News: Aug 31, 2023
Chalmers allocates 750 000 SEK to support a broad engagement of Chalmers researchers in the Centre for Sustainable Urban Futures. The call for 2024 is open now.
To actively contribute to Urban Futures and foster broad engagement among researchers at Chalmers, the Call for Urban Futures 2024 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. Chalmers directs its funding towards researchers from Chalmers. For the 2024 call Urban Futures offers the possibility to engage and provide funding for researchers from the University of Gothenburg.
The partner organisations include:
- Region Västra Götaland
- County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland
- The Gothenburg Region
- City of Gothenburg
- Chalmers University of Technology
- Gothenburg University
- IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute,
- RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB.
The funds are managed by the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers in accordance with the principles of the Chalmers Areas of Advance.
Submission deadline: 27 October 2023
Questions?
Please, contact Liane Thuvander, coordinator for Urban Futures at Chalmers, liane.thuvander@chalmers.se.
Important dates
Submission deadline: 27 October 2023
Notification: 10 November 2023
Projects must be finished at latest: 31 December 2024
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 co-developed 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.
Urban Futures has identified five directions to focus on: Governance for Fair Climate Transition; Transboundary knowledge and solutions for climate adaptation; The Contribution of Art and Culture to Planning and Urban Development; Democratization of housing, construction, and shared living environments; and Transdisciplinary Co-Production of Knowledge for Sustainable Transition. The seed projects and the embedded researcher in practice stay should link to one of the directions. The ambition of both is to develop knowledge and collaborations of long-term value for the partners involved.
To actively contribute to Urban Futures and foster broad engagement among researchers at Chalmers, the Call for Urban Futures 2024 is open for two types of projects:
A) seed projects or
B) embedded researcher in practice.
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
We offer also to apply for funding 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 (The Gothenburg Region, City of Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland, County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland) from the Urban Futures partnership. 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 described above.
• The budget should be between 50 kSEK and 200 kSEK, including indirect costs (OH). The budget should mainly cover personnel costs. The total budget of the call is 750 kSEK.
• Money from this call can only be used for Chalmers researchers but if researchers from University of Gothenburg are involved additional funds are available (50-100 kSEK) which allows a total project budget up to 300 kSEK.
• The project/stay as embedded researcher in practice must be finished in December 2024.
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 and, when relevant, CV from GU participant). 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 or relate to the proposals from the partner organisations below.
Deliverables
For seed projects, we expect a one A4 page report about the project's results.
For embedded researcher in practice, we expect 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:
Ida Boström, ida.bostrom@goteborgsregionen.se
Several opportunities are available within areas such as governance, policy, climate, architecture, social sustainability and green infrastructure. Contact Ida Boström or Liane Thuvander for more information.
City of Gothenburg:
Mie Svennberg, mie.svennberg@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!):
Ann-Louise Hulter, ann-louise.hulter@lansstyrelsen.se
Evaluation Criteria
• Innovative research idea
• New project/new partner constellation, no continuation or co-funding of ongoing research
• 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 (Chalmers coordinator Urban Futures, ACE), Jonas Nässén (SEE), Henriette Söderberg (Head of Department ACE), Sara Pettersson (Manager Urban Futures, and adjunct representative Merritt Polk (GU).
Questions can be addressed to Liane Thuvander: liane.thuvander@chalmers.se
