Project grant for research collaboration between South Korea and Sweden (Swedish Research Council / VR + NRF)

What you get

As the Swedish project leader, you receive about 90,000 EUR (1,000,000 SEK) for the whole project. The money is spread over 2026 and 2027 and covers a 15-month funding period plus a 12-month follow-up window (27 months in total). This is a fixed amount, not a competition over different sums. Your Korean partner is funded separately by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) with about 155,000 EUR (240,000,000 KRW) over 24 months.

The grant funds joint research by a Swedish and a Korean team that uses artificial intelligence in the life sciences, for example computational modelling, imaging analysis, personalised medicine or disease surveillance. Funding starts in October 2026 and is paid by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsradet) together with the NRF. Purely clinical applications are not funded.

Who can apply

• Your role: You are the Swedish project leader in a joint project with a project leader based in Korea. Both teams apply at the same time.
• Doctorate: You hold a Swedish or equivalent foreign doctoral degree, awarded by the application deadline at the latest.
• Career stage: Both early-career and experienced researchers can apply. There is no age limit and no time limit since your doctorate.
• Where you work: You are employed by an organisation approved by the Swedish Research Council, usually a Swedish university or research institute, for at least 20% of a full-time post throughout the funding period.
• Field: Medicine and health, or natural and engineering sciences, applied to AI tools for living organisms (humans, animals, plants or microorganisms).
• Where you are based, not your nationality: "Swedish" and "Korean" refer to where you work, not your citizenship. Any nationality can apply.
• One application: You may submit only one application per call, and it cannot repeat a project already funded by the Swedish Research Council.

How to apply

You apply through the Prisma system, while your Korean partner submits an identical parallel application to the NRF. Both of you also sign a Letter of Intent, a short document confirming you plan to work together. The application window ran from 4 March to 7 May 2026. Two expert panels, one in Sweden and one in Korea, review the proposals. The two funders then decide jointly, with results announced by the end of September 2026.

How realistic are your chances?

This grant is cut very narrowly. You need an established Sweden-Korea partnership, a matching Korean applicant, and a project squarely on AI in the life sciences, so the pool of eligible teams is small. If you already have a Korean co-leader and a clear project that fits the theme, your prospects are solid, since both sides must approve. Building the cross-border collaboration is the real hurdle, not the amount, which is fixed.