Up to 14 Consolidator grants for junior researchers with employment at Karolinska Institutet

Purpose

Karolinska Institutet (KI) invests in a programme for leading junior researchers with particularly outstanding scientific merits and future potential. The initiative follows Strategy 2030 at KI and is aimed at research within the field of Medical science- including medicine, healthcare and health. To give the most prominent younger researchers at KI the opportunity to consolidate their research and broaden their activities, consolidator grants are offered. Each grant includes five years of funding for researchers employed at KI whose doctoral degree was not more than 12 years ago.

Eligibility

At the time of application, the applicant must be employed at KI with at least 50% of full-time  employment.

The applicant should not hold a position as Senior Lecturer/Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Professor/Adjunct Professor, or Visiting Professor at the time of the application deadline.

A doctorate or equivalent scientific competence should have been obtained from 1st January 2012.

Applicants must conduct internationally leading research within their subject area. Applicants must have their own research line and have demonstrated independency and an ability to conduct research of very high quality. They should also describe future development opportunities with continued high qualitative research and the ability to attract external funding.

Applicants who have received a PhD degree earlier than 2012 may be eligible if there are special circumstances for deducting time:

• parental leave
• positions of trust in trade union organizations
• mandatory service in total defence
• long-term illness
• clinical medical internship (maximum 24 months)
• further training/specialist medical residency for clinically active professionals (maximum 24 months)

Circumstance, dates and extent must be clearly specified in the application and verified with relevant certificates.

Persons that previously have been awarded funding for positions as researcher (five years) or a Consolidator Grant through calls by the Board of Research (until 2018) or Faculty Board (2019-2023) at KI are not eligible for the announced call for this Consolidator Grant.

What does the funding entail?

The Consolidator Grant should be applied for by individual researchers and the amount is up to 1.2 million SEK per year for up to five years. The time for disposal is six years.

As a minimum, 50% of the grant per year should be used for salary and wage costs related to the employment at KI. Up to 50% of the grant may be used for research-related costs per year. Researchers who receive a Consolidator Grant are expected to conduct research in a subject are within medical science and to lead a research team at KI.

The Consolidator Grant will be issued corresponding to the extent of the employment at KI. The grant will end in case the employment at KI ends.

Visit our webpage for more information about the conditions regarding payment of the funding. 

Assessment criteria

The applicant should have published well in internationally leading journals in his/her field in recent years and occupy a prominent position in the list of authors, and it is especially meritorious to be last author. Applicants must have a recognized reputation in the international research community. Examples of this are that you have been an invited speaker at large scientific conferences, have examined the work of others for renowned scientific journals, have been evaluator for research financiers, have participated in grading committees, and have supervised Masters’ students and/or PhD students.

Applicants must also have received major external grants as the main applicant during recent years.

Assessment process

The selection includes prioritization of applications by a KI internal panel and an external expert assessment the prioritized applications. The external assessment of the applicants will be made on the basis of scientific skills based on two assessment criteria: The applicants' competence and the scientific quality of the research plan.

Interviews will be conducted by the internal panel with the applicants who are ranked highest by the external experts.

The decision for who will be offered a Consolidator Grant will be based on a combination of external expert assessment and interviews.

For more information regarding the Consolidator grant and the assessment process, please visit our webpage.

Application procedure

Applications should be submitted by the recruitment system Varbi no later than August 12th, 2024 (time 23.59 CEST).

Ensuring correct presentation of qualifications is a strongly prioritized issue at KI. It is therefore important that your merits are correctly reported and that the instructions are carefully followed. Incorrect presentation of qualifications may lead to invalidation of the application.

The application shall comprise the following documents, written in English:

• A personal letter (½ page)
• Application document (can be found here)
• Certificate or other relevant documentation of a PhD
• Certificate from the Head of the recipient Department at KI which shows that the applicant may conduct research at the Department (e-mail will be accepted).

Please attach relevant documentation regarding deductible time.

If you have any questions relating to the five-year Consolidator Grant, please contact: academic-appointments@ki.se.

SciLifeLab Consolidator Bridging Grant

If you are affiliated to research at SciLifeLab and your application is ranked highly but fall below the threshold for award of the five-year Consolidator grant, your application will automatically be sent to the SciLifeLab Committee KI. SciLifeLab Committee KI will assess if you are eligible for a two-year bridging grant at the consolidator level funded by the Strategic Research Area for Molecular Biosciences (SFO molekylär biovetenskap). If you are found to be eligible, you will be offered this funding. Questions relating to the two-year SciLifeLab Bridging Grant should be sent to adina.feldman@ki.se.