ACADEMIC STAFF. Sahlgrenska Academy offers several different forms of support for early-career researchers. As a background to the discussions at the General Academy Meeting on nurturing talent on October 10, the Faculty leadership here provides an overview of the support available.
“Bringing on fresh research and teaching talent is a key issue for Sahlgrenska Academy, and one that has now taken the form of a collegial discussion on how the Faculty can best work to ensure future development in research and education,” comments Lena Carlsson Ekander, Vice Dean for Research at Sahlgrenska Academy.
Own funding strategy
The goal of any initiatives is to further develop the Faculty by ensuring a steady future supply of excellent researchers. These initiatives aim, among other things, to inspire undergraduate students to apply for doctoral studies, to stimulate recent PhD graduates to do an international postdoc, to attract researchers back home after a period of postdoctoral study abroad, or to support researchers in their efforts to attract the research funding necessary to establish their own independent research team.
A few years ago, the Faculty established the Research Support Office, which aims to increase the Faculty’s external funding and competitiveness by complementing the EU and NIH support offered by the Research and Innovation Office (FIK) at central University level. The Research Support Office works in tangible ways to support individual researchers, with much of its work aimed at researchers who are early in their career.
“For researchers who are working to establish themselves, we offer workshops and courses on grant writing, as well as feedback on applications,” says Ellen Rydberg, head of the Research Support Office, who herself holds a PhD from Sahlgrenska Academy.
An important part of the puzzle is also the individual consultations that the Research Support Office has with different researchers, where they offer guidance and jointly create an individual research funding plan.
“As a junior researcher, it is particularly important to take a long-term approach to research funding so as not to miss out on important career funding. Developing a strategy for determining which external grants they should be able to apply for, and when to apply, reduces the number of ‘last minute applications’, and the focus can instead be on writing good, competitive applications,” says Ellen.
Major investments in the national medical training and research system (ALF)
For several years now, Sahlgrenska Academy has worked in a targeted way, especially together with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, to identify researchers who have the potential to become associate professors and help them overcome obstacles. These efforts have paid off, with a significant increase in the number of associate professors in recent years, and Caterina Finizia, Professor of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases and Director of Research, Development, Education and Innovation at SU, has been instrumental in this work.
The ALF funds in Gothenburg are also heavily invested in researchers working to establish their line of research and their own team at Sahlgrenska Academy. Thanks to good results in evaluations of the national medical training and research system, the ALF system in our region is well funded. In Gothenburg, most of the funds (a total of just over SEK 400 million annually) are used for research projects and research posts, all of which are advertised in open competition.
“In recent years, we have made a special effort to promote postdoc researchers. In addition, half of the ALF project funds are used for salaries, most of which go to doctoral students and early-career researchers,” explains Pro-Dean Henrik Hagberg, who has special responsibility for ALF issues.
In monetary terms, the investment in ALF posts is significant: more than SEK 50 million, especially at postdoctoral level.
“However, eight to twelve years after graduation, competition for grants becomes more difficult, as you start competing with all the senior researchers. Then it is important that all your necessary research qualifications are in place,” says Pro-Dean Henrik Hagberg.
External research funding bodies also issue several special calls for researchers who are just getting established, including the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF) and the Swedish Cancer Society.
“Another opportunity that I think more researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy should be able to access is the ERC Starting Grant. There are plenty of grants that young people can apply for, although they all demand high quality. And of course, we have to maintain quality standards when it comes to our own initiatives also,” says Lena Carlsson Ekander.
Difficulty with quotas
Previously, a slice of the internal grants for project-based doctoral studentships and postdoctoral posts was earmarked for young researchers, with a proportion of the grants awarded to researchers who were only a certain number of years past their PhD. The Future Faculty has argued that the previous quotas should be reinstated, after reviewing the outcome of the project-based doctoral studentships in recent years and noting that it has become more difficult for early-career researchers to get their applications accepted.
One of the reasons why this quota was discontinued was that it caused a huge amount of administrative work. Using data from the Swedish Social Security Agency and other authorities, Faculty Office staff had to count days of parental leave, sick leave and military service for each of the applicants, to determine whether they fell on the right side of the definition of a young researcher.
The definition of what counts as a young researcher is always tricky, says Martin Lagging, Vice Dean for Third Cycle (PhD) studies at Sahlgrenska Academy. Within the Academy, for example, there are currently a number of researchers who, according to their academic age, could be counted as young, but who are already very well established and well funded.
Top-quality doctoral projects
“We conducted an investigation which showed that the approach was simply not sustainable. From the point of view of doctoral students, I also think it is important that the best projects receive this funding, based on peer review. In many cases the two factors of youth and quality can of course coincide, with researchers who are still working on establishing their research lines at Sahlgrenska Academy also having the best projects,” says Martin Lagging.
“In the case of project-based doctoral studentships, the primary objective is to produce solid doctoral projects of the highest possible quality, not to provide career support. And naturally, it is also important that the doctoral students who are recruited get to work on the best possible projects,” states Lena Carlsson Ekander, who adds that the issue of nurturing talent is often raised within the Council for Research (FOR).
ONGOING INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT RESEARCHERS EARLY IN THEIR CAREERS:
SPECIFIC TO SAHLGRENSKA ACADEMY
- Research Support Office – overview of calls for research proposals, advice on long-term funding strategy, feedback on applications, interview training for certain calls, courses and workshops on grant writing
- Future Faculty – monitors issues for researchers early in their academic careers, as well as organizing seminars and the Sahlgrenska Academy Junior Researcher Symposium 2024
- Sahlgrenska Academy International Starting Grant – for recruitment of junior researchers with international experience
- Career Talks – invited speakers provide information and advice on different career choices; new program in the fall
- Sahlgrenska Academy PhD Coach Network (SA-CONE) – postdocs receive leadership training in a coaching approach and then coach doctoral students and other early-career researchers
WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG
- Research and Innovation Office (FIK) – exploitation of research results, partnership agreements, EU and NIH applications, grant writing courses
- Research Leader Initiative course (REAL) – a one-year course for future research leaders, with candidates nominated from their respective departments
- Research Summer School
JOINTLY WITH REGION VÄSTRA GÖTLAND/SAHLGRENSKA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
- Gothia Forum Grants Office: applications where Region Västra Götaland is lead or partner
- Amanuensis program: jointly financed by GU and ALF
- ALF: Research tester sessions
- ALF posts at doctoral and postdoctoral level
- Researcher internships
- ALF: project funding for young project leaders
- ALF: project funding for senior researchers that partly finances the salaries of doctoral students and young researchers
- ALF supports Akademistatistik, which provides free statistical consulting for young researchers
- Seminars – e.g. on the path to an associate professorship
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
