Stiftelsen Sunnerdahls Handikappfond - graduate student funding

Sunnerdahls Handikappfond doctoral grant (Doktorandanslag)

This grant will fund a four-year PhD project. You will receive 900,000 SEK per year (about 79,000 EUR), which amounts to a total of 3,600,000 SEK (approximately 316,000 EUR) over the entire period. These funds will be used to support a PhD student researching children and young people with disabilities, with a particular focus on how their health, learning abilities and everyday lives can be improved. The grant is provided by the Swedish foundation ‘Stiftelsen Sunnerdahls Handikappfond’ and is awarded only once every four years.

The Foundation supports research in the social sciences, education and medicine that breaks new ground and benefits whole groups of children, not just individual cases. Projects with a practical, application-oriented approach are welcome.

Who can apply

• Who submits: The applicant is a senior researcher acting as the principal supervisor. The PhD student does not submit an application directly; the supervisor applies for funding for a planned or already commenced PhD project.
• Topic: Your project is about children and young people with disabilities or functional impairments.
• Field of study: Primarily social sciences, education and medicine at a high academic level.
• Where you work: You work at a Swedish university or research institution.
• Nationality: Any nationality can apply.
• Not funded: Work that has already been paid for by the state, a region or a local authority is not eligible for funding.

How to apply

The next round begins on 1 September 2026. The supervisor must submit the application to the Foundation’s office in Tyresö by 2 November 2026. The Foundation will decide at the end of May 2027 who will receive the grant.

How realistic are your chances?

This research grant is very narrowly defined. It funds a single four-year PhD project on a specific topic, which is only advertised once every four years, meaning that the pool of eligible experienced researchers is small. If your project clearly aligns with the focus on disability research and meets high academic standards, you have a genuine chance of success; however, as only one award is granted per cycle, competition remains fierce. Previous grants have been awarded to professors at the Karolinska Institute, Uppsala University and other Swedish universities, which indicates the standard expected.