Eleven KI researchers receive Forte's starting grants for international mobility

Forte, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, awards starting grants every year to give young researchers the opportunity to run independent projects and establish themselves in the research community. The Starting grant is aimed at researchers who have defended their thesis within the last three years and aims to promote high-quality research with societal benefit. The call is open for applications in Forte's areas: health, working life and welfare.

This year's call is the most comprehensive to date, with a total budget of approximately SEK 100 million for the years 2026-2028 and a strengthened focus on international mobility. Each project can receive up to SEK 3.75 million for a three-year period, which gives researchers better conditions to establish their own research and build networks. Of 272 applications, 26 researchers have been granted funding, and 11 of these are active at Karolinska Institutet.

KI researchers to receive starting grants in 2025

Jessica Edstorp, researcher at the Institute of Environmental Medicine
Project: Transport noise and cardiovascular disease – mediation and sensitive groups
Grant: SEK 3.748 million

Johanna Engelbrektsson, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and the Department of Global Public Health
Project: From evidence to practice in primary care: Development and evaluation of a co-created step-by-step care model for adolescent mental health
Grant: SEK 3.742 million

Maxim Kan, researcher at the Department of Global Public Health
Project: Social stratification, migration, and harm reduction: Exploring health inequalities among participants in Swedish needle and syringe programs
Grant: SEK 3.069 million

Lin Li, researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Project: Use of psychotropic drugs during breastfeeding: Important effects on mothers and children – The MILK project
Grant: SEK 3.692 million

Ulrika Lögdberg, researcher at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics
Project: Young people's pathways to and from suicidality: Development of an integrated suicide prevention model based on young people's, relatives' and professionals' perspectives
Grant: SEK 3.746 million

Miriam Martini, researcher at the Institute of Environmental Medicine
Project: From the first period to menopause: a deep dive into reproductive health in women with autism and ADHD
Grant: SEK 3.747 million

Manasa Shanta Näsholm, researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
Project: To snus or not to snus? An investigation into the use of Swedish snus and its association with cognition and dementia
Grant: SEK 3.536 million

Olivia Ojala, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Project: One plus one equals three? Psychological treatment both at the clinic and online for young people with self-harming behaviour and low level of functioning
Grant: SEK 3.656 million

Johanna Sandborg, researcher at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge
Project: NavScreen – a co-created and scalable intervention to help parents navigate and promote healthier screen time habits in early childhood
Grant: SEK 3.748 million

Elinor Eskilsson Strålin, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Project: Group-based emotion regulation skills training for adults with ADHD: GEARS, a quantitative and qualitative investigation of treatment effects
Grant: SEK 2.358 million

Federico Triolo, researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
Project: A nationwide study of depression in old age: implications of chronicity and comorbidity for heath consequences and care use
Grant: SEK 3.625 million