Applied welfare research 2025

About the grants

Project grant

Project grants facilitate the implementation of a defined research project designed to contribute to increased knowledge about an identified issue. Project grants may be applied for by individual researchers as well as research groups.

• Project duration: Funding may be sought for two, three or four years. When applying for a fourth year, this must be specifically justified in the application.
• Funding amounts: There is no maximum amount for this type of grant, but the requested budget must be explained and justified in the application.
• Staffing: For this grant type, you as main applicant may invite participating researchers to join the application.

Grant for research reviews

Grants for research reviews are given to identify the state of knowledge and research needs within a well-defined topic with relevance to the focus of the call. The call for proposals is open for different types of research reviews, but they must follow a well-established method. The results must be made available to relevant target groups in an appropriate way.

• Project duration: Funding may be sought for one year.
• Funding amounts: You may apply for a maximum of SEK 1 million. Please note that the maximum amount includes so called indirect costs/overheads (OH). Applications that exceed the specified limit will be rejected.
• Staffing: For this grant type, you as main applicant may invite participating researchers to join the application.
  

Eligibility requirements

Doctoral degree
To apply for a grant under this call for proposals, you must have obtained a doctoral degree no later than the closing date of the call for proposals.

Reporting for previous grants
The main applicant must have submitted the final report for any previously approved grants from Forte within the reporting deadline. This only applies to grants where the deadline for final reporting has passed. Any previously granted extensions of project

Background and purpose

Forte is responsible for a national research programme on applied welfare research. The aim of the national research programme is to strengthen client- and practice-oriented research within the social services' areas of activity. Client- and practice-oriented research is based on questions that are relevant to the needs of social services and its clients, and can benefit and be useful to clients, the operations of social services and society as a whole.

Research that is funded by the programme must be useful for social services to develop and improve operations, as well as its clients’ living situations and conditions. Another goal of the programme is to increase collaboration between research and practice, and to increase the participation of clients and relatives in the research. The programme also aims to ensure that the research results benefit the surrounding community and are translated into development and improvement.

The research that is funded must meet strict quality requirements, address identified knowledge needs and preferably cover several different disciplines and scientific competencies.

Focus of the call

The focus of the call is based on eight priority areas and the research must be conducted in collaboration with relevant target groups. Both new research and synthesis of existing research can be funded, but in both cases the research needs to be based on the needs of the social service or its clients/users.

Priority areas

Applications for this call must address one or more of the priority areas below. Note that there is an overlap between them and that an application can correspond to several areas. The examples of research needs mentioned in the texts should not be considered exhaustive, the call is also open to other lines of research that are related to the priority areas and the programme's goals, provided that the relevance to social services and users/clients can be justified. The priority areas are presented more in depth in the programme’s strategic agenda.

Strategisk forskningsagenda för programmet för tillämpad välfärdsforskning

• Effects of interventions
  This area concerns intervention research that evaluates the effects of interventions used in social services based on individual-centered outcome measures. It includes research on both existing interventions as well as the development and evaluation of new ones. The social aspects of interventions are included, such as methods for engagement, relationship-building, and approaches. The cost-effectiveness of different interventions is also part of this area.
  

• Methods for assessing individual needs for interventions
  This area includes methods for investigating, assessing, and describing individuals' problems, situations, and needs for interventions. It encompasses both quantitative research and research with a qualitative approach that examines engagement, interactions, and relationship-building, and how these affect assessments.
  
• Preventive work and early interventions in social services
  This area concerns the effects of social services' preventive, early, and outreach interventions. Beyond an individual and group perspective, the research area also includes community-based social services. For example, it includes research on the effects and benefits of social services' involvement in community planning to help prevent social problems and contribute to a good community environment.
  
• Implementation, change management, and improvement work
  This area concerns methods for transferring new knowledge into practice and knowledge about how to organize operations to create a learning and quality improvement culture. It also includes research on methods for systematic follow-up, such as the development and research of planning and follow-up tools, both for core social services and for treatment services.
  
• Coherent intervention chains and collaboration
  This area concerns research on coordination at the interface between social services and, for example, healthcare, schools, various authorities, or the civil society, and includes the effects of coordination on users. It also includes research on cooperation between municipalities and within local social services, as well as socioeconomic aspects of coordination.
  
• User involvement/participation
  This area is about methods for including users and their needs in the work of social services, and how this can be used to organize work and practices within social services. It also includes research on methods for creating participation and influence, as well as research on the effects and outcomes of user participation.
  
