The designations are based on a number of criteria, for example whether the research infrastructures have contributed to excellent research, offered broad availability to users, presented a clear utilisation policy, and have a well-developed organisation.
With the designation, the following research infrastructures receive a five-year allocation of university-wide funds worth a total of SEK 37.5 million:
- The Humanities Lab (principal applicant: Marianne Gullberg)
- Lund Nano Lab (principal applicant: Luke Hankin)
- Lund Protein Production Platform, LP3 (principal applicant: Wolfgang Knecht)
Selection process
The university-wide Research Board was responsible for the call for applications and nomination procedure. The Board called on all the faculties to nominate those research infrastructures that they considered suitable.
Of the eleven nominations submitted, it was considered that nine could meet the requirements set by the Research Board to identify this type of research infrastructure. These nine were requested to submit a full application.
The applications were then assessed by a panel of external and primarily international reviewers with extensive experience of working on, and evaluating, research infrastructures.
This evaluation then formed the basis for the recommendation that the Research Board’s working group for research infrastructure, through and together with the Research Board, submitted to the Vice-Chancellor for a decision.
The initiative to introduce the University Platform category originated from the University’s major research quality evaluation, RQ20. This recommended a clearer definition of research infrastructures and that these categories should be linked to funding programmes – and this process was subsequently started. The intention is for this to contribute to a greater emphasis on a long-term perspective, sustainability and consistency, as well as enhanced clarity concerning funding opportunities. The introduction of University Platforms is a very important milestone in this work.
Designation as a University Platform with associated funding applies for the period from 2025 to 2029 with an option for an extension pending an evaluation.
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