Wallenberg Academy Fellows (WAF)
Wallenberg Academy Fellows (WAF) is a career program for young promising researchers, open to researchers in all scientific disciplines; medicine, technology, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities/religious sciences, as well as in the interfaces between them.
The purpose of the program is to provide the most promising young researchers with long-term funding so that they can focus on undertaking difficult and long-term research issues. The universities are regularly invited by KAW to nominate researchers for the program.
Current call
Deadline for the next call is February 15, 2025. Observe that only those applications that are prioritized in Uppsala University's internal nomination process (see below) are allowed to be submitted.
Internal prioritization process at Uppsala University 2024/2025
Because Uppsala University is only allowed to nominate a limited number of researchers, an internal prioritization process is applied. The internal prioritization process will take place during the fall of 2024. It consists of several steps where preparation and prioritization take place within the respective scientific domains as well as university-wide.
- Uppsala University may nominate a maximum of 16 researchers (8 internal and 8 international) this year.
- The University can only nominate one internal candidate for each internationalcandidate.
- The universities shall strive for at least 40% of the nominations to include the gender that is underrepresented in the nomination.
- Candidates should have obtained their PhD after 1 January 2016.
Maximum 20% of the approved grant may be used for indirect costs and rent.
Observe that the Foundation has decided that a researcher cannot simultaneously hold a WAF grant and a recruitment package as part of the Foundation's molecular medicine initiative (WCMM centers), Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems Program (WASP), Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems Program - Humanities and Society ( WASP-HS), Data Driven Life Science (DDLS), Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT), Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC ) or the Wallenberg Initiative for Materials Science and Sustainability (WISE).
International candidates
To be considered an international candidate, the researcher must be active abroad at the time of nomination and must not have been scholarship-financed or have been employed in Sweden for the past four years (between 15 February 2021 and 15 February 2025). Note that KAW permits universities to nominate researchers as international candidates if they hold a Swedish doctoral degree and have completed postdoctoral employment funded by VR at a foreign university. These candidates are not considered as employees in Sweden during their stay at the foreign university.
KAW offers external candidates to apply for additional funding of SEK 1 500 000, 3 000 000 or 4 500 000, provided that the university co-finances with the same amount.
Nomination procedure and time schedule for WAF 2024/2025
Instructions for Humanities and Social Sciences
Timetable
The internal prioritisation process at Uppsala University consists of several steps.
- Heads of department from the Humanities and Social Sciences propose candidates by emailing one document per researcher as below to Anders Westlin. The deadline for proposals from departments is Friday 4 November 2024.
- Nominations received are considered and ranked by the Disciplinary Domain’s preparatory committee for specific applications, after which the Deputy Vice-Chancellor decides who will proceed to the subsequent University-wide prioritisation.
- The Vice-Chancellor takes the decision as to which candidates will be nominated by the University to the Foundation in late November, after which researchers and heads of department are notified.
- Nominated researchers will receive application support from the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences’ research support services.
- The nominated researchers are responsible for submitting their application via the Knut and Alice Wallenberg portal before the deadline of 13:00 on 15 February 2025.
Nomination instructions for heads of departments
- Note that nominated candidates should be highly competitive.
- The nominated researcher must have obtained a doctoral degree after 1 January 2016. Exceptions may be made for nominees who obtained their doctoral degree before 2016 and who, upon request, can document a leave of absence due to parental leave, defence service or extended sick leave that took place after the doctoral degree was obtained.
- When awarding WAF grants, the department can, according to the current guidelines, annually request co-financing of a maximum of SEK 250,000 from the Vice-Chancellor. Additional co-financing can be applied for via the faculty.
The nomination must be accompanied by a combined PDF (in English) with appendices in the following order:
- Project description (max 6 A4 pages).
- The nominee’s CV containing positions, awards and postdoc stay (max. 2 A4 pages).
- The nominee’s biography, which should primarily be a description of their scientific/scholarly achievements so far, together with information on external funding and support from the University (max. 2 A4 pages).
- A list of all publications in peer-reviewed journals, with the ten most significant publications marked. Include a simpler bibliometric analysis with an H-index, for example, if possible and relevant.
- The head of department's signature and motivation letter of how the nominated researcher complements and strengthens the department's research.
- International candidates should also provide a motivation letter for why they want to establish their research at Uppsala University (max. 1 A4 page).
Nominations
Heads of Department from the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences should submit nominations for the Wallenberg Academy Fellows programme by email to Anders Westlin by Friday 4 November 2024.
More about the call for Wallenberg Academy Fellows
Information about the call and the assessment criteria can be found on the Knut and Alice Wallenberg website. Read through it before you proceed to make your nominations! For example, it is important to note that there are specific rules regarding co-financing.
Instructions for Science and Technology
Time schedule
The internal prioritization process at Uppsala University consists of several steps.
- Teknat's heads of department nominate candidates via a web form. Instructions and a link can be found below. NB: Deadline for the departments' nominations is Monday 21 October 2024.
- Received nominations are prepared and prioritized by the faculty's Advisory Committee for Research (Forskningsberedningen) in October-November, after which a university-wide prioritization takes place.
- The Vice-chancellor’s decision on which candidates to nominate to the Foundation will be made in the end of November. The researchers and heads of department will then be notified of the decision.
- Nominated researchers will receive application support from Teknat's Research Support.
The nominated researchers are responsible for submitting their application via KAW's portal before the deadline at 13:00 of 15 February 2025.
Nomination instructions for the heads of department
- Note that nominated candidates must be very competitive. Please note that for internal candidates, this means in most cases that the candidate has a VR starting grant or equivalent.
- The nominated researcher must have received a doctoral degree after 1 January 2016. (An exception may be nominees who received their doctoral degree before 2016 and who, upon request, can document a parental leave or longer sick leave that took place after the doctoral degree.)
Financial conditions
- The Foundation's funding is for five year. The amounts vary depending on the research area (theoretical or experimental) and where the applicant is active at the time of nomination (internal or international/external nomination), read the Foundation's call text.
- If granted a WAF, the department can, according to current university guidelines, annually request co-funding of SEK 250 000 from the Vice-Chancellor and from the disciplinary domain:
- for external fellows SEK 1 000 000 and for internal fellows SEK 750 000.
- Please note that KAW requires that the university finances at least 50% of the researcher's salary costs as well as indirect costs above 20%. Any indirect costs (and ev. "tilläggsbelopp/start up grant") that exceed the above-mentioned co-financing must be co-financed by the department.
Teknat's nominations are made via a webform (opens in the beginning of September 2024). A merged PDF (in English) (max 2MB), including the following documents in the following order, is submitted:
- Project description (max 6 A4). Keep in mind that the content of the project description must be designed so that it can be reviewed according to KAW's assessment criteria, which includes, among other things: the research programme's academic quality, originality, feasibility, and academic results attained previously. Read the KAW's assessment criteria for complete information.
- The nominee's CV containing positions, awards and postdoc stay (max. 2 A4).
- The nominee's biography, which should primarily be a description of the scientific achievements so far, together with information on external funding and support from the university (max. 2 A4).
- A list of all publications in peer-reviewed journals, with the ten most significant publications marked (also with citation counts). Include a simpler bibliometric analysis with e.g. H-index (if possible).
- A motivation letter signed by the Head of Department (max 2 A4) - with a motivation/justification about how the nominated researcher complements and strengthens the Department's research and is considered an important part of the Department's and the University's research environment. Describe how the proposed research program supports the candidate's career development and what resources are made available to the candidate.
- External candidates are also required to include a document with a motivation for why they want to establish their research at UU (max 1A4).
Instructions for Medicine and Pharmacy
Time schedule
The internal prioritization process at Uppsala University consists of several steps.
- Medfarm's heads of department nominate candidates via a web form. Instructions and a link can be found below. Deadline for the departments' nominations is Monday 4 November 2024.
- Nominations are prepared and prioritized by the management of the disciplinary domain in mid November, after which a university-wide prioritization takes place.
- The Vice-chancellor’s decision on which candidates to nominate to the Foundation will be made in the end of November. The researchers and heads of department will then be notified of the decision.
- Nominated researchers will receive support from Medfarm's Research Support during the application process.
The nominated researchers are responsible for submitting their application via KAW's portal before the deadline at 13.00, 15 February 2025.
Financial conditions
- The Foundation's funding is for five year. The amounts vary depending on the research area (theoretical or experimental) and where the applicant is active at the time of nomination (internal or international/external nomination), read the Foundation's call text.
- KAW offers international candidates to apply for additional funding ("one-time start-up grant") of SEK 1 500 000, 3 000 000 or 4 500 000, provided that the university co-funds with the same amount.
- If granted a WAF, the department can, according to current university guidelines, annually request co-funding of SEK 250 000 from the Vice-Chancellor and SEK 500 000 from the disciplinary domain.
- Please note that KAW requires that the university funds at least 50% of the researcher's salary costs as well as indirect costs above 20%. Any indirect costs (and potential "one-time start-up grant") that exceed the above-mentioned co-funding must be co-funded by the department.
Nomination instructions for the heads of department
- Note that nominated candidates must be very competitive.
- The nominated researcher must have received a doctoral degree after 1 January 2016. (An exception may be nominees who received their doctoral degree before 2016 and who, upon request, can document a parental leave or longer sick leave that took place after the doctoral degree.)
Medfarm's nominations are made via a web form (opens in the beginning of September 2024). A merged PDF (in English) (max 2MB), including the following documents in the following order, is submitted:
- Project description (max 6 A4).
- The nominee's CV containing positions, awards and postdoc stay (max. 2 A4).
- The nominee's biography, which should primarily be a description of the scientific achievements so far, together with information on external funding and support from the university (max. 2 A4).
- A list of all publications in peer-reviewed journals, with the ten most significant publications marked. Include a simpler bibliometric analysis with e.g. H-index (if possible).
- A motivation letter signed by the Head of Department (max 2 A4) - with a motivation for how the nominated researcher complements and strengthens the Department's research and is considered an important part of the Department's and the University's research environment. Describe how the proposed research program supports the candidate's career development and what resources are made available to the candidate.
- International candidates are also required to include a document with a motivation for why they want to establish their research at UU (max 1A4).
Contact:
Humanities and Social Sciences: Anders Westlin
Science and Technology: Ulrika Huss Melin
Medicine and Pharmacy: Maria Ferletta, Carin Marciszko