• Digitalization and welfare technology
  This area concerns research on welfare technology to develop both methods, processes, organization, and interventions in social services. It includes research on ethical and legal aspects of welfare technology, as well as health economic research on the effects of digitalization and welfare technology.
  
• Nonprofit and private sector as providers of social services
  This area deals with whether providers of social services are private, nonprofit, or public organizations and what impact this has on users, the quality and content of services, and cost development. Conditions for societal governance and control of this field are important research questions, as well as how information to users/clients and relatives should be organized and delivered.
  

Collaboration between research and practice

The research funded by the programme must be based on questions and needs of affected target groups within the social services’ areas of activity. The research must therefore be planned and carried out in collaboration with these groups, for example, relevant professions, user and pressure groups and/or users and clients. The purpose of this is to improve the quality and relevance of the research.

Collaboration can be implemented in different ways, and its intensity may vary. It can take place through consultation of relevant collaborating parties, where they are given the opportunity to influence the design and implementation of the research. Collaboration can also take place through more active cooperation, where the collaborating parties are involved as participants in planning and implementing the research. The research can also be conducted in partnership with several or all the stakeholders affected by the relevant research question. However, the degree of collaboration should be guided by the focus and questions of the research. Simply involving users and clients or other collaborating parties in the role of objects of study, or data contributors, does not meet the requirements of collaboration in research in the programme for applied welfare research.

Collaboration in research requires an approach in which the project is developed in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders. In the application, the process for this must be described, and how collaboration takes place in the different parts of the research process such as the design of the study, the collection and analysis of data, as well as interpretation, dissemination and implementation of the research results.

To meet the requirements for practice- and client-oriented research, as well as collaboration, applicants must demonstrate in the application that:

• the research question is a priority for these groups
• the outcome measures are important to clients and users
• clients and users will be involved in the research process
• the costs of this are included in the project's budget

Similar principles must be applied if the research is to be primarily carried out with practitioners or decision-makers or other relevant stakeholders. Forte is aware that it can be difficult to be explicit about the methods and approaches for collaboration when writing the application since these should be developed in dialogue with those who will be involved in the project. However, the application should be able to describe the different approaches being considered and the process for involving users, clients and practitioners in agreeing on the final methods and approaches for collaboration.

Find out more about the principles of collaboration in research in the NIHR's guidance. External link.

Assessment

Verification of your application

Forte checks if your application fulfils the conditions laid down in the call for proposals. If the application does not fulfil the conditions, it will be refused or rejected. The following conditions will be checked in this call for applications:

• The main applicant has been awarded a doctoral degree
• The main applicant has submitted the final report for any previously approved grants from Forte within the reporting deadline
• The content of the application does not obviously fall outside the focus of the call (verified in consultation with the chair of the review panel)
• The budget in the application is within the maximum grant amount specified in the call for proposals
• The application has been signed by the administrating organisation within 7 calendar days of the closing date of the call for proposals

Review

All applications that fulfil the conditions in the call for proposals are forwarded to Forte’s review panels for assessment. Based on their assessment, Forte’s Board makes the final decisions on which applications will be granted funding.

To be eligible for funding from Forte, applications must meet the requirements, be of high scientific quality, be relevant to society, and feasible. Applications are assessed against the assessment criteria described below. The assessment is an overall assessment that weighs all the criteria and relates them to the call for proposals and its objectives. Key to the assessment is how the applicant has explained and justified the various choices made in the application.

Assessment criteria

Requirements

• Relevance to Forte: The research must be relevant in relation to Forte’s areas and the focus of the call.
• Sex and gender perspective: A sex and gender perspective must be taken into account, if applicable.
• Ethical considerations: The research must be conducted in an ethical manner, and any ethical issues must be addressed in an appropriate way.

Scientific quality

• Purpose, research questions, theoretical framework and background: The clarity and coherence in the description and justification of the purpose of the research, research questions, theoretical framework and background, including how well grounded it is in previous research.
• Study design, material and methods: The clarity and coherence in the description and justification of the research’s design, empirical material and methods for data collection and analysis, as well as the appropriateness of these in relation to the purpose of the research and research questions.
• Originality: The potential of the research to contribute to the research front, for example by developing new knowledge, new methods, theories and/or data.
  
• Multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary approach: The relevance of a multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary approach to the scientific quality, if applicable.

