The program has been announced 10 times, and a total of 288 Fellows have been appointed. The Foundations have decided to announce the program in 2028, 2030, 2032 and 2034.
In close cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and the Swedish Academy, the Foundations have created a program that will provide resources for Sweden’s most promising researchers to develop their work. The program addresses young researchers in medicine, natural sciences, engineering and technology, humanities and social sciences.
The purpose of the Wallenberg Academy Fellows program is to give young researchers working conditions that enable them to focus on research and tackle difficult, long-term research questions.
The Swedish Academies will evaluate and select the most promising researchers, and the universities will then take long-term responsibility for these individuals.
Swedish universities are invited to nominate candidates for the program.
Application dates
The application period starts on the 14th of August 2028.
Universities are invited to nominate candidates to the program by 15 September 2028 at the latest 1 pm.
Decisions will be announced in June the following year.
Nominations for the program
Each institution is allowed to nominate a maximum number of applicants as listed below:
| University | Number of nominations |
| Stockholm University | 16 |
| Karolinska Institutet | 16 |
| Uppsala University | 16 |
| Lund University | 16 |
| University of Gothenburg | 12 |
| Chalmers University of Technology | 12 |
| KTH Royal Institute of Technology | 12 |
| Linköping University | 12 |
| Umeå University | 12 |
| Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | 12 |
| Luleå University of Technology | 6 |
| Others | 4 |
The university should strive for 40 % of the nominations to be from the underrepresented sex.
Only one internal candidate can be nominated for each international nomination (within the above maximum number of nominations per university).
Who can be nominated?
The program is open to researchers in all academic disciplines: medicine, engineering and technology, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and also in the interfaces between them.
Candidates nominated in 2028 must have obtained their PhDs after 1 January 2019. An exception may be made for nominees whose PhD date back to before 2019 and who on request can document a leave of absence due to parental leave, military service or extended sick leave that has taken place since the PhD exam.
A researcher cannot simultaneously hold a Wallenberg Academy Fellows grant and a recruitment package as part of the Foundation’s molecular medicine initiative (WCMM centra) or the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems Program (WASP), Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems Program - Humanities and Society (WASP-HS), Data Driven Life Science (DDLS), Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology, (WACQT) Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC), Wallenberg Initiative for Materials Science and Sustainibility (WISE) or Wallenberg Initiatives in Forest Research (WIFORCE).
The nominees must spend at least 80% of their position and working time at the host university.
Nomination procedure
A candidate cannot be nominated by more than one university. A candidate must, when nominated by a specific university, approve the nomination.
Documents attached to the nomination, all in English except for the Brief popular scientific summary in Swedish, must include the following (1A4 page = 3500 characters including blanks):
- The person’s research qualifications, i.e. CV (max two A4 pages) covering positions held, awards won and postdoctoral research stays, if any.
- A list of all publications in peer-reviewed journals, with the ten most important publications marked. If relevant, an H-index (Web of Science, Scopus or Google Scholar) together with number of publications and number of quotes the H-index is based on, is attached. Google Scholars preferably use Harzing’s Publish or Perish. For nominations in the field of humanities, a complete list of published articles should be enclosed, attach with CV.
- A short (max two A4 pages) account of the person’s career, i.e. primarily his or her academic achievements together with information of present support from Universities or other financial support, attach with CV.
- A project proposal (max 6 A4 pages).
- Each nomination must contain a brief presentation of the reasons why the nominee´s activities are considered a key component of the research profile of the university and a description of the nomination process, i.e. the arguments, evaluations and processes on which the nomination was based (max two A4 pages), attach with Vice Chancellor’s certification.
- A brief popular scientific summary in Swedish (max one A4 page).
- External candidates attach a motivation stating the reasons why he/she wants to establish his/her research at the nominating university (max 1 A4 page), attach as Other appendices.
- Instead of a budget form, a specification of amount applied for is attached, please see below “The financing of the Foundation will include”.
The nominations and applications must be registered electronically on the Foundation’s website.
The financing of the Foundation will include:
- Grants of SEK 9 000,000 SEK for five years for researchers within theoretical disciplines.
- Grants of SEK 11 500,000 SEK for five years for researchers within theoretical disciplines, who at the time of nomination are working abroad*.
- Grants of SEK 10 000,000 SEK for five years for researchers within experimental disciplines.
- Grants of SEK 12 500,000 SEK for five years for researchers within experimental disciplines who at the time of the nomination are working abroad*.
- Researchers, who at the time of nomination are working abroad*, can apply for additional grants (startup grants) of SEK 1,500,000, 3,000,000 or 4,500,000. The level is decided by the nominating university and co-financing with the same amount is required.
- Researchers, who at the time of the nomination are working abroad* can also apply for moving expenses of SEK 100,000.
* Nominated within the category “Researcher working abroad at the time of the nomination”, have not been employed and not received salary or other financing in Sweden during the last four years.
The appointed researcher will be employed by the nominating university, and a relevant position must be guaranteed. The nominees must spend at least 80 % of their position and working time at the host university.
The universities co-fund the initiative by guaranteeing that 50% of the researcher’s salary in experimental disciplines and 25 % of the researcher’s salary in experimental disciplines is