WASP-HS and DDLS announce a joint call for seed-money (Call closed)

BACKGROUND

The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg national program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) was launched in 2020 by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW). DDLS is a 12-year funding initiative to support data-driven life science in Sweden with SciLifeLab as the host.

The program will focus on four strategic research areas of data-driven research:

• Data-driven Cell and molecular biology
• Data-driven Evolution and biodiversity
• Data-driven Precision medicine and diagnostics
• Data-driven Epidemiology and biology of infection

SciLifeLab and KAW share the ambition to foster the next generation of life scientists by creating a solid computational and data science base that helps scientists analyze and interpret data patterns swiftly, and to seamlessly integrate their data with the global life science data streams. Central components of such a venture include: education, training, recruiting new talent, sparking collaborations, ensuring responsible research, and engagement in innovation activities.

The Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanities and Society (WASP-HS) is a research program in which researchers tackle the challenges and impacts of upcoming technology shifts and contribute to the development of theories and practices of human and societal aspects of AI and autonomous systems. The particular focus is on the ethical, economic, labor market, social, cultural, and legal aspects of the technological transition.

The vision of WASP-HS is to realize excellent research and develop competence in the
opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems with a strong investment in research in social science and humanities. This multidisciplinary approach is expected to advance our understanding of the challenges and impact of intelligent and autonomous technology, as well as contribute to the development of theory and practice of human and societal aspects of AI and autonomous systems.

AIM AND SCOPE

DDLS and WASP-HS are committed to forming meaningful collaborations to bridge the gaps between the scientific disciplines of DDLS and WASP-HS. The Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation has earmarked funding for such joint efforts in their donation. As a first step in their collaboration, DDLS and WASP-HS now announce a call for seed-money to explore the possibility of developing joint research projects addressing mutually relevant themes. This call is intended to give researchers from DDLS and WASP-HS resources to develop such joint research projects.

The proposed collaborations should address issues of major significance that bridge the thematic profiles of DDLS and WASP-HS. The projects should lead to significant multidisciplinary research activities and include conceptual and/or methodological elements related to both the data driven life sciences on the one hand and the humanities and social sciences on the other. Areas of focus should be related to AI, autonomous systems, or data as well as the ethical, legal, social, economic, cultural or policy issues that arise in their application. This should include the opportunities and challenges of DDLS (related to the four strategic areas listed above) within culture and society and for different stakeholders. The project should be of a visionary nature and have a clear potential for impact for both DDLS and WASP-HS programs.

If relevant the funded projects should make project outcomes open access (where legally and ethically possible) and be prepared to present their findings to the DDLS and WASP-HS communities. Any potential data, resources, and code should be made available in accordance with the FAIR principles. The projects will be expected to follow the national legal and ethical rules and regulations as well as those of their institutions and SciLifeLab where applicable.

Project participants are expected to, where possible, be active contributors and participants in community events, such as seminars, and symposia.

The seed collaborations must have two applicants who already have a PhD; one researcher from each of the fields covered by DDLS and WASP-HS respectively (defined under Who can apply).

WHO CAN APPLY?

Any researcher with a PhD affiliated at a Swedish University or The Swedish Museum of Natural History can apply. Applicants do not need to be currently part of, or funded by DDLS, SciLifelab, or WASP-HS to be eligible to apply. Projects must be jointly led by one researcher in a field covered by WASP-HS and one researcher in a field covered by DDLS. Both applicants need to be actively participating in the project. An applicant can be involved in a maximum 2 applications.

BUDGET AND PROJECT DURATION

We expect to fund between 5-10 projects. Funded budgets are expected to lie typically between 200-500 KSEK for each project. Funding is divided 50/50 between PIs. Projects are expected to last between 12 and 15 months.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The grants will be funded by KAW through KTH. Any necessary co-funding will be
covered by each university/department.

• The KAW funding condition allows a maximum of 18 % of the approved grant to be
used for overhead and premises costs. Additionally, there is a maximum coverage of
50% for LKP (payroll taxes and social security contributions) on gross salary costs.

• All estimated project costs for the project period are to be specified in the budget
template that will be provided.

• The grant will be transferred retroactively for reported costs according to the approved funding, 2022-04-21

• Requisitions and cost reporting will be sent biannually to the SciLifeLab Operations
Office/KTH. KTH as SciLifeLab/DDLS program host university coordinates the cost
reporting and reimbursement processes. All necessary templates will be provided for
these purposes at a later stage.

PROPOSAL STRUCTURE/FORMAT

Submission – how to apply

One person applies as the main PI of the project with a commitment letter from the co-PI (co-applicant).

Application form and word template

1. Name of project
2. Name, affiliations of main and co-PI
3. Project plan (max 2 pages) with clearly specified subject area and impact for both
   DDLS and WASP-HS fields
4. Explanation of the collaborative benefits, the role of each of the PIs and parties and
   future plans beyond the seed funding (max 1 page)
5. Short CV and selected most relevant publications (max 10 publications) only for main
   PI and co-PI (co-applicant) (max 2 pages each)
6. Commitment letter for the main PI, should be signed by the Head of the department.
7. Commitment letter for the co-PI (co-applicant) should be signed by the co-PI (coapplicant) and by the Head of the department
8. Budget (template for overall budget)

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Projects will be evaluated according to the assessment of the combination of the following
criteria:

• Scientific potential for novelty and originality from a data-driven life sciences,
humanities, and social sciences perspectives
• Multi-disciplinarity
• Potential future impact
• Merits of the applicants in relation to their career stage
• Potential synergies in the planned collaboration,
• Merit of ideas and alignment with the visions and goals of DDLS and WASP-HS

We will also consider:

• Open science and data sharing aspects
• Future impact on WASP-HS/DDLS community
• Industrial and societal relevance
• Complementarity of the applications (for example, career stage, geographical
distribution, project topic, gender balance)

MATCHMAKING

In order to facilitate matchmaking, we have set up a webpage where you can describe your own research interests and find potential collaboration partners.