On the day before Midsummer eve, the Swedish government decided to stop funding the Swedish Research Council’s (VR’s) development research through the budget for international development cooperation. VR can according to this new decision not enter into any new contracts for development research from June 30, 2023. The current call cycles for VR development research are hence stopped.
VR has contacted the applicants directly with this information. Read more on VR:s website here. At the time of writing it is not yet clear if the Sustainability and Resilience call will continue through Formas without the VR funds. When decided it will be communicated to the applicants.
Projects already granted from previous VR development research calls will get continued support until the end of the ongoing contracts. That includes ongoing research, postdoc, research schools and network projects, and the support to the NorDev 2023 and DevRes 2024 conferences that will continue according to contracts.
SLU:s vice-chancellor is aware of the situation and is discussing it with other vice-chancellors and within SUHF. SLU Global is providing support with background information. You are welcome to contact global@slu.se with good examples of VR development research that has had an impact.
The decision decreases Swedish research funding available for development research. It has implications for the long term, but is also unfortunate in the short term for researchers that devoted time and energy into this years’ call.
SLU Global supports SLU's work for global development to contribute to Agenda 2030.
SLU Global
Vice-Chancellor's Office
Agricultural Sciences for Global Development
PO Box 7005, SE-750 07 Uppsala
Visiting address: Almas Allé 7
global@slu.se www.slu.se/slu-global
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us in social media.