Success for KI in obtaining national infrastructure funding
Karolinska Institutet’s applications to the Swedish Research Council for national funding for research infrastructure have proved successful. Two out of three applications in which KI was the main applicant were granted funding, as well as seven of eight applications in which KI was a co-applicant.
At the end of September, the Swedish Research Council presented the results of applications for long-term investment in research infrastructure. In total, the Council decided on financing amounting to approximately SEK 4 billion over a period of up to eight years. National investments are made in high-quality facilities, equipment and databases that are of crucial importance to the development of research and innovation.
Stefan Eriksson, KI’s vice-dean of infrastructure, is satisfied with the outcome:
“It is great to see how our applications have been received by the Swedish Research Council. Two of our three applications in which KI was the main applicant were granted funding, as well as seven of eight applications in which we are participating as co-applicants. These infrastructure investments are of course not open every year so it is vital that we take advantage when they are available,” he says.
The two approved infrastructure grants in which KI is the main applicant are:
The National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR)
NEAR is a collaboration between six universities: Karolinska Institutet, Blekinge Institute of Technology, the University of Gothenburg, Jönköping University, Lund University and Umeå University. NEAR’s head office will be based at the Aging Research Center (ARC) and the organisation will be under the leadership of Laura Fratiglioni, professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet. The purpose of the investment is to develop a technical platform for managing and coordinating high quality population-based databases in Sweden, to provide researchers with access to the information contained therein and thereby create the conditions for future high-quality research.
About the investment on ARC’s website
The Swedish Twin Registry (STR)
The Swedish Twins Registry was established at KI in 1959 and is now an infrastructure of national importance. In addition to KI, the members of the consortium are the University of Gothenburg, Stockholm School of Economics, Jönköping University, Linköping University, Lund University, Umeå University and Örebro University. Patrik Magnusson, researcher in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, is director of the STR. The grant from the Swedish Research Council will be used to maintain and expand the registry. Also included is an investment in further improving the availability of data and ensuring that more research groups in Sweden can gain access to this unique registry material. As a first stage, a national committee will be formed with members from the universities in the consortium.