SOF Call 2024 - Call for research proposals for dental research

Project funding

Applications are welcome for clinically oriented projects in all areas of dentistry and are intended for research carried out within the Stockholm County. SOF supports projects targeting essential needs in oral healthcare, showing promising potential for societal and national healthcare impact. Projects that collaborate with strong research environments projects and involve doctoral students or postdocs are encouraged.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible to apply for SOF project grants the project must include a research collaboration between Department of Dental Medicine (DentMed), KI and a dental care provider within Stockholm County. A collaboration requires researchers from both DentMed, KI and a dental care provider within Stockholm County to actively contribute to the planning, execution as well as the analysis of the results. The main applicant must be associated to DentMed since SOF project funds are administered by the department. If there is no genuine collaboration according to the above-stated conditions, the application is not eligible and will not be assessed.

The main applicant must have at least a doctoral degree and be principal investigator (PI). Co-applicant(s) are the person or persons (maximum 2 persons) who, together with the PI, are responsible for the planning and implementation of the project. All coapplicants must contribute scientifically and give their approval to be included in the application. The project group and the roles of the various co-applicants must be clearly described.

Funding period

Funding can be applied for, for a period of up to three years (2025-2027). The allocation period for approved funding is each calendar year for which funding has been approved.

Approved funding will be available as of January 1st for the indicated year and must be used within the year.

The grant covers project-related costs, such as salaries, travel (including stays at research facilities), publishing costs, small equipment.

2.5 million SEK is available per year and the maximum possible amount to apply for and to receive is 500 000 SEK per year.

For more information, please contact Professor Bodil Lund, Karolinska Institutet. bodil.lund@ki.se

Application rules

The application should be written in English since the review panel is international.

The application should be done in the online application system Researchweb.

The application period starts April 8th, 2024 and the complete application must have been submitted no later than June 2nd, 2024 at 24:00. Applications received later than this will not be considered. The decision to allocate funding will be made during September 2024.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Complementary information submitted after the final submission date will not be considered.

You may only register one application for project funding as PI. Additionally, you may only have one ongoing SOF-funded project. You may be a co-applicant for several applications for project funding.

It is important to fulfil the eligibility requirements for the applied funding. You must also follow the instructions. Failure to do so may be taken into consideration when assessing your application.

The application is a public document if it is not covered by confidentiality according to the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (SFS 2009:400).

Applications to the Ethics Committee must be approved before granted funding can be disbursed.

Instructions

Register the application

• Register your application at Researchweb.

If you don’t already have an account, you need to start by registering one:

• Click at ”Logga in” at top right corner. Select "New user" and follow further instructions.
• Complete your CV

Tips: Change language to “English” (on top panel). Otherwise, some fields are shown with Swedish headings.

• Complete instructions for the call are shown and can be downloaded on the start page under “News”. Click on “Ansök här” to create a new application, then choose the application SOF project grant 2025-2027 and then Junior or Senior. Select 'junior' if it has been less than 10 years since you defended your doctoral thesis, (counted from the day of the doctoral defence to the application deadline). Time for parental leave, sick-listing or specialist training may be deducted and should be stated and explained when applicable in the application under main applicant’s CV.
• A page with information about the call is shown. Here you can download the complete instructions as well. Proceed.
• Fill out the form to create your application. You are the main applicant (project leader).

Basic information

• Date for PhD defence/dissertation date: Enter the date, month and year for your PhD defence or planned date. Time deducted from research (number of months).
• ONLY FOR JR APPLICANTS: Time deducted from research for parental, sick leave or specialist training (number of months). Explain time deducted from research under CV part for main applicant.
• Project title: Must provide adequate information as to the nature of the project even for a non-specialist.
• Applicant’s affiliation and address: Enter details of the division/unit/clinic or equivalent where the project will be conducted. Include postal address
• Requested for project grant: The sum is filled in automatically when you have completed the budget. Leave for now. Maximum possible amount to apply for is 500 000 SEK per year.
• Ethical vetting: Indicate if ethical vetting is approved or planned. Provide registration number if approved.
• Approval by head of unit/clinic: Verify/indicate that the relevant heads of department/clinical directors (or equivalent) have approved the application. Fill in the name of the head.

