News archive

The Infrastructure Board at Karolinska Institutet has decided to allocate funding to five projects under the call for proposals ‘New technologies and methods at the forefront’. A total of up to 16 MSEK will be allocated in 2027 to strengthen the research infrastructure and provide researchers with access to new technologies, methods and tools.

Four researchers at Karolinska Institutet are to receive a total of just over 21 million kronor in project grants from the Swedish Research Council in the fields of the humanities and social sciences. In total, nearly 473 million kronor is being allocated to 96 research projects.

With 12 months of funded research time, Oscar Lapidus will have the opportunity to broaden his trauma research and take the next step towards becoming a more independent researcher. He is one of nine doctoral students to receive funding in the spring call for applications to the research internship, known as forskar-AT.

Four research groups at KI have been awarded the Knut and Alice Wallenberg AI Consultancy Grant, giving them access to AI expertise to integrate AI into their research projects quickly and effectively. This entirely new form of funding is intended to accelerate the research process and enable new breakthroughs. A total of eleven grants are awarded to research groups at six different universities in Sweden.

Five researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, one of Europe's most important research grants for researchers at the beginning of their careers. The grant is seen internationally as an acknowledgement of scientific excellence, originality and a promising future as a research group leader.

Individuals with subjective cognitive decline feel that their memory or thinking abilities have worsened, although they still perform normally on cognitive tests. While some will later develop dementia, many do not, making it difficult to determine who may benefit from further assessment or closer follow-up. A new grant has now been awarded to KI researcher Ingrid Ekström to help support her research into whether smell tests can help improve early dementia risk assessment.

Master’s students can apply for a SASUF+ stipend of SEK 30,000 to support thesis-related fieldwork or data collection in South Africa. The programme strengthens research collaboration between Sweden and South Africa. Apply by 15 October 2026.

SASUF+ invites researchers at partner universities to apply for seed grants supporting new multilateral collaborations between Sweden, South Africa, and 19 other African countries. Projects run March 2027–July 2028. Apply by 3 November 2026.

Juliette Foucher, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, has been selected as one of only three recipients worldwide of the 2026 ALS Scholars in Therapeutics grant. The international grant, totalling 300,000 dollars, equivalent to SEK three million, recognises promising young researchers who are shaping the future of ALS research.

Professor Gonçalo Castelo-Branco and Professor Janne Lehtiö at KI have been awarded funding under the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and SciLifeLab’s Proof-of-Concept Program. The aim of the program is to strengthen the pathway from academic research to innovation and commercial application in life science.

Helena Karlström, senior lecturer and associate professor at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded a Pioneer Innovator Grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation worth approximately SEK 1.7 million. The project aims to develop a new antibody-based treatment for the inherited cerebrovascular disorder CADASIL, a form of cerebral small vessel disease which is a common cause of, amongst other things, stroke and eventually memory problems, for which there is currently no effective treatment.

Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide, yet current treatments often only ease symptoms rather than addressing the underlying causes. Now, Karolinska Institutet researcher Saida Hadjab has received a second prestigious grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to develop a new type of therapy that could help reverse the biological processes that drive persistent pain.

A prostate cancer research initiative in Sweden has been made possible by a donation from the entrepreneur and inventor Björn Gysell. The investment will enable Karolinska Institutet’s leading research environment in prostate cancer to develop the next generation diagnostics and therapies using AI, genomics and precision medicine.

We congratulate researchers at CNS who have been awarded CIMED project grants for the period 2027-2029.

Emma R. Andersson has been awarded the prestigious ERC Proof of Concept Grant to further develop her technique to create mice with specific genetic signatures. “This innovation can lead to a drastic reduction in the number of animal experiments worldwide, not just in my lab,” she says.

KI’s Internationalisation Board is pleased to announce the availability of a limited number of competitive planning grants to support collaboration with University College London (UCL).

Karolinska Institutet is leading the HELIX project, which has received SEK 10 million from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) to build a long-term, scalable joint platform between Sweden and Brazil in life science and health.

Seven out of eight awarded grants go to researchers at Karolinska Institutet in the Swedish Research Council's spring call for international postdocs in medicine and health. In total, 8 out of 44 applications were approved.

Kristina Gemzell Danielsson will develop contraceptives that protect against breast cancer, while Thomas Helleday aims for new points of attack to counteract chronic inflammation and, by extension, cancer, autoimmunity and ageing. They receive the ERC Advanced Grant for their projects.

Three assistant professors at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded funding as part of the Swedish Research Council’s new initiative on strategic recruitment. The grant aims to strengthen the development of future research leaders and create long-term conditions for research of the highest quality.

We congratulate researchers at MedH who have been awarded CIMED project grants for the period 2027-2029.

A decision on an initial allocation of the 2027 research grant has now been made by the President and the Faculty Board. This is the first time the allocation for the coming year takes place as early as June and within the framework of the new resource allocation model in its entirety. This provides better conditions for planning the 2027 activities within each campus group and department.

Three researchers at KI SÖS have been awarded funding in the first announcement of the KI SÖS Junior Faculty Start-up collaboration grant. The funded projects include development of a psychological self-care program, evaluation of a referral support system, and investigating the utility of intraoperative autotransfusion.

Donations by Björn Savén and his wife Inger Savén to Karolinska Institutet’s research on colorectal cancer will hopefully improve our understanding of the disease and the possibility of early detection. One of the aims of the research is to enhance the disease prognosis by increasing the number of people tested at an early stage.

