Formas Explore

Formas Explore is the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development's flagship annual open call. It funds freely formulated research projects in Formas' responsibility areas: environment, agricultural sciences, and spatial planning. The program is built for researchers who want room to define the question first and the team structure around that question second. The call runs annually through Prisma and is open to researchers at Swedish higher-education institutions and research organisations, with nonprofit participation also allowed under the program rules. The 2026 cycle opens in September 2026, with decisions expected in the second quarter of 2027. Teams from two or three European countries can also use Weave for simplified cross-border funding, and projects involving researchers at Russian or Belarusian institutions are excluded. The review process is rigorous, with ten specialist panels and final funding decisions made by Formas' Scientific Council. The strongest applications usually show strong scientific quality, clear relevance to sustainability challenges, and an interdisciplinary design that still reads as a coherent project rather than a loose collection of themes.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.