Today the government presented the research bill Research and innovation for the future, curiosity and benefit which sets the direction for research policy for the next four years. The stated starting point was excellence, internationalization and innovation. In practice, the emphasis is on strategically selected technologies, high-tech research infrastructures and a greater concentration of research funds to certain research groups.
We see a risk of an increased division between strong and weak research environments. In the long run, this will mean that students at some universities will not have the same proximity to vibrant research environments, which will lower the quality and status of these programs.
Higher share of external funding
The bill concerns the period 2025–2028 and in total, annual research funding will have increased by SEK 6,5 billion by 2028. Of this, SEK 4,9 billion will be distributed through calls for proposals via state research financiers such as the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova. The government specifies in quite great detail how the funds will be distributed.
Excellence is a key word for major research investments in the bill. Just over SEK 1,2 billion will finance “clusters of excellence for groundbreaking technology”. The aim is to “develop future technology areas and strategic technology areas that can strengthen Swedish business and, in the long term, Sweden’s competitiveness.” In addition, SEK 750 million will finance investments in groundbreaking research and centers of excellence. There will also be investments in MAX IV, ESS and digital research infrastructure.
But the bill also contains smaller investments: For example, the government instructs the Swedish Research Council to allocate 5 million kronor for strengthening biobanks, 10 million kronor for a national polar research school, 12 million kronor for research on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, 15 million kronor for “research in primary care, etc.” In total, around 50 specific research initiatives are identified, which must be some kind of record in how much a government believes it knows better than scientists what research is needed.
With the research bill, we also receive information about the research funding system, which has been up for discussion in recent years. Today, research is funded by a large number of authorities. In 2023, the Research Funding Inquiry suggestions about reducing the number of state research funders. Now the government has announced that there will be a review of this, and some funding may be transferred to the “primary research funders”. The Swedish Research Council and Vinnova will also be tasked with investigating a joint system to simplify the administration of applications for research funding. However, it does not appear that there will be a case for merging some of the larger research funders, which the previous investigation suggested and which SFS was very positive about.
More demands on basic funding
The research bill states that direct basic funding from the state to higher education institutions will be subject to competition to a greater extent. There is already a certain redistribution of basic funding based on how well higher education institutions succeed in attracting external research funds and to what extent the research is published and cited in scientific journals. Now the government has announced that more basic funding will be distributed based on such measures. In addition, more basic funding will be distributed based on how well the higher education institutions' researchers succeed in attracting EU funds. The model thus means that the state allocates more money to research environments that already have stronger funding. SFS is critical of this, mainly because it creates greater differences between different higher education institutions' ability to conduct research, which also affects the quality of the education.
The base allocation will also be distributed to a greater extent based on strategic research areas. The funds will be distributed to the research grants of the universities after a call for proposals and quality evaluation carried out by the Swedish Research Council in dialogue with other research funders. This means that only certain universities will receive these funds and the concentration of base allocations will therefore increase. The research areas included are:
- Health, life science, and artificial intelligence
- Quantum technology
- Polar research
- Climate-related research
- Crisis preparedness and total defense
- Practical professional research on crime
- Excellence in school
- Research on advanced materials
A total of SEK 400 million will be allocated within this initiative.
However, one positive piece of news is that individual education providers also receive a higher minimum level of the basic grant, which promotes the connection between education and research, primarily in weaker research environments. For a few years now, all state higher education institutions have received a basic grant that corresponds to at least SEK 17,500 for each full-year student. Individual education providers have been guaranteed a lower grant of at least SEK 12,000 per full-year student, but now this amount is also being increased to SEK 17,500.
But overall, even core funding is subject to competition and higher education institutions must increasingly adapt their operations to which research projects can lead to future core funding. Even basic funded research is not really free.
Academic freedom to be investigated
The government announces that support for academic freedom for researchers and teachers will be strengthened. In practice, this is done through changes in the criticized Act on the Ethics Review of Research, and by reviewing the administrative burden resulting from the regulations that apply to universities and colleges.
Another welcome piece of news is that the government intends to investigate the protection of academic freedom. The government has announced that an investigator will be tasked with, among other things, proposing measures to strengthen the protection of teachers and researchers at Swedish universities. This is very welcome. Hopefully, this can be done in the form of strengthened protection in the constitution. At the same time, we would like to add that students' academic freedom should have stronger protection.
The government will also appoint an inquiry to analyze the effectiveness of the current form of government for state universities and colleges. SFS believes that this is a welcome initiative. If the form of association is changed in the long term, it is important that the real influence of students and teachers increases within the operations.
A bill: United Employment
The research bill is precisely a bill, i.e. a proposal to the Riksdag that usually contains legislative proposals. Usually, the emphasis of research bills is on upcoming initiatives and investments, but this year's report also includes a concrete legislative amendment.
The amendment aims to increase the possibility of joint employment for people who share their position between an educational institution and a workplace in other parts of the private or public sector. Today, the rules on joint employment are limited to professions within medicine, healthcare and dentistry. It is now proposed to remove these restrictions. SFS sees this as positive.