KTH and University of Strathclyde Seed Fund 2025

The call for proposals opens on 8 September

The call for proposals for KTH and University of Strathclyde Seed Fund 2025 opens on 8 September. The deadline is 31 October 2025. You will find the application link here once it is open.

With these funds, the Universities intend to support collaborations in the following key research areas:

1. Energy systems, decarbonisation and just transitions for achieving Net Zero
2. Industrial management and technical transformation
3. Artificial Intelligence
4. Life Sciences
5. Sustainable Development

This call gives an opportunity for academics to engage in emerging networks, which are being actively developed.

Proposals will be assessed and recommended for selection by a panel composed of academic staff from the participating Universities, starting with each University taking the lead on assessment and recommendation of its own proposals.

Projects and funding

• There must be more than one researcher i.e. academic member of staff, post-doctoral researcher, or PhD student from each partner on the project team. For further information please see eligibility criteria.
• The seed funding granted will be up to 60 000 SEK/£5,000 per institution in each project.
• The fund is open to proposals on the research areas listed above, across all disciplines. Interdisciplinary applications are encouraged.
• Projects will be funded for a period up to 18 months (with review after 12), starting from January 2026.
• Proposals must clearly demonstrate how there will be follow-up and sustainability beyond the initial funding period.

Costs and proposal

• Proposals may include but are not limited to; workshops (face-to-face / virtual / hybrid), symposia, staff exchanges, research seminars/presentations and formation or development of a collaborative network.
• Eligible costs include travel and subsistence, consumables and the cost of research assistants e.g. PhD students, research associates and technicians which are directly related to the project. Existing staff time including the lead PI’s and Co-PI’s time cannot be costed to the project. The fund does not support equipment, scholarships, conference attendance, or tuition fees. 
• Each institution will pay funds directly to its researchers. Approval of expenditure will be governed by each University for the portion of funding provided. 
• There can be no transfer of funds between institutions. For example, travel costs and costs for subsistence for KTH staff should be allocated in the KTH budget whereas costs of hosting a workshop at Strathclyde should be costed in the Strathclyde budget. 

*Directly Incurred costs are project-specific (i.e. they arise as a direct consequence of the project taking place).

** Directly Allocated costs are not project-specific (i.e. they are incurred whether or not the project takes place), and are estimated at project level e.g. Investigator time, Technician time (where not directly incurred).

Eligibility

• Academic staff members from all disciplines and at all levels are welcome to apply. We particularly encourage early career researchers to apply. We encourage proposals from interdisciplinary teams where possible.
• Applicants do not need to have a permanent post, but they must have an existing contract at the time of application, and that contract must cover the full period of the grant.

Timeline

Submission of proposals

This is a joint call and a single application should be submitted. Please fill out this form to send in your proposal. The form should be filled out by the Strathclyde PI.

The full proposal is comprised of the following elements:

• Applicants’ details: affiliations from each institution with contact details

• PI
• Co-Investigator information
• Project team information
• Research Proposal: Details of the project.

• Title of the research project (max. 10 words)
• Abstract (project design and rationale): A brief description of the project. (max. 150 words)
• Proposed timeframe (project design and rationale): Project dates, a project timeline and a description of the planned activities. (max. 300 words)
• Project clarification: description of the project.
• Collaborator complementarity and impact (max. 300 words): A description of how the proposed activities combine mutual areas of interest and strength and the added value of this combined expertise. Include any corresponding deliverables, e.g. a publication, blog, a meeting, a report etc. Also include any involvement of early-stage/early career researchers and/or graduate researchers/PhD students and any direct anticipated benefits to those researchers themselves.
• Capacity for future collaboration/funding (max. 300 words): A description of the potential future collaborations and outcomes that will be possible as a result of having undertaken the current collaboration. For example, joint publications, joint supervision of graduate researchers, joint teaching, joint patent applications, joint reports to governments, joint funding applications etc.
• Potential impact (max. 300 words): The anticipated benefits of the collaboration to the faculty member’s other active research projects and on strengthening the overall partnership between the universities. In addition, improvement and changes within/between the university/universities, the local community, wider society, country or globally.
• Proposed budget: A breakdown of the cost of the activity e.g. RAs, flights, travel, hotels etc
• Declaration and approval: Confirmation you understand the rules and regulations of the fund.

Support documents

You should also include the following ​​​​​support documents:

• Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae: (not more than 1 page) of the PI and Co-PIs with a selected list of publications. Title the file: [Surname] CV.
• A letter of support: From your Line Manager or Head of Department to apply for the grant, including an explanation of how the project aligns with your Department/ Faculty’s strategy. Title the file: [Surname] Support Letter

Send all these documents to fiona.doyle@strath.ac.uk  with the subject KTH/Strathclyde Seed Funding Application [Surnames].

Evaluation criteria

A joint review panel will assess each proposal according to overall academic merit and the following criteria:

• Project design and rationale (Abstract and Proposed Timeframe): How clearly presented and justified is the basis for, and design of, the project? How do the proposed activities assist with establishing new and emerging research collaborations? (20% of the evaluation score).
• Collaborator complementarity and impact: What is the added value of the new or emerging collaboration? How do the proposed activities combine mutual areas of interest and strength? What are the anticipated benefits of involving early career researchers and/or graduate researchers/PhD students? (20% of the evaluation score).
• Capacity for future collaboration/funding: What is the potential for this project to foster ongoing collaboration, and through what mechanism(s)? How well does the proposed collaboration plan to access external funding? (30% of the evaluation score).
• Potential impact: What desired outcomes do the planned activities set out to achieve? What are the anticipated benefits of the activities to local or international communities? (30% of the evaluation score).

Reporting after project completion

All awardees must, as a condition of receiving an award under this call, complete a 3,000 words narrative report that describes the outcomes, nature of collaboration, project impact, and opportunities for future collaboration that evolved from their project.