Co-funding - central and three-part

Central co-funding means that the entire co-funding requirement is covered by SLU centrally. The purpose for this is to:

• create incentives for researchers and departments throughout SLU to apply for, lead, and participate in grant-funded research projects that aim for excellence, bring high prestige and national and international visibility
• facilitate international research collaborations
• facilitate and support strategic recruitment of excellent researchers

In addition to the must-requirements under Common requirements above, the following criteria must be met for a department to benefit from central co-funding:

• The grant contract must have SLU as coordinator
  
  
• The grant contract must be for one of the following types of grant (valid for 2025-2027):

1. EU's Framework Programme - European Research Council (ERC)
2. EU's Framework Programme - Research & Innovation Action (RIA)
3. EU's Framework Programme - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Postdoctoral Fellowships
4. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation(KAW) – Project (granted in the call "Projects offering high scientific potential")
5. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) – Wallenberg Scholars
6. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) – Wallenberg Academy Fellows (WAF). (KAW requires that SLU funds half of the salary costs. However, SLU's management has made a decision that the entire salary cost will be covered by central co-funding.)
7. Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (MMW) – projects

• In cases where the funder requires co-funding of direct costs, the department should primarily co-fund with existing faculty grants (in-kind) and/or with other external contributions. All such opportunities for co-funding must be utilised before central co-funding can be considered.

Administration of central co-funding

Once the funder has approved the grant application, an application for central co-funding is prepared, which must contain the following:

• A contract calculation created in SLU’s project calculator (excel). The calculation must be in the currency used by the funding body. If that currency is other than SEK the currency rate is set at the date of basis for Vice-Chancellor's decision. Loss or profit based on changed currency rate stays with the department.
• The grant agreement/contract (pdf)
• The grant proposal (pdf)

The Head of Department must send the application to cofunding@slu.se no later than two weeks after the grant agreement/contract has been signed.

The application will be checked by Grants Office to ensure that the must-requirements for compliance are met and notifies the Head of Department of the result. The Vice-Chancellor will then decide whether to approve the central co-funding.

Three-part co-funding only covers deficits of indirect costs and locality charges. The deficit is divided into three equal parts between the department, faculty and SLU centrally.

The aim is to improve the opportunities for all SLU departments to participate in grant-funded projects with a high need for co-funding of OH (indirect and locality charges).

The must-requirement under Common requirements above must be fulfilled for three-part co-funding to be possible. In addition, the following criteria will be assessed before a department can benefit from three-part co-funding:

• whether the project is in line with both the faculty and SLU’s priorities
• whether the department’s co-funding requirement for indirect and locality costs is at least 600 TSEK per year on average.

The amount limit as above applies to SLU's part of the project as a whole. This is to facilitate collaborative projects that span across departments and faculties.

Any requirements from the funder for co-funding of direct costs are not covered by three-part co-funding. In some cases, a special routine can be required (see below under "Special requirements from the funder - processing in a special order").

Administration of three-part co-funding

Once the funder has approved the grant application, an application for three-part co-funding is prepared, which must contain the following:

• A contract calculation created in SLU’s project calculator (excel). The calculation must be in the currency used by the funding body. If that currency is other than SEK the currency rate is set at the date of basis for the Vice-Chancellor's decision. Loss or profit based on changed currency rate stays with the department.
• The grant agreement/contract (pdf).
• The grant proposal (pdf)

The Head of Department must send the application to cofunding@slu.se no later than two weeks after the grant agreement/contract has been signed.

By submitting the application, the Head of Department approves their third of the co-funding. If the Head of department wishes to receive advance notice of the possibility of three-part co-funding at an early stage of the application process, the administrator at the SLU Grants Office should be contacted via cofunding@slu.se.

After ensuring that the requirements for compliance are met, the application is sent to the faculty’s Research Officers for the faculty's assessment. The faculty Dean decides in one of two main ways:

• The faculty agrees to three-part co-funding.
• The faculty sees no possibility for three-part co-funding.

A decision according to alternative two means that co-funding from central level is not possible.

The faculty's Research Officer sends the decision to the administrator at the SLU Grants Office. If the faculty has granted co-funding, the Vice-Chancellor then makes a decision on the remaining third of the three-part co-funding.

In calls for research grants with high relevance to SLU that are not covered by the rules for central or three-part co-funding, the University management may in some cases take a special decision regarding co-funding. The Division for Planning and Research Support then prepares the matter and provides the necessary decision-making information for the University management to take a desicion.

In addition to the SLU common solutions for co-funding as described above, the faculties may have their own co-funding solutions for their respective departments. Please contact your Research Officer to find out about what applies within your faculty.