A. Research program (max 26 500 characters in total)

• Project summary (max 2500 characters): The scientific summary of the research program should give a brief outline of the purpose of the research and its implementation. Please write the summary so that people from other research fields can also understand it.
• Purpose and aim: Present the overall aim for the project and the hypotheses to be tested.
• Background: Describe your own and your co-applicants’ research and previous findings in the field.
• Project description: Present the design of the project, choice of method, the data to be used, how this data is to be collected and the principles and methods that will be used to process and analyse it. Specify a general timetable for the project.
• Significance: Describe the significance of the anticipated results for the patients and the society as well as the clinical relevance. How will knowledge generated within the project be implemented in the health service? How applicable are the findings and how will your scientific findings be transferred into clinical practice? Does the design of the project allow conclusions to be drawn that are applicable to a broader patient population than the one studied as part of the project? Can the findings be applied to clinically demarcated areas/diseases?
• Preliminary results: Present your own trials, any preliminary work and preliminary findings in the field. Your application should clearly indicate whether the project is based on previously completed projects and provide a description of how they are connected.
• References. Give key references relevant to the research project/application.

B. Collaboration with other caregivers and patients (max 2000 characters)

• Presentation of the research group members and their roles: Describe the research group and the planned collaboration between the Department of Dental Medicine and other caregivers within Stockholm County. Describe the role/function of each person in the project (name, occupation, workplace and position/job). In what way is the participants’ scientific competence explored? Only collaborative projects involving active researchers from both Department of Dental Medicine, KI and caregivers within Stockholm County are eligible for SOF grants.
• Patient representation/patient perspective: SOF promotes patients’ perspective in research. Describe how user involvement/patient representation/patient research partners can be included in the project.

C. Budget and other resources

• Budget: Complete the budget for the project. Salary costs should include employee benefits (LKP). Specify other costs. Separate between costs at KI and the other institution (main applicant and co-applicant). There are three rows for salaries and other costs. If not enough, it is possible to specify more than one cost per box and then calculate the total sum. Sum the total costs/year and calculate INDI. The total sum for each year is calculated automatically and transferred to the field “Requested for project grant”.
• Resources: Click on “Redigera bidragsgivare” to choose other sources of funding (from you CV) during the last five years. Specify and motivate the budget.
• Motivate budget: Shortly motivate the posts in the budget.

D. Research environment/infrastructure

• Provide a brief description of the research environment/infrastructure where the project is to be carried out.

CV for main applicant/project leader

Short CV with the following information:

• Educations and academic titles
  University degree, University, year
  Specialist competence, year, field
  PhD degree, year, university, title of dissertation, supervisor
  Postdoc- and research appointments, year and posting
  Associate professor (docent), year, university, subject
• Current employment, duration of commission, percentage of research in position, any combined posts
• Supervisor assignments, ongoing and concluded
• Time deducted from research
• Other information relevant the application
• Publications. Total number of peer-reviewed original articles, original articles (published/accepted for publication) 2018-2023, and review articles/book chapters 2018-2023. This information will be retrieved from your CV. If you have your CV in Swedish, it can be edited into English here. Note that this will also change your CV in the system.

Co-applicants’, their CVs and scientific qualifications

• Click on “Edit coworker” and then on “Add coworker”
• Search for coworkers by their email address. Or add coworkers already in your list. When added they will receive an invitation to accept participation.
• The co-applicants must have a personal account within the system to be able to be listed as co-applicant. If they have not, ask them to open one.
• When the coworker has accepted the invitation, he/she should provide brief information on his/her qualifications in the CV (same details as for the PI). This can also be done by you as main applicant.
• List the five most important and relevant original research papers/articles 2018-2023 (peer-reviewed).

The review process

Disqualification rules, in accordance with Karolinska Institutet’s Guidelines for Conflicts of interest will be applied when applications are being processed and prioritised to guarantee objective and impartial assessment.

The application is evaluated by external reviewers. The group is led by a chairman who compiles the results and rank the applicants. The SOF steering group makes the decision about funding. The review group can call in further reviewers if they believe that they have insufficient competence to review an application.

The applications are reviewed and assessed according to the following criteria:

• Clinical relevance of the project
• Methodology and scientific quality – emphasis on innovation and originality
• Competence and feasibility
• Patient involvement and benefit to patients (decisive)

The reviewers are requested to evaluate the whole project group’s competence and not only the main applicant’s merit when evaluating the application.

The average score for each assessment criterion is calculated. The applications are ranked according to the total score, which is the sum of the averages for all assessment criteria. Two additional points are then added for junior applicants (up to 10 years after the dissertation).

More information about the review criteria, the review process and the name of the reviewers is found in the document SOF Reviewer Guidance 2024.

Time plan 2024

Application period starts April 8
Last day to apply June 2, 24:00
Eligibility control June 3-7
External review June 15 to August 15
Decision by SOF steering group September

Technical assistance

Technical assistance is given until 15:00 May 31.

support@researchweb.org