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Open call: Flagship Projects

This is the first call for Flagship Projects within Digital Futures. Researchers from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm University (SU) and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden can apply for funding under this call.

Important dates

Call announced: 2024-05-20
Project proposal registration: 2024-11-07
Proposal submission deadline: 2024-11-14
Phase 2 evaluation hearing: January 2025
Expected funding decision: February 2025
Expected start of projects: July 2025

Background

Digital Futures is a cross-disciplinary research centre that explores and advances digital technologies to tackle societal challenges in Sweden and globally. Established jointly by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, we fund strategic research projects aligning with our vision. Find out more about Digital Futures’ background here.

Purpose

The Flagship project call is a funding instrument designed to support excellent scientific research and build competence and broad expertise towards digital transformation. Project proposals should be of the highest scientific quality and show originality, high impact, and an interdisciplinary approach. This instrument also aims to encourage collaboration between senior and early-career researchers to ensure the future need for researchers in the sciences of digital transformation. Collaboration with industry and society is encouraged.

Eligibility

  1. The proposals shall address subject areas at an intersection of the Digital Futures Research matrix. More information about the research matrix can be found here.
  2. Each project should list three (3) Principal Investigators (PIs) of complementary backgrounds (one PI and two co-PIs). At least one of the PIs must be an early-career researcher who obtained a doctoral degree not more than 12 years[1] ago at the time of opening this call. At least two of the PIs should belong to either i) two different KTH schools, ii) KTH and SU, iii) KTH and RISE [2]/SU, or iv) RISE and SU. Applicants can only be PI or co-PI for one proposal in this call.
  3. The PIs do not need to be Digital Futures faculty when applying but will become Digital Futures faculty if the project proposal is granted. The PIs must fulfil the requirements to become a Digital Futures Faculty when applying for this call. More information about the criteria can be found here.

[1] The eligibility period set out above can be extended beyond 12 years for certain circumstances such as parental leave, clinical training, long-term illness, or national service. Please indicate those in your CV.
[2] Researchers employed by the RISE Digital Systems Division in the Stockholm area are eligible to apply.

Project duration and maximum funding

In this call, up to five projects are intended to be selected. The duration of the projects is three years, and the projects will be funded with a maximum of 9 MSEK in total and are to be split equally between the three PIs (1 MSEK per calendar year per PI). The amount applied must not exceed the maximum funding for a project in this call.

A second flagship project call is planned for 2025.

Applicable Funding Policy for Digital Futures Faculty

Researchers can be involved in several projects under different instruments, but within Digital Futures, the funding per PI is limited to 1 MSEK/year. Hence, funding you may have received under the current Digital Futures instruments Collaborative Impact projects, Flagships projects, Research pairs, Research Pairs Consolidator, Demonstrator projects, Collaborative projects targeting diversity and inclusion, and Seed projects will be considered. Funding from Digital Futures to Societal innovation projects, Partner innovation projects, Industrial innovation projects, and ISPP demo projects are included, but not the part from partners. Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellows projects or C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute projects are not considered.

How to apply

  1. Fill in the application according to the project description template: Template-flagship-projects-2024
  2. Create an account on the application submission system and register the application stating the title, PIs and a short abstract by the registration date (see at top) at this link: https://crp.dsv.su.se/flagship-call-24/
  3. Complete the application, including uploading the project description to the submission system before the call deadline (see at top) using the same link as in step 2.

Evaluation

An external international expert panel will evaluate the project proposals. The evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

  1. Scientific quality and originality of the proposed research
  2. Merits of the applicants
  3. Degree of interdisciplinarity and composition of the research team
  4. Feasibility of the project
  5. Conformity to the scope of Digital Futures

The evaluation will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the evaluators independently grade the project proposals according to the criteria. Based on the outcome, the top proposals will be invited to the phase 2 hearing, where the applicants present their projects and answer questions from the evaluation panel. After the hearing, the panel finalises their ranking and recommends a set of projects for funding.

Based on the evaluation and available funding, the Digital Futures Executive Committee compiles a funding proposal on how many of the top project proposals to fund. The funding proposal is then sent to the Digital Futures Governing Board and the KTH President for decisions in that order.

Information meeting

Digital Futures offers an optional information meeting to get first-hand information on all call conditions.

This meeting will be held on May 29 at 11 am digitally on Zoom: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/63698028858
No registration is required before the meeting.

Contact

Contact call@digitalfutures.kth.se for further questions. Please include “Flagship project 2024” in the subject of your email.