Co-funding - central and three-part

Last changed: 04 December 2024

Many of SLU's grant contracts with external funders do not have full coverage for the costs in the contract budget. Normally, responsibility for co-funding of contracts lies with the respective department. If the co-funding requirement is large, it may prevent a department from concluding the contract. To give SLU departments greater opportunity to participate in such projects, there are SLU common guidelines for co-funding. These guidelines consist of central co-funding and three-part co-funding. The guidelines does NOT include VR infrastructure and Wallenberg Academy Fellows, see expandable menu below.

Common requirements

Common to central and three-part co-funding:

The co-funding requirement must be calculated within the limits set by the grant contract in combination with SLU's common rules. Co-funding requirements based on financial rules arise mainly due to at least one of the following reasons:
- The funder does not provide full coverage of indirect costs and premises costs.
- The funder requires co-funding of direct costs (in addition to premises costs).

In cases where the funder requires co-funding of direct costs (in addition to premises costs), the department must primarily co-fund with existing appropriation (in-kind) and/or with other external contributions. All such opportunities for co-funding must be exhausted before central or three-part co-funding can be utilised.

Central co-funding

Central co-funding means that the entire co-funding requirement, after other co-funding possibilities have been exhausted, is covered by SLU centrally. 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:

  1. EU Framework Program - European Research Council (ERC)
  2. EU Framework Program - Research & Innovation Action (RIA)
  3. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) - Project (granted in the call "Projects offering high scientific potential")
  4. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) - Scholars
  5. Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) - Program
  6. Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) - Future Research Leaders (FFL)
  7. Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) - Framework grants
  8. Sweden's Innovation Agency (Vinnova) - Competence Centre

The types of grants that are included in the criteria for central co-funding is reviewed by Grants Office. Comments on the types of grants included can be sent to cofunding@slu.se. The current list of grant types were decided by the Vice Chancellor on 2019-06-25.

The grant types Swedish Research Council's (VR) national infrastructures and Wallenberg Academy Fellows (WAF) have their own SLU decisions on co-funding, see menu VR infrastructure and Wallenberg Academy Fellows below.

Administration of central co-funding

The administration of central co-funding includes a Pre-announcement of possible need for central co-funding, and if the funder awards the grant application, an Application for central co-funding.

Pre-announcement of possible need for central co-funding

It is important that the project leder as early as possible:

  • Informs his / her head of department about a grant application that may be relevant for central co-funding.
  • Takes the support of an economist at the department in preparing the project calculator (see below).

The pre-announcement must include the following:

  1. An application calculation created in SLU’s project calculator (excel). The calculation must be in the currency used by the funding body.
  2. The latest version of the grant application (pdf).

The Head of Department must submit the pre-announcement to cofunding@slu.se no later than two weeks after the deadline of the grant application.

For two-step grant applications the pre-announcement is to be submitted no later than two weeks after the deadline of the second step.

If the department wishes to be informed about the possibility of central co-funding at an early stage of the application process, it is important that the Head of Department sends the pre-announcement as early as possible. The pre-announcement takes about two weeks to process.

The pre-announcement will be checked to ensure that the must-requirements for compliance are met, and the Head of Department will be notified by e-mail of the results of the check.

Application for central co-funding

The application must contain the following:

  1. E-mail notification about the pre-announcement according to above.
  2. 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.
  3. The grant agreement/contract (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 to ensure that the must-requirements for compliance are met. The Vice-Chancellor will then decide whether to approve the central co-funding.

Three-part co-funding

Three-part co-funding means that a department´s co-funding requirement, after other co-funding possibilities have been exhausted, is divided into three equal parts between the department, faculty and SLU centrally. In addition to the must-requirements under Common requirements above, the following criteria will be assessed before a department can benefit from three-part co-funding:

Assessment of whether the project is in line with both the faculty and SLU’s priorities.

Assessment of whether the co-funding requirement is so large, that the department is unable to cover it alone. The indicative amount is that a department’s co-funding requirement, after other co-funding possibilities have been exhausted, is at least 600 TSEK per year on average.

Administration of three-part co-funding

The administration of three-part co-funding includes a Pre-announcement of possible need for three-part co-funding, and if the funder awards the grant application, an Application for three-part co-funding.

Pre-announcement of possible need for three-part co-funding

It is important that the project leder as early as possible:

  • Informs his / her head of department about a grant application that may be relevant for three-part co-funding.
  • Takes the support of an economist at the department in preparing the project calculator (see below).

The pre-announcement must include the following:

  1. An application calculation created in SLU’s project calculator (excel). The calculation must be in the currency used by the funding body.
  2. The latest version of the grant application (pdf).

The Head of Department must submit the pre-announcement to cofunding@slu.se no later than two weeks after the deadline of the grant application.

For two-step grant applications the pre-announcement is to be submitted no later than two weeks after the deadline of the second step.

If the department wishes to be informed about the possibility of three-part co-funding at an early stage of the application process, it is important that the Head of Department sends the pre-announcement as early as possible. The pre-announcement takes about two weeks to process.

By submitting the pre-announcement, the Head of Department approves their third of the co-funding.

After ensuring that the requirements for compliance are met, the pre-announcement will be sent to the faculty’s Research Officers for the faculty´s assessment in line with the criteria described above. The faculty will respond to the pre-announcement in one of two main ways:

  1. The faculty is prepared to receive an application for three-part co-funding based on the contract budget if the grant application is awarded.
  2. The faculty sees no possibility for three-part co-funding. This means that co-funding from the central level is not possible.

Application for three-part co-funding

The application must contain the following:

  1. The faculty’s response to the pre-announcement according to point a above (in pdf).
  2. 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.
  3. The grant agreement/contract (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.

After ensuring that the must-requirements for compliance are met, the application will be sent to Research Officers at the faculty and when necessary the Division of Planning for the faculty´s and when necessary the Vice-Chancellors management group´s assessment in line with the criteria described above. The faculty notifies the department of the results of the assessment with a copy to cofunding@slu.se. If the result of the assessment is that the department is entitled to three-part co-funding, the vice-chancellor then decides on the central third, and on an assignment to the faculty to co-fund their third.

Other co-funding from faculties

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.

VR Infrastructure and Wallenberg Academy Fellows

The Swedish Research Council's (VR) national infrastructures and Wallenberg Academy Fellows (WAF) have their own SLU decisions on co-funding. Information about VR infrastructures can be found in SLU’s guidelines for managing research infrastructures (SLU:s riktlinjer för hantering av forskningsinfrastruktur). The co-funding principle for WAF is explained on the staffweb page dedicated to Wallenberg.