Today, the government presented the research bill Research and innovation for the future, curiosity and benefit which sets out 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 means that students at some universities will not have the same proximity to living research environments, which lowers the quality and status of these educations.
Higher proportion of external grants
The bill concerns the period 2025–2028 and in total the annual research funding will have increased by SEK 6,5 billion in 2028. Of this, SEK 4,9 billion will be distributed through calls for proposals via government research funders such as the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova. The government specifies at a fairly large level of detail how the grants are to be distributed.
Excellence is a key word for major research investments in the proposal. Just over 1,2 billion kroner will finance "clusters of excellence for pioneering technology". The purpose is to "develop the technology areas of the future as well as 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 pioneering research and centers of excellence. There are also investments in MAX IV, ESS and digital research infrastructure.
But the bill also contains smaller investments: The government instructs the Swedish Research Council, for example, to allocate SEK 5 million for strengthening biobanks, SEK 10 million for a national polar research school, SEK 12 million for research on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, SEK 15 million for "research in primary care, etc. In total, some 50 specific research initiatives are singled out, which must be some kind of record in how much a government thinks it knows better than the researchers what research is needed.
With the research bill, we also get information about the system for research funding, which has been up for discussion in recent years. Today, research is funded by a large number of authorities. In 2023, the Research Funding Investigation left suggestions on reducing the number of government research funders. Now the government announces 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 seem that it will be relevant to merge some of the major research financiers, which the previous investigation suggested and SFS was very positive about.
More demands on the bass allowances
It appears from the research bill that the direct base grants from the state to the higher education institutions must be exposed to competition to a greater extent. Already today, there is a certain redistribution of the base grants based on how well the universities succeed in attracting external research funds and to what extent the research is published and cited in scientific journals. Now the government announces that more basic funding must be distributed based on such measures. In addition, more basic funding will be distributed based on how well the university's researchers succeed in attracting EU funds. The model thus means that the state pushes more money to research environments that already have stronger funding. SFS is critical of this, mainly because it creates greater differences between the different universities' ability to conduct research, which also affects the quality of the educations.
The base grant will also be distributed to a greater extent based on strategic research areas. The funds will be allocated to the higher education institutions' research grants after a call for proposals and quality evaluation carried out by the Swedish Research Council in dialogue with other research financiers. This means that only certain universities will be allowed to take part in these funds, and the concentration of base grants will thus increase. The research areas included are:
- Health, life science, and artificial intelligence
- Quantum technology
- Polar research
- Climate-related research
- Crisis preparedness and total defence
- Practical professional research on crime
- Excellence in school
- Research on advanced materials
A total of SEK 400 million is to be distributed within this investment.
One positive piece of news, however, is that even individual education providers 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 institutions of higher education have received a base grant that is at least equivalent to SEK 17 for each full-year student. Individual education providers have been guaranteed a lower grant of at least SEK 500 per full-year student, but now this amount is also increased to SEK 12.
But all in all, even the base funding is subject to competition, and the universities must increasingly adapt their activities to which research projects can lead to future base funding. Even the basic funded research is not really free.
Academic freedom must be investigated
The government announces that support for researchers and teachers' academic freedom is to be strengthened. In practice, it happens through changes in the criticized law on ethical review of research, and by reviewing the administrative burden resulting from the regulations that apply to universities and colleges.
It is also welcome news that the government intends to investigate the protection of academic freedom. The government announces that an investigator will be tasked with i.a. propose measures to strengthen the protection of teachers and researchers at Swedish higher education institutions. This is very welcome. Hopefully this can take place in the form of enhanced protection in the constitution. At the same time, we would like to add that also students' academic freedom should have stronger protection.
The government must also appoint an inquiry to analyze the effectiveness of the current form of authority for state universities and colleges. SFS considers it a welcome initiative. If the form of association changes in the long term, it is important that the real influence of students and teachers increases within the business.
A Bill: Unified Employment
The research bill is precisely a bill, i.e. a proposal to the Riksdag which usually contains legislative proposals. Usually, the emphasis of the research proposals is certainly on upcoming initiatives and investments, but this year's report also includes a concrete change in the law.
The amendment to the law aims to increase the possibility of combined employment, for people who share their position between a university and a workplace in other parts of the private or public sector. Today, the rules regarding combined employment are limited to professions in medicine, care and dentistry. These restrictions are now proposed to be removed. SFS sees this as positive.