Societal relevance and utilisation

• Relevance to the wider community: The importance of the research to current societal challenges and how the research will help address these.
• Benefit to the wider community: The short and/or long-term benefit of the research to the wider community, and how this is intended to be promoted.
• Collaboration with the wider community: The clarity and coherence in the description and justification of the plan for collaboration with the actors affected by the research, if applicable.
• Communication of research results: The reasonableness and appropriateness of planned communications for all relevant audiences.

Feasibility

• Work plan: The clarity and reasonableness of the work plan for conducting the research.
• Competence: The competence and skills of the participants in relation to the needs for conducting the research.
• Budgets and staffing: The reasonableness of budgeted costs and participants’ planned activities for conducting the research.

Decision and statement

When a decision has been made in respect of your application, it will be published in your Prisma account. You will receive an email when the decision is published. Applicants will also have access to the statement written by the review panel about their application. This can be found in Prisma on the “Applications” page under the “Details” button. You will also find the statement on the “Grants” page.

More about assessment and final decision

Important to know before you apply

Terms and conditions for grants
In order to receive a grant from Forte, both the main applicant and the administrating organisation must sign the terms and conditions laid down in the call for proposals. The signing takes place in Prisma after a decision on the grant has been made. Forte’s general terms and conditions apply to this call for proposals.

Forte’s general terms and conditions for grants

Open access
By accepting grants from Forte, the main applicant also accepts Forte’s guidelines for publication with open access. Forte does not cover the costs of open access publication within the research grants we award. In cases where publication costs are included in the application, such costs will be deleted from any grant awarded.

Forte's guidelines for publication with open access

Language
Since applications are reviewed by international experts, your application should be written in English (apart from fields where text in Swedish is specifically requested). If the application is submitted in Swedish, the quality of the assessment may be compromised. Forte is not responsible for the quality of any translations.

International research
Applications with an international element must follow Forte’s guidelines for international research. Forte views international research collaborations positively. Forte’s areas of research cover complex societal challenges where international research collaboration can provide important contributions. Defence and security policy aspects must always be taken into account in international research collaboration.

Forte’s grants may be used to finance research where certain parts are carried out in other countries. However, the research must be initiated, led and mainly carried out from Sweden or be a part of international collaborative research. The research must also be relevant to Sweden and Swedish conditions, and this must be explained and justified in the application.

Guidelines for international research

Principle of public access to official records
According to Swedish law, your application is considered a public document once it has been submitted to Forte. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Information may only be kept secret if it is covered by the secrecy provisions in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).

If your application is granted, abstracts in Swedish and English will be published in open project databases without a confidentiality assessment.

Translations of information in the call for proposals
Call texts, application forms and instruction texts are available in English translation, but in case of ambiguity in the translation, the Swedish versions take precedence.

Types of project participants
The person who creates the application in Prisma is the main applicant and is intended to be the project leader for the research project. The project leader must be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of the project. The employment must at least cover the time set aside for the project (activity level).

If the call for proposals permits this, participating researchers may also be invited to join the application. Participating researchers are other researchers who are crucial for the implementation of the project. Both the main applicant and the participating researchers must have a doctoral degree and a personal account in Prisma. It is also possible to include “other participants” in the project. These persons do not need to be researchers. This means they do not need to have a doctoral degree or their own accounts in Prisma.
Requirements for different types of participants

Are eligible to apply for funding?

Review panel – Project grant

Chair persons

• Tina Olsson, Jönköping University, Sweden
• Therése Skoog, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Scientific reviewers

• Anna Gupta, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
• Anne Grete Tøge, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
• Martin Börjeson, Marie Cederschiöld University, Sweden
• Martin Webber, University of York, UK
• Riina Kiik, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
• Rudi Roose, Ghent University, Belgium
• Ira Malmberg-Heimonen, Oslo Metropolitan University, Noway

Community representatives

• Kalle Pettersson, Region Värmland, Sweden
• Katarzyna Wikström, Skellefteå kommun, Sweden
• Therese Åström, National Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden
• Jill Fialdini Yenidogan, Caleo Omsorg, Sweden

Review panel – Grant for research review

Chair person

• Ira Malmberg-Heimonen, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

Scientific reviewers

• Lena Dahlberg, Dalarna University, Sweden
• Paul Montgomery, University of Birmingham, UK
• Kevin Browne, University of Nottingham, UK

Community representatives

• Mari Forslund, Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner (SALAR), Sweden
• Marie Österberg, SBU, Sweden