Strategic initiatives at the LTV Faculty – call for 10 doctoral student projects

This requires, among other things, an influx of doctoral students who can contribute to rejuvenation of our staff and thus to our future research development.

Purpose, objective and scope of the call

This initiative aims to remedy the lack of doctoral students by providing financial support for high quality doctoral student projects. The support will be directed towards researchers in their early careers (newly appointed docents from 2017 or later). Today's financing models with a high proportion of external funding poses a larger challenge for researchers in their early careers when it comes to simultaneously financing both their own salaries and doctoral students. These challenges are also large for subject areas where there is less external funding opportunities compared to others, which often are characterised by a rather large amount of education compared to research. By supporting early career researchers, the initiative also ties to the goals of strengthening and developing the research on a long-term perspective and of strengthening the scientific foundation in research and education included in the strategy of the LTV faculty.

The aim is to support 10 doctoral student projects in total, divided into 4 categories:

·   One project will receive coverage for 75 % of the salary costs during 4 years (max 700 tkr per year) for a doctoral student whose studies will be directed towards strengthening of the long-term development and competitiveness of the agricultural industry in Scania, especially concerning the utilisation of:

1.     new technology that is gentle on the soil, animals, and humans

2.     new or improved product quality

3.     new production sectors or methods.

·  Three projects will receive coverage for 75 % of the salary costs during 4 years (max 700 tkr per doctoral student per year) for a doctoral student whose studies will be directed towards improving the knowledge base for the development of organic production in Sweden regarding:

1. organic crop cultivation,

2. animal husbandry,

3. open-field or greenhouse fruit and vegetable cultivation.

·  One project will receive coverage for 75 % of the salary costs during 4 years (max 700 tkr per year) for a doctoral student whose studies will be directed towards developing the research in horticulture.

·  Five projects will receive coverage for 75 % of the salary costs during 4 years (max 700 tkr per doctoral student per year) for a doctoral student whose studies will be directed towards developing the research in at least one subject area within the faculty.

Only one application per main applicant will be considered for funding. Note that only those who have been appointed as docents from 2017 or later and do not hold a professor position are eligible as main applicants.

The successful applicant, and thus intended main supervisor of the doctoral student, will be required to participate in a supervisory network as well as in advanced courses on supervision, internationalisation, intercultural communication, and leadership.

Time plan and process

• Applications must be submitted by 1 February 2024 to lotta.malmborg@slu.se.
• The decisions will be sent out by 15 March 2024, the latest.

A review panel – consisting of the dean, vice dean for doctoral education, faculty research officer, head of department at the Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, and 2-3 external reviewers with expertise within the width of topics covered by the faculty – will assess the applications and propose prioritisations. The faculty officer responsible for doctoral education will act as secretary in the review panel. The dean decides which applications will be granted funding based on suggestions from the review panel.

Once an application for a project has been approved, the main applicant/supervisor can initiate the recruitment of a doctoral student.

Requirements and assessment criteria

The following requirements must be fulfilled by each project application:

• The main applicant and intended supervisor has to be an employee at the LTV faculty with a docentship from 2017 or later.
• The main applicant and intended supervisor has to be part of an established research environment.
• The project has to include a research idea of high quality and be suitable for a doctoral student project. The project should be of high relevance related to one or several of the four categories of the call.
• Contribute to the development of strategically important research environments that renew, complement and strengthen the department(s), the faculty and SLU.

The review panel will assess the applications based on the extent to which they fulfill these requirements.

The application must include:

• Name and departmental affiliation of the main applicant and intended supervisor as well as the name and departmental affiliation of any co-applicant and co-supervisors.
• Information for which of the four categories mentioned in the scope that are applicable for the project.
• Justification of how the project contributes to the purpose, objective and scope of the call (max 1/2 of an A4 page).
• Justification of the established research environment intending to host the doctoral student (max ¼ of an A4 page).
• Justification of how the project meets the requirements and assessment criteria above (max 1/2 of an A4 page).
• A research plan (max 4 pages) of high relevance related to the one or several of the four categories of the call. The research plan should include the following headlines:

o   Summary/Abstract

o   Background

o   Objectives and research questions

o   Method

o   Expected outcomes/deliverables

o   Suitability of the project as a PhD project
(this includes a description of the suitability, including a risk assessment of the project)

o   Motivation of promotion of licenciate project
(if the application aim at promoting a licenciate student to a doctoral student, this should be clearly stated and motivated in the research plan)

• Timetable (granted projects should have an estimated project time of 4‑5 years, depending on the amount of teaching conducted by the doctoral student).
• Short CV for each applicant, including certificate for docentship and a list of supervised doctoral students (please specify main supervisor/co-supervisor, starting date, and if the student has graduated or not).
• A letter from the head of the department of the main applicant/supervisor guaranteeing the funding of the part of the salary of the doctoral student not covered by this initiative (25 % of the salary plus running costs).