Korea-Sweden Research Cooperation Programme: for students from Sweden who want to study in South Korea

The aim of the Sweden-Korea Research Cooperation Programme is to increase the competitiveness of universities and other higher education institutions by developing and establishing international partnerships. The programme supports projects of high scientific quality which are clearly contributing to the activities of participating educational establishments.

Applicants should be working at a university in Sweden and have obtained their PhD. Projects may last for up to four years, conditional upon the acceptance of an interim report after two years. The proposed project must encompass at least one Swedish and at least one Korean party. A parallel application is to be submitted by the Korean party to the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). Applicants may have on-going projects in the Initiation Grants programme, but otherwise there must not be any on-going STINT projects.

The ideal partnership project will have activities encompassing research as well as higher education, although STINT is able to support pure research partnerships. It is particularly important for young researchers and doctoral students to participate in the exchanges. In this programme, STINT wants to encourage new collaborative patterns and will not prioritise long-standing partnerships. The partnership must be balanced, i.e. the personnel exchange should not be primarily in one direction.

· The applicant is active at a university or college in Sweden and has a PhD.

· The applicant has no on-going Institutional Grants projects (or equivalent).

· The application explains how the planned partnership contributes to the activity of involved educational establishments, i.e. the benefit to contributing parties in each country is described.

· The proposed project starts no later than October in the year after the call closes and has a planned duration of no more than four years.

· The budget relates only to costs for internationalization activities, such as short or longer stays abroad for those involved in the partnership and for organizing workshops, conferences or similar to strengthen and further develop the partnership.

· The budget does not incorporate salary costs (however remuneration equivalent to a salary is permit-ted for doctoral students and postdocs for up to six months’ stay abroad).

· The budget does not include any other overhead costs than maximum SEK 100,000 per year and full-time equivalent for doctoral students’ and postdocs’ stays abroad (if remunerated through the STINT grant, see previous item in the checklist). Shorter periods and part-time commitments decrease the cost accordingly.

· The final version of the application has been read and approved by all parties involved.

• The annual budget can be a maximum of SEK 200,000. In other words the maximum budget of a four-year project can be SEK 800,000 (the Korean partner applies for a corresponding amount to NRF, for a maximum project total of approximately SEK 1.6 million over four years).
• The budget for overheads should follow STINT’s rules (see Conditions).
• The budget may only include costs for internationalisation activities, such as short or longer stays abroad for those involved in the partnership and for organising workshops, conferences or similar activities to strengthen and further develop the partnership.
• The budget may not include salary costs. However, compensation equivalent to a salary may be granted to doctoral students and postdocs for up to six months’ stay abroad.