Network Grant — Research Collaboration China–Sweden

Network Grant — Research Collaboration China–Sweden

Supports Swedish and Chinese teams with cross-border grants for healthy aging innovation and skill exchange.

Eligibility · Sweden, China

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Network Grant for Research Collaboration between China and Sweden is a bilateral funding instrument administered jointly by Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council) and its Chinese counterpart. The grant supports researcher mobility and joint scientific activities on a precisely defined topic: Lifespan Health Management, encompassing chronic disease prevention, healthy aging, and multimorbidity. Swedish teams receive 250,000 SEK per year from VR while their Chinese partners simultaneously receive 175,000 CNY per year through the Chinese funding channel. The project term is two years, with a January 2027 start date. Applications were due by 3 June 2026.

On the Swedish side, eligibility requires the applicant to hold a doctoral degree and be employed at the administering organisation at a minimum of 20% FTE. Identifying a specific Chinese collaborator from a research institution in China is mandatory — applications without a named Chinese partner are rejected. The grant covers direct costs of collaboration including researcher visits and workshops. In-person joint activity is required: at least one bilateral workshop of minimum two days duration must take place, and each team must make reciprocal visits of at least one week to the other country's institutions.

The topic restriction is strict: projects must address Lifespan Health Management — broadly, the prevention and management of chronic diseases across the human lifespan, with emphasis on aging populations and multimorbidity. Decisions will be issued no later than the end of November 2026. For Swedish applicants, the grant offers a structured pathway to build durable China partnerships with defined mobility obligations, modest but real bilateral funding, and a clear thematic mandate that aligns with global health research priorities.