are not eligible to apply for new funding 2023.

To conclude the project, the project leader needs to send in a scientific report and final financial accounts. This must be done in the on-line application system by Thursday 15 September 2022 at the latest. Read more about this in Reports on completed projects.

Projects that has to send in a final report in September 2022 are projects and positions that have had the right for disposal until 2022-06-30. You submit the final report in the on-line application system.

The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science has four different types of applications. In the on-line application system and they all have specific prefixes.

Please take care to select the correct type of application when you enter the system:

• Project funding. This is indicated by the prefix P2023-. Described in this document.
• Funding for post-doctoral researchers plus funding for operating costs year 1 (D2023-)
• Funding for associations, collaboration and networking (O2023-)
• Extended application (applies only to previously granted salaried positions by CIF) (FO2023-)

A chief applicant may apply for:

• One application for project funding
• One application for funding for post-doctoral researchers including funding for operating costs
• One application for funding for associations, collaboration and networking

A chief applicant can receive a maximum of funding of SEK 500,000 per year for a project.

If you are also applying for a post-doctoral position, you can be granted:

• SEK 550,000 for a post-doctoral position plus a basic grant of SEK 100,000 for operating costs or
• SEK 550,000 for a post-doctoral position and a project funding of a maximum amount of SEK 500,000

Funding cover one year and the project plan must be written for the period 2023-01-01—2023-12-31.

Funding for projects (P2023-) must be administered by a Swedish academic institution and the grant period is from 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-31.

The application is written in English with the exception of the title of the project where both an English and a Swedish title must be added. In addition, a popularised summary is written in Swedish. The purpose of the Swedish title and summary is that if you receive the grant we will automatically link your popularised summary to our website.

Rules and instructions are available in both Swedish and English.

Keep in mind that our reviewers will assess many applications. It is therefore important that your application is readable. Also make your application as interesting to the reader as possible. Emphasize what is unique about your research project. Some guidelines for writing text with good readability:

• Write clear headings.
• Avoid headings and texts in capital letters only.
• Replace paragraph after 3-5 sentences.
• Use bulleted lists.
• It is better to write an airy and easy-to-read application than to get as many words as possible into the text fields.

The assessment is made by CIF’s Scientific Review Panel.

The assessment is carried out in two stages: first, the relevance to sport is assessed. If the application has no relevance to sport, it cannot progress further. For projects that are relevant to sport four criteria are assessed: (a) innovation and originality (b) the scientific quality of the project (c) the expertise of the applicants with regard to the project (d) feasibility. For the assessment of a-c, a seven-point scale (1-7) is used, with seven (7) being the highest grade. For the assessment of (d), a three-grade scale (1-3) is used where 3 is the highest grade.

Title, Swedish and English (maximum 100 characters and spaces)

Project titles must be added in both Swedish and in English. The Swedish title will be used on our website if your project receive a grant. Note that the title has a character limit, if you try to write a longer title than the space allows, the title will be cut off.

Choose academic subject and key words

Academic subject

Choose from the list of academic subjects. The choice of academic subject decide in which scientific review group the application will be reviewed. These subjects will also be searchable tags on our website if your projects receive grants.

CIF is responsible for the final decision of the placement of an application into a scientific review group. See which reviewers are included in the various scientific review panel groups. If needed, CIF will bring in other experts with the necessary expertise to evaluate the research application.

Keywords

Enter a maximum of five Swedish keywords. Choose keywords from the list. The keywords will be searchable tags for your project on our website if your project receive grants.

The Head of Department, or equivalent

Add name, title and email address of the Principal, Head of Department or equivalent responsible for the university and/or institution. The university/institution must have approved the application in question and will ensure that employment, premises and equipment are available if the application receives a grant.

By signing with bankID, the chief applicant certifies that the university and/or institution has approved the application.

If you yourself are the Head of Department, you must specify another responsible person from the university or institution.

Popularised summary in Swedish (800 characters and spaces)

Describe briefly in Swedish the aim of your project and in what way your project is relevant to sports and to the society. The summary is transferred to our website if your receive grants.

A brief description of the main applicant's qualifications. State only what is relevant to the application. Your own publications are added under the tab Publications.

Specify:

• PhD (year, discipline/subject area, title of thesis)
• Post-doctoral appointments (year and placement)
• Associate professorship (year)
• Professorship (year)
• Current position, period of contract, proportion of research time.
• Reasons for periods of absence from active research. These include: parental leave, illness, civic/elected duties, military service, general and specialist medical training. Give the date and number of months.
• Number of doctoral students who have completed a doctoral degree under your supervision
• Number of doctoral students who are currently under your supervision
• Opponent and member of examining committee for dissertations in the last 5 years (enter number)
• Scores if applicable: H-index excluding own citations
• Research funding for the past 5 years. Enter approximate amount:
  
  - as main applicant (SEK)
  
  - as a co-applicant (SEK)
• Invited keynote speaker to scientific conferences in the last 5 years (number)

Co-applicants

State if you plan to have any co-applicant researchers or not in the application. Only co-applicants that will be involved in this particular project are added.

Provide names, titles, email addresses, academic institutions of a maximum of three co-applicants.

Curriculum vitae and publications for the co-applicants (9,500 characters and spaces)

A brief description of the co-applicant's qualifications and publications. Note that the space will be sufficient for all co-applicants.

