News: Oct 04, 2022
Chalmers allocates 750 000 SEK for 2023 to support a broad engagement of Chalmers researchers in the Centre for Sustainable Urban Futures.
To actively contribute to Urban Futures and foster broad engagement among researchers at Chalmers, the Call for Urban Futures 2023 is open for two types of projects:
a) seed projects
b) embedded researcher in practice.
The ambition of both is to develop knowledge and collaborations of long-term value for Urban Futures and its partners.
Seed projects develop and test ideas through, for example, pre-studies or pilot projects around challenges and areas of interest for Urban Futures. Embedded researcher in practice allows for initiation of closer collaborations between academia and practice through longer visits in one of the non-academic partner organizations of Urban Futures.
Through long-term co-operation and engagement in Urban Futures the center’s partners take a joint responsibility to meet the societal challenges our cities and regions are facing. All partners are all welcome to initiate projects in close collaboration with Chalmers researchers. However, seed money from this call can only be used for Chalmers researchers.
The partner organisations include:
• Chalmers University of Technology,
• University of Gothenburg
• IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
• RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB
• The Gothenburg Region (GR)
• City of Gothenburg
• County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland
• Region Västra Götaland.
The funds are managed by the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE) in accordance with the principles of the Chalmers Areas of Advance, with interdisciplinarity throughout Chalmers, challenge-driven focus and cross-sectoral cooperation.
The call for seed projects and embedded researcher in practice conducted 2023 is now open. See the details of the call below.
Submission deadline: 11 November 2022
For more information, please contact Liane Thuvander, Professor, Architecture and Civil Engineering and co-ordinator for Chalmers engagement in Urban Futures, liane.thuvander@chalmers.se.
Seed project or Embedded researcher in practice
Important dates
Submission deadline: 11 November 2022
Notification: 9 December 2022
Projects must be finished at latest: 31 December 2023
Chalmers together with its partners, is engaged in the Centre for Sustainable Urban Futures (Urban Futures): a platform for sustainable urban development. All activities within Urban Futures are codeveloped by researchers and practitioners aiming to realize fair, green and accessible cities. Through long-term co-operation and engagement, the partners of Urban Futures take joint responsibility to meet the societal challenges our cities and regions are facing.
To actively contribute to Urban Futures and foster broad engagement among researchers at Chalmers, the Call for Urban Futures 2023 is open for two types of projects
a) seed projects or
b) embedded researcher in practice.
The ambition of both is to develop knowledge and collaborations of long-term value for the partners involved.
Urban Futures has identified two focus areas: 1) A just climate transition: challenges and opportunities and 2) Organizing and leadership for sustainable urban development. The seed
projects and the embedded researcher in practice stay should link to one of the focus areas.
Seed projects
A seed project may be a pre-study, pilot study, in-depth literature study or similar and should result in a larger project application. The overarching goal of the seed projects is to support involvement and up-scaling of activities.
Embedded researcher in practice
This year we’ll try out a new approach to initiate closer collaborations between academia and practice. Researchers from Chalmers can apply for funding to cover own salary during visits in one of the non-academic partner organizations of Urban Futures. Visits may be planned in different ways depending on how this fits the researcher and the partner organization, for example as full time during a shorter period down to one day per week during a longer period.
The main purposes here are (1) to improve the researcher’s understanding of tasks performed at the non-academic partner as well as its long-term strategic challenges; (2) to strengthen networks between academic and non-academic partners; (3) to identify relevant research questions and, if possible, establish new collaborations and research projects.
Details of the call
• The project shall include at least one researcher from Chalmers and at least one of the public partners (Göteborgsregionens kommunalförbund, Göteborgs stad, or Västra Götalandsregionen) from the Urban Futures consortium. Involvement of several partners is encouraged.
• For seed projects, the project leader should be from Chalmers.
• The project shall contribute to advance knowledge and collaborations for sustainable
urban development, in line with the priorities of Urban Futures.
• The budget should be between 50 kSEK and 200 kSEK, including indirect costs (OH). The budget can only cover personnel costs. The total budget of the call is 750 kSEK.
• Money from this call can only be used for Chalmers researchers.
• The project/stay as embedded researcher in practice must be finished in December 2023.
Proposal form
The application should be maximum 2 pages long, font Times–roman, size 11. In addition, max 1 page can be used for references. A one-page CV of the main applicants should be included (max 2 CVs). Proposals that do not comply with this format will be desk rejected (no review process).
The proposal should include:
a) the project title and the project abbreviation
b) name, e-mail, and affiliation (department, division) of the project applicants
c) the project budget and timeline
For seed projects, the following information should be added
d) the research challenges addressed and the objective of the project; interdisciplinary aspects should be highlighted; also the applicant should discuss how the project contributes to
sustainable urban development and relate to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
e) the project description
f) the expected outcome and the plan for further research and funding acquisition
For embedded researcher in practice, the following information should be added
d) a motivation for the relevance and added value of the research visit in relation to potential previous collaborations between involved parties, including expected outcomes
e) a letter of intent from a non-academic partner organization stating the willingness and capacity to receive the researcher and a contact person
Applicants may establish their own contacts with one of the partner organizations but may also be helped by the Urban Futures coordinators for each organization.
Deliverables
For seed projects, we expect a one A4 page report about the project's results.
For embedded researcher in practice, we expect no written report, but a presentation of lessons-learnt to Urban Futures as well as participation in the evaluation of this initiative.
Contact public partners in the Urban Futures Consortium
Early dialogues with representatives of the public partner organizations of Urban Futures is strongly encouraged. For initiating contacts and identification of project ideas, please contact the coordinators:
The Gothenburg Region, GR: Amie Ramstedt, amie.ramstedt@goteborgsregionen.se
City of Gothenburg: Lena Risfelt, lena.risfelt@stadshuset.goteborg.se
Region Västra Götaland, VGR: Line Rondestvedt De Verdier, line.rondestvedt.de.verdier@vgregion.se
County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland (only for seed projects!): Siri Himmelman, siri.himmelman@lansstyrelsen.se
More information about the partners in the Urban Futures and contact details can be found here.
Evaluation Criteria
• Innovative research idea
• Possibility of further research, cooperation, and joint funding applications
• Budget and project feasibility
• Relevance for Urban Futures and Chalmers research strategy
• Credibility of collaboration between academia and public partners
Submission:
The application should be submitted as one PDF document to: liane.thuvander@chalmers.se
The proposals will be evaluated by Liane Thuvander (ACE), Jonas Nässén (SEE), Fredrik Nilsson (Vice President of Campus and Sustainable Development, ACE), and representatives from Urban
Futures.
Questions can be addressed to Liane Thuvander: liane.thuvander@chalmers.se
