Briefly about KI's research

Organisation and research areas

KI’s research is administratively divided into three departmental groups with a total of 21 departments. These departments are central to the academic environment at our university, with responsibilities encompassing scientific strategy, finance, and administration within their respective areas.

Research is conducted at our campuses in Solna and Flemingsberg (North and South of Stockholm City), as well as at several hospitals and other health care facilities in the Stockholm region. Research at KI spans the entire field of life sciences,:from basic research on the smallest parts of life, innovative research methods and medical technology, to clinical research to relieve and cure diseases, ageing, prevention, and global health. Currently, special efforts are being made in areas such as artificial intelligence, precision medicine, and ATMP. 

Research funding

Research accounts for 85 percent of KI's total annual turnover and the income for the research area amounted to SEK 6,980 million in 2024. External research grants applied for in competition correspond to 55 percent of research income (SEK 3,867 million), while direct government grants account for 34 percent (SEK 2,340 million) of research income.

External research funders

KI has for many years been successful in attracting external research funding. Among the major external research funders in 2023 can be mentioned:

• Swedish Research Council (SEK 964 million)
• EU (SEK 366 million)
• The Swedish Cancer Society (SEK 336 million)
• The Wallenberg Foundations (SEK 241 million)
• Forte (SEK 165 million)
• Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund (SEK 118 million)
• Swedish Heart Lung Foundation (SEK 111 million)
• Region Stockholm (SEK 89 million)

Researchers

KI has approximately 3,000 employed researchers, of whom just over 420 are full professors. During 2024, KI recruited 18 new professors, of whom 10 were women (55 percent). In total, 62 percent of the employees are women. KI works actively with gender equality and equal treatment. In 2023, KI was awarded a newly established EU prize for its long-term work to promote gender equality in academia.

KI has over 2,200 doctoral students, representing more than one third of all doctoral students in medicine and health sciences in Sweden. Every year, about 350 doctoral students graduate from KI. In addition, about 3,500 researchers have some form of looser connection to the university, such as researchers employed by Region Stockholm or visiting researchers. A large proportion of KI's doctoral students and researchers come from countries other than Sweden. The working language in many research groups is English.

In 2020, KI received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research recognition, which means the university adheres to EU principles for a good research environment, including ethical principles, researcher support, and transparent recruitment processes. In 2024, KI also joined the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), which aims to develop research assessment and evaluation by embracing diversity and open research practices.

Scientific publications

In 2024, KI's researchers published some 7,200 scientific articles. More than 90 percent of these articles were published in collaboration with other actors outside the university, in Sweden and abroad. A large proportion of the research has some form of connection to healthcare. Many of the scientific articles are also part of the doctoral theses presented at KI.

Every year, KI's researchers publish many scientific articles in collaboration with researchers in other countries. International co-publications account for about 75 percent of all articles from KI. During the period 2021-2023, articles were published together with researchers based in about 180 different countries. The US was the country with which KI had the most co-publications, closely followed by the UK and Germany.

KI has a strong commitment to the concept of open science, which aims to enhance the quality and impact of research. In 2024, a policy in this area was adopted to increase the availability of research data and promote good research practices and data management.

Clinical research

Clinical research refers to research that requires healthcare structures and resources and aims to solve a health problem or to identify factors that lead to improved health. Clinical research accounts for an estimated 60 percent of KI's scientific publications.

In 2023, the results of two national evaluations covering clinical research and its conditions were reported: the Swedish Research Council's evaluation of the quality of clinical research and the National Board of Health and Welfare's evaluation of university healthcare. In the Swedish Research Council's evaluation, KI and Region Stockholm jointly (called ALF Region Stockholm) were rated "very high quality" for the quality of scientific production and "good-high quality" for the conditions of clinical research.

Research infrastructure

KI offers a wide range of service laboratories, providing advanced equipment, services, and expertise in areas such as imaging, biostatistics, biobanking, omics, and tissue engineering. Researchers at KI also have extensive access to national and European research infrastructures.

The university annually allocates approximately SEK 190 million for research infrastructure. In 2025, this iincludes the support of 30 core facilities and 14 national infrastructures. In addition to central support, our core facilities are partly financed with user fees. 

KI is one of the host universities for SciLifeLab, a distributed national research infrastructure with the core mission of providing technologies that facilitate the large-scale analysis of biological processes at the molecular level. KI also actively works to facilitate external use of our research infrastructure.

The information above is largely taken from KI's annual reports of 2023 and 2024, various personell systems, and other pages on ki.se.