Distribution of research funding resources ahead of 2014

At today’s management group meeting I will initiate a discussion about the distribution of research funding resources ahead of 2014. New faculty funding totalling SEK 36 million has been made available by the Swedish Research and Innovation Bill. This is accompanied by the effect of the price and salary indexing and freed-up strategic initiatives.

In my view, the funds that are available for distribution ahead of 2014 should mainly be used as basic funding for the schools to channel to their various departments and to fund strategic initiatives at approximately the same level as last year. I would like to see the new basic funding being used for new faculty appointments and being distributed to departments with a low level of basic funding but strong operations.

In recent years the number of faculty appointments have failed to keep pace with other types of appointments. Now that we have a certain amount of leeway, we should create a number of entirely new posts. The focus should be mainly on new assistant professorships in broad subject areas. And by imposing a requirement on the inclusion of strong female applicants for the posts I also hope to precipitate an improvement in equal opportunities.

The funding that is earmarked for distribution to schools includes a separate item consisting of co-funding for EU projects. Co-funding has increased on the back of the sharp rise in EU funding in the last few years. The funding previously came mainly from the central contribution margin levied on salary expenses.

I intend to initiate an discussion suggesting that the co-funding of research from the contribution margin is removed in favour of all research funding coming from direct government grants. This would lead to an equivalent reduction in the contribution margin and lead to a lower central levying of overhead costs. Transparency in the system will also increase as result of fewer funds being in circulation.

At the time of writing we do not know the exact amount that is available for distribution. We are currently investigating the possibilities for freeing up resources from other initiatives and whether a certain amount of surplus budgeting is required.

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