Collaboration on the future use and conservation of forests through industry/collaboration PhD students

Step 1: We start with a Webinar on 1 October where companies, authorities and other stakeholders are invited to give short presentations of their views on challenges and research needs for future sustainable use and conservation of forests. A presentation will be given live during the webinar and supplemented with a submitted text or powerpoint/similar. All SLU employees with an interest in these research questions are welcome to participate. Those who cannot participate will be able to access written material from the webinar afterwards. Please note that the webinar is held in Swedish.

Step 2: SLU researchers who are authorised to be the main supervisor of a PhD student and are interested in an industry/collaborative project write a brief 1 A4 page overview of a PhD project. No potential external party is mentioned here, only a summary of the research project. Submission to the Graduate School no later than 5 November (email to the Graduate School coordinator, see contact details below). The short project descriptions are collected in a project portfolio, which is then sent to the external parties that have registered their interest in an industrial/collaborative doctoral student. The research should be of a natural science and basic science nature.

Step 3: A full-day physical meeting on 25 November at Näringslivets Hus in Stockholm in a joint arrangement between SLU and the Swedish Forest Industries (Skogsindustrierna). Here, the researchers present their project ideas to potential collaboration partners, who can ask questions during the presentations and/or during various mingling sessions during the day. Representatives from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) will participate.

Step 4: Industry, government and other stakeholders rank the research projects presented in steps 2-3. Based on this ranking, the most interesting PhD projects are selected and these researchers are invited to submit full applications. Exact information on how to prepare and evaluate the application will be communicated later, in general it will be similar to the previous call for doctoral projects in the Graduate School. The deadline for full applications is 31 January 2025.

Step 5: Incoming applications are reviewed and evaluated, and a weighted assessment is made where the scientifically highest-ranked projects are matched against the industry/collaboration partners' ranking. Here, the Research School can initiate further contact between researchers and potential industrial/collaboration partners. When all parties are satisfied with their matching, a decision on the allocation of industrial/collaborative PhD projects will be made by the Future Silviculture Research School Steering Committee, estimated to take place in March/April 2025.

Each industry/collaboration PhD student is admitted to, and completes, a PhD programme at a department at the Faculty of Forest Sciences, SLU where the main supervisor of the PhD project is employed. The Research School provides a grant of 2.4 million SEK for salaries to the party outside SLU where the doctoral student is employed, as well as an operating grant of 500 000 SEK to the main supervisor/department at SLU. Read more about what the WIFORCE Research School offers here.

The PhD student is hired on a permanent position by the respective company/authority/stakeholder-party. Exemptions for permanent employment are granted for NGOs (voluntary organisations). The PhD project itself lasts for 5 years with 80% study activity (4 years) and 20% time (1 year) for internship. From the research school, 2.4 million SEK is paid for contributions to salary funds, at least according to SLU:s salary ladder for doctoral students. The companies/collaboration partners must be financially strong enough to minimise the risk of them disappearing during a PhD period. Each doctoral student's supervisory team must include at least one co-supervisor, as well as access to a reserve supervisor, at the industrial/cooperative partner. The host partner must also have its own demonstrated capacity to actively participate in research projects.