Seeding grant for collaboration projects within Karolinska Institutet on movement and physical function

Description of the seeding grant

Karolinska Institutet has many collaboration partners from all over the world, but there is a need for increased collaboration within the Karolinska Institutet. As the Swedish expression goes: “gå över ån efter vatten” (cross the river for water), it seems strange that we have relatively few inter-department projects at KI. 

Research on how we move and function in life is critical to understanding and treating a variety of medical conditions, like musculoskeletal disorders due to injury, work, genetic disorders, movement problems in neurological diseases, or old age. This means that a biopsychological perspective and a multidisciplinary team around the patient are vital. Hence, research should also be multidisciplinary and movement scientific problems should be studied from different perspectives. One of the reasons for the few inter-department projects at the Karolinska Institutet could be that interdisciplinary research needs a longer start-up period before we know each other’s competences. 

The aim of the seeding grants is to support research projects within the field of movement science to stimulate collaborations between different departments at the Karolinska Institutet. The application should justify how the funds would be used within the maximum grant period of one year. The results from the approved projects are to be presented at the annual meeting of the Network of Movement and Physical Function, at the end of that year. Eligible to apply are master- or doctoral students, postdocs, or researchers employed or affiliated with Karolinska Institutet. At least two different departments should be involved, and the role of each department in the project should be clearly described. Novelty, scientific stringency, and juniority are some of the grading criteria.

Application details and grading criteria

Last date of application: 23 June 2025; 14.00 Sweden time.

Project time: One year project, starting within three months from the decision.

Eligibility: Doctoral students or PhDs employed or affiliated with Karolinska Institutet. At least two different departments should be involved. Specify the specific role of each partner and highlight the advantages of collaboration of this inter-institutional project.

Budget: Each seeding grant will consist of up to 65.000 SEK and this money should be used before the end of the project time.

How to apply: Apply by sending your application in one pdf-file to: motion-nvs@ki.se. 
Mark your e-mail with “APPLICATION SEEDING GRANT”. By sending in an application you give consent to have your personal data collected and processed in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at Karolinska Institutet.

Application details

The application should be in English and contain the following three parts, 1) Personal information of the partners, 2) Research plan, and 3) Project information. All documents should be merged into one pdf-file.

1) Personal information

• Names and short CVs of included partners (Maximum 1 page for each applicant)
• List of publications (the five most relevant for the project)

2) Research plan

Maximum 1 A4-page Times New Roman, 11pt, 1.15-line space
Include the following aspects:

• Project title in English and Swedish
• Aim and research questions
• Background and knowledge gap
• Project plan inclusive material and methods,
• Time plan

3) Project information

Maximum 1 A4-page Times New Roman, 11pt, 1.15-line space

• Relevance: Describe the relevance of your project in relation to the research field of movement and physical functioning (see the scope of the network on our website).
• Budget: Specify your costs briefly and how the grant will be used.
• Additional resources: Describe any additional resources (e.g. laboratory facilities, previous funding, etc.) in the project.
• Inter-department collaboration: Describe briefly the roles of the different partners in the project. 

Grading criteria

All applications that fulfill the requirements will be sent out to the members of the steering committee of the Network of Movement and Physical Function. These members will rank the applications on the following criteria: Relevance, Feasibility, Collaboration partners and Juniority. These rankings cannot be appealed to. The steering committee of the network will then discuss and reach a consensus on the rankings and the three projects with the highest rankings will be awarded with the grant. Potential conflicts of interest are going to be considered.

• Relevance: We look at the novelty and the scientific stringency of the project, as well as if the scope of the project is within the scope of our network (see our homepage).
• Feasibility: We look at whether the research plan has a time plan making it possible to establish a fruitful collaboration within one year, whether the collaboration can continue, and whether the project has additional resources  that could support the project.
• Collaboration partners: We look at if the roles of the different partners involved in the project are clearly described.
• Juniority: We look at to what extent the project involves junior researchers.

Questions

Visit The Network for Movement and Physical function or send your questions to motion-nvs@ki.se.