Okan Gültekin, a postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded an international grant from the Cancer Foundation to develop an AI-based tool for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. The project brings together expertise from Sweden, Finland and the UK.

An estimated 500,000 to 700,000 people in Sweden live with the lung disease COPD. Research is currently being done on developing an inhalation therapy for such patients by examining how antibodies can protect the body from disease-related inflammation and infections. KI researcher Charlotte Thålin has been awarded the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation’s (HLF) major research grant of SEK 20 million for the project.

Seven researchers affiliated with Karolinska Institutet have been awarded funding in the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund’s latest call for research positions, with a total allocation of SEK 57 million. The funded projects include initiatives aimed at improving chemotherapy for children with leukemia, as well as studies seeking to better understand relapse in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

On 1 June, Swetrial will open the 2026 calls for applications for government grants aimed at strengthening Sweden’s capacity to conduct clinical trials. The calls are aimed at organisations involved in clinical activities that wish to develop collaboration and national initiatives in this field.

KI’s resource allocation model for research funding continues to evolve. The President has issued guidelines to support the work on prioritisation, allocation and monitoring within the campus groups. The first announcements regarding the 2027 allocation are expected shortly.

A new research project at the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) will investigate measures used to reduce suicides on the railway and metro systems. The project has a total budget of SEK 5 million, will run from 2026 to 2030, and is funded by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket).

Businessman and life-science investor Mats Arnhög and his family have pledged SEK 50 million to the research being done at Karolinska Institutet into epilepsy, glioblastoma and Parkinson’s disease. The aim of the donation is to strengthen the early and long-term research that future medical breakthroughs require, an area in which Arnhög often sees a serious mismatch between resources and needs.

This call for proposals is aimed at initiatives involving cutting-edge technology or methods that are time-critical. A maximum of SEK 16 million has been allocated for innovative, needs-driven investments to strengthen KI’s research infrastructure. The funds are to be used during 2027.

Karolinska Institutet has received a grant of DKK 10 million (approximately SEK 15 million) from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for research on cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease. The project is led by Johan Ericson, professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and aims to help move laboratory research closer to clinical application.

Researcher and concert pianist Fredrik Ullén is launching a research project exploring how the interplay between heredity and environment influences musical performance. The project is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute and is made possible by a generous donation from the philanthropist Marcus Storch.

A new research project at Karolinska Instutet has been awarded a five-year grant from FORMAS, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, to study how long-term exposure to air pollution and transport noise may influence the risk of developing dementia, using large population-based data from Sweden.

Forte has announced long-term funding for two national research centres aimed at strengthening knowledge on care and support for people living with dementia. One of the centres, Tracedem – KI Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care, has been operating at Karolinska Institutet since January 2026.

Professor Karl-Johan Malmberg is awarded Tobiaspriset 2026 for his research on cell-based immunotherapy for blood cancers. The prize sum of SEK 10 million will be allocated at SEK 2 million per year over a five-year period.

The Swedish Research Council has recommended that the Government fund a new Strategic Research Area (SFO) in climate research, with Karolinska Institutet as one of the participating universities. The initiative, known as the Stockholm Centre for Climate Transition (ClimTrio), aims to develop knowledge on how the transition to a climate-resilient society can be effective, equitable and sustainable in the long term.

Why do some people, though not all, develop several long-term illnesses and functional impairments as they get older? A new research project at Karolinska Institutet aims to find answers by looking at ageing as a connected whole, rather than a set of separate diseases.

Abigail Dove, researcher at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the SSMF Postdoctoral Grant 2026 for a project investigating how cardiometabolic conditions such as obesity, high blood sugar and high blood pressure are linked to brain ageing and dementia.

Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation is allocating additional funds, in total SEK 1.6 billion, to patient oriented, clinical research. The initiative will, among other things, strengthen research at the four Wallenberg Centres for Molecular Medicine. As part of this initiative, SEK 125 million has been allocated to Karolinska Institutet.

Through the South Africa–Sweden University Forum, SASUF+, researchers at SASUF partner universities can now apply for funding to develop new or strengthen existing research collaborations between Sweden and South Africa.

Through South Africa Sweden University Forum, SASUF+, researchers at SASUF partner universities can now apply for funding to organise a local Academic Industry Meeting Day (AIMday). 

Entrepreneur and inventor Leif Lundblad (1938–2025) has bequeathed SEK 538 million to Karolinska Institutet, the largest donation ever to have been made to a Swedish university in modern times. Much of the sum will go towards research on dementia diseases.

Karolinska Institutet is offering collaboration awards to strengthen its long‑term partnerships with the University of Tokyo and RIKEN.

Joint seed funding is available for research collaborations between the University of Tokyo and Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.

KI is part of NeurotechEU, a European University Alliance. The NeurotechEU collaboration funding has opened, offering up to €10,000 to support educators who want to develop meaningful, cross‑institutional learning activities with a focus on challenge-based learning.

The Internationalisation Board at KI has allocated limited competitive funds for KI faculty and staff for grant applications to strengthen collaborative interactions within research and education.

Emma R Andersson, senior researcher and associate professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and Joanna Rorbach, senior researcher at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, have been awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

New funding from Region Stockholm in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet will support advanced research into cluster headache at the university. By combining genetic studies with sleep and circadian rhythm research, the project seeks to improve care for a patient group with a high disease burden and risk of misdiagnosis.