Associate senior lecturers – a strategic investment for the future
The University’s overall goal for the period 2025–2028 is that four per cent of the University’s research and teaching staff should be associate senior lecturers. Photo: Getty Images.
The Swedish Government has a stated ambition to strengthen the incentives for strategic recruitment at Swedish higher education institutions, and the Swedish Research Council is therefore conducting four call rounds for establishing associate senior lecturer positions during 2026 and 2027.
In March 2025, the Vice-Chancellor decided on a scholarly impact plan for Uppsala University (Plan för arbetet med vetenskapligt genomslag vid Uppsala universitetet), with measures to strengthen the impact of the University’s scholarly publications and our visibility internationally. A key part of this plan concerns attracting talent to the University.
“We need to improve the impact of our publications, also so that we can continue attracting the brightest researchers. Anything that enhances our international position is important,” said Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt in connection with the decision.
The University’s overall goal for the period 2025–2028 is that four per cent of the University’s research and teaching staff should be associate senior lecturers. Young researchers are our future, Anders Hagfeldt stressed.
It’s important that Uppsala University continues to be attractive to younger researchers. Talent attraction is therefore one of the most vital questions for the University.
Important for the allocation of research funding
Associate senior lecturer positions are also a very important indicator in the coming research policy investments, and play a role in the allocation of future research funding. The investment in associate senior lecturer positions comes out of a Government assignment and will give prospective senior lecturers an opportunity to develop their scholarly independence and acquire further research and education qualifications. It is also intended to promote mobility and contribute to strategically important recruitments.
Survey to analyse career paths
An external survey is being carried out in 2026 to analyse how the University’s career paths, from associate senior lecturer to professor, are contributing to the goal of being a world-leading university. There is a particular emphasis on how the associate senior lecturer position is used and how this form of employment influences strategic talent attraction. The results of the survey will be submitted to the Vice-Chancellor later this year, but preliminary results were presented at a Vice-Chancellor’s Seminar on 17 February this year.
Four call rounds from the Swedish Research Council
Four associate senior lecturer call rounds are planned and will be conducted via the Swedish Research Council: two in 2026 and two in 2027. The first call round for 2026 has been completed and closed on 17 February. Call round number 2 for the year opens on 19 August and closes on 15 September.
Note that researchers themselves do not apply for this funding – it is the higher education institution that nominates their candidates. If you are a researcher interested in being nominated, contact your head of department. This process consists of several steps where preparation and prioritisation takes place within each disciplinary domain as well as at the University level.
Uppsala University has now opened its internal nomination process for the second call round for 2026. The nomination procedure for each disciplinary domain is described on the call’s information page on the Staff Gateway.
Johan Ahlenius