In 2025, the Swedish Research Council submitted its proposal for indicators to be used by the Government to allocate new core funding to higher education institutions (and to reallocate part of the existing funding). Lund University fared well; we had the highest proportion of external funding, and for highly cited publications we came second after the Karolinska Institute. Despite the increase in research funding being much smaller than we and other universities had hoped for, we did receive an increase in research funding of SEK 27 million in 2026, and the provisional increase for 2027 is SEK 15 million. This also opens up opportunities for some new initiatives.
A great many people worked on submitting applications in 2025. By no means were all applications successful, but the University as a whole had many successes. For example, two out of three applications for research centre grants from Forte were approved.
In 2025, the universities also applied for new Strategic Research Areas (SRAs). On 31 March, the Swedish Research Council announced its decision on which applications to propose for funding. Lund University fared very well; of the eight applications in which we were involved, six have been recommended for funding. A 75% approval rate is very good, and of all the universities that were involved in at least two applications, only Linnaeus University, with two out of two approved, fared better.
All these successes were made possible because many researchers put an incredible amount of hard work and creativity into drafting the applications and agreeing on collaborations with other universities and partners. A big thanks to all of you. Many of those who worked on the applications have also expressed their deep gratitude for the support they received, particularly from Research Services, during the complex process of preparing the SRA applications. I agree with that – well done.
The new resources we receive will now be used to carry out innovative and interesting research. We will soon see more research funding in areas such as quantum technologies, semiconductors, crisis preparedness, evidence-based teaching and crime prevention than ever before. To succeed, we will also need new colleagues.
To enable us to attract the most talented colleagues possible to Lund University, the faculties and the University jointly launched the second call for applications under the Lund University Programme for Global Excellence on 9 April. This year, we are advertising a total of 14 assistant professor positions. Of these, four relate to sustainability, whilst the rest relate to the new SRAs and other areas of strategic importance to the University.
Last year, we managed to attract over 1,300 applicants from all over the world to the positions then available within the Lund University Programme for Global Excellence and we recruited 13 outstanding colleagues. Everything is in place for us to be just as successful this year, provided we all work together to spread the word and promote Lund University.
Thanks to our robust research, we have produced numerous highly cited publications, strong grant applications and increased research funding. This also enables us to recruit outstanding new colleagues who can help us make the University even better. We need to keep building on the positive momentum we have gained.
/Per Mickwitz
Read more
- Bibliometrics as a quality indicator
- The Swedish Research Council has decided to recommend that the Government award funding:16 environments are recommended for funds within new strategic research areas
- It is proposed that Lund University will receive funding in six out of eight new Strategic Research Areas
- Lund University to recruit more leading international researchers
- Quality indicator for external research funding (in Swedish)
