The research grant from CVS amounts to SEK 250 000. The collaboration requires funding from the other partner for an equivalent amount. The deadline for applications is 31 January.

Call for targeted research support

The Centre for Welfare Studies (CVS) is a centre at the University of Borås that analyses the conditions and development of the welfare society. CVS's analysis and research activities provide cutting-edge expertise on the opportunities and challenges facing the modern welfare society, particularly in terms of governance, organisation, and management.

As a centre, its activities are based on three pillars: It is university-wide, interdisciplinary, and collaborative. This means that researchers from all four of the university's Faculties are represented in various analysis and research projects, that the analyses require the exchange of expertise from different subjects and disciplines, that CVS collaborates with other centres, analysis and innovation centres both inside and outside the university, that the projects are created in dialogue with external actors and are more public than regular research activities.

As part of its university-wide work, CVS now announces for the first time a research grant that can be applied for a project collaboration between CVS and other centres, R&D Sjuhärad Welfare, or Science Park Borås.

The aim of the project is to contribute to new thinking and provide synergies that promote knowledge development towards a socially sustainable welfare society. One idea is that the project could provide a basis for future “cross border” collaborations between, for example, innovation, development analysis, and research.

The funds granted by the CVS amount to SEK 250 000. The requirement for applying for research support is that the other party (the centre, R&D Sjuhärad Welfare or Science Park Borås) contributes an equal amount, i.e. SEK 250,000, and that the project is within the framework of the call's theme. In addition, the project should address one of the focus areas that CVS is tasked to analyse (see below).

CVS focus areas - themes of the cooperation project

Cross-sectorial and collaborative organisation for a sustainable welfare society.

CVS focusses on the opportunities and challenges that the modern welfare society faces in terms of governance, organisation, and management. One way to gain knowledge about development is to investigate how public and private actors, civil society actors work together to organise and develop sustainable well-being.

In this area, CVS is looking for projects that focus on issues of collaboration and organization for a sustainable living environment or cross-sectoral collaboration to counter polarization between social groups and areas/places. Both site development for a sustainable sparsely populated area, as well as urban development for a sustainable living environment and economic development, are interesting study objects. How the challenges of welfare are defined in collaboration between different private, public and civil society actors and what this collaboration entails in terms of issues of power and interpretive prerogative is another central theme area.

Governance, management, and organisation for competence provision in welfare.

This focus area concerns the issue of future recruitment and competence provision in the welfare sector and how welfare can meet these challenges in the long term. The challenge is linked to a broader and crucial question of how to maintain living standards in the welfare society in the long term. This requires an increase in both younger and older people's labour force participation, and a reduction in unemployment among foreign-born people.

In health care, strategies for recruiting workers educated abroad are currently in place, and a developed management and organisational work with integration. Here, CVS likes to see projects that follow and study similar organisational work or that investigate how welfare organisers work with "age management" to retain the older workforce or develop generational transfer. Projects may also aim to examine the efforts made to enlist a younger generation into welfare professions with an understanding of what constitutes pull factors (what attracts) for young people into these professions, as well as identify possible push factors (with risk of lack of participation in education and professional activities).

The challenges and opportunities of digitalisation for the organisation of welfare and its professions and users.

A third focus area within CVS is the implication of digitalisation for organising welfare services; users and professions; and collaboration and organisation. Questions about what AI will mean for different aspects of welfare professionals’ work (e.g. in health care, police work, social services), and what governance and leadership factors mean in this context are important. Studies may aim, for example, to examine the impact of digital decision support on professional autonomy and competence; steering of work settings; meaning in professional practice and daily working life. How can AI be perceived as an opportunity or threat for the professional practice of different professions, users and clients' rights?

Terms and conditions and who can apply?

Applications for research support can be made by employees at the University of Borås who have innovation, analysis or research projects linked to a centre at the University of Borås, R&D Sjuhärad Welfare, or Science Park Borås. The application is then formally submitted by the partner with the signature of the manager of the partner.

The research grant is intended to carry out a limited analysis, innovation or research task and is jointly owned by the partners with 250,000 SEK each. The sum of SEK 500,000 is used for salary costs (including overhead costs) and overheads related to the implementation of the project. CVS's grants do not pay for premises costs and the grant must not normally lead to a reduction in the applicant's time for professional development.

The funds must be used as soon as possible after a decision has been received, but no later than 30 June 2025. During the course of the project, it will be presented and discussed both within its own platform and at CVS research workshops. CVS workshops are designed to build a strong research environment and support the projects underway in the centre.

The project should result in at least one peer-reviewed journal publication, in addition to popular science dissemination. The results of the project will be presented to the CVS steering group, the platform's own steering group/partners and/or within the framework of the open seminar series The socially sustainable welfare society.

Assessment

The applications are assessed by the CVS steering group, which includes representatives from Region Västra Götaland (VGR, chair), the Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, the Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business, the City of Borås, Science Park Borås (SPB), and the Centre for Cultural Policy Research. To be eligible for funding, the project must be relevant to both CVS and the other party's field of activity and clearly relate to the above focus areas. In addition, the applications are assessed on the basis of the project's innovative contribution, societal relevance, clarity of the problem formulation and thoughtful implementation. Another important assessment criterion is that the application meritoriously describes how the collaboration between the parties is used and benefits knowledge development towards a socially sustainable welfare society.

Decisions on who has been awarded a grant will be made at the CVS steering group meeting in February 2024.

Form of the application

The application describes the purpose and implementation of the project, including an outline budget, expected results and forms of reporting (e.g. journal publication, seminar, public presentations), societal relevance and participation.
The application has a maximum of 8,500 characters including spaces. The application is accompanied by the following:

• a summary of the project, maximum 1,000 characters including spaces
• one page with the CVs of all participants, indicating their qualifications and five most important publications (do not include Swedish personal identification numbers), maximum 2,000 characters including spaces.

The application, abstract, and CVs of the project members (including publications) are to be merged into one PDF file and sent to cvs@hb.se no later than 31 January 2024.

Applications that do not follow the specified instructions will not be assessed.