Collaboration plan (2,500 characters and spaces)

Write a short description of who does what in the project and what each one should contribute. The collaboration plan is an important part of the assessment of feasibility.

All applications must demonstrate a clear relevance to sport. Explain the relevance and importance of this project to sport. We welcome projects, which are the result of discussions with sports associations.

The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science (CIF) definition of relevance to sport

Sport can be broadly defined as, “all physical activity in which individuals consciously engage for reasons including the maintenance and improvement of health and performance, competition or recreation.”

The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science supports research into sport. In the current financial situation, when resources are very limited, the Board has drawn up definitions of “relevance to sport”, which define the types of research, which CIF supports. By doing so, research aimed at treating disease through sports cannot currently be financed.

Relevance to sport in basic and applied biological sciences

The starting point of the research must be physical activity of importance to health or physical performance or both. The research will deal with biological functions, as well as mechanisms and methods that promote health and sporting performance.

Relevance to sport in humanities, social and behavioural sciences

In humanities and social sciences studies of activities regarded as sports by society as well as participants are relevant. Studies of movement cultures that are usually not referred to as sports, but is nevertheless included in the definition of sport given above are also relevant.

In addition, relevant studies should aim at problematizing and developing sport activities in relation to for example performance, accessibility and diversity.

Relevance to sport in sports medicine 

Research aims at prevention and treatment of sports-related injuries, and includes projects focussing on mechanisms of injuries and methods related to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of importance for sports performance.

Give a short account of the purpose of the project.

If the project is part of a larger research project, very briefly describe the purpose of the overall project. Then deepen the description of this application to CIF and state clearly the purpose and objectives of the sub-project. Specify what CIF's funding will contribute to the entire project.

Give an account of previous, relevant research as well as general concepts which led to the creation of the main questions to be addressed in the project. References from the literature are given in the usual way. References are listed under the tab Reference list.

Applicants must, with respect to the project’s main questions, outline:

• What current research tells us about women and men in this context
• Whether research into women and/or men is lacking in this context
• Reasons, if any, for studying only women or only men in this context

Give a full description of the methodology and set of theories which are to be used. List the available equipment and what needs to be procured (to be specified under the Finance tab). The plan of work shall include a description of how the work is to be organized, any sub-projects or power calculations, and a schedule.

Ethical reviews (1,000 characters and spaces)

You should describe what ethical issues that are relevant to the project. If an ethical review must be done it has to be carried out, and approval given, before any research starts. This approval does not need to be sent to the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science as it is assumed that approval has been granted before the research starts. If you already have an ethical review from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority, please note the reference number and decision date in this field.

Open access

The Government's goal is for all research that is financed via public funds to be published with open access. CIF, therefore, recommends that the publications that emanate from CIF-funded projects and the project's research data should be published with open access.

Data management plan

Good data management is a prerequisite for open access to research data. With the help of a data management plan (DMP), you must describe how the data collected and/or created in the research project will be handled and how it will be taken care of afterwards. If your university has this as a requirement, CIF recommends grant recipients develop data management plans by the Swedish Research Council's and SUHF's recommendations. CIF presupposes that the chief applicant makes a DMP before the project begins. The DMP does not need to be submitted to CIF.

Describe any preliminary results arrived at in the course of, or associated with, the project.

It is not possible to enter figures, tables or diagrams in fields intended for text. Below the text field for preliminary results there is a link where you can upload a PDF containing figures, tables or diagrams along with short, written descriptions.

Report progress in ongoing projects supported by CIF (1,500 characters and spaces)

If you have received funding for a project supported by CIF in 2021 and/or 2022, describe the progress and if there are any major deviations from the submitted project plan.

Enter a maximum of 15 references (3,500 characters and spaces). The list of references is given in the usual way (author, title and source) in English.

Project funding may be requested to cover costs for personnel (including National Insurance – Swedish LKP), operations and equipment. It is important to state whether there are other possible sources of project funding.

Cost specification

Under this tab costs for personnel, equipment and operating costs are specified and justified. Only costs that apply to the applications for grants from the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science are included.

Salaried positions/salary costs

Personnel costs may include the salary of the project leader and salaries for other people in the project. Salaries should be specified for each individual. Payment for people acting as trial subjects is specified separately.

Travel

Travel costs include costs for travel in connection with the project as well as costs for international meetings between researchers (ie travel and living costs).

Publishing costs

Costs of publishing and translation.

Trial subjects costs

Costs for reimbursement to trial subjects.

Administration costs

If a claim is made for shared university overhead costs, these costs must be given here.

Other sources of finance

Specify the names of other funding agencies you have applied to for funds, or plan to apply to. Give the name of the research funder and the amount you have applied for or received. You do not need to give any further details.

A list of your publications during the previous five years. Include only articles which have been accepted for publication. Among these, indicate with an asterisk (*) the five publications which are most relevant to your current project.

The list of publications must be clear and structured. Write headings in capital letters for each group of publications and mark the references with numbers within each group.

List the publications in the following order:     

• Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters (enter the number of articles in the last 5 years)

• Peer-reviewed contributions to conferences, where results have not been published elsewhere (enter the number of articles in the last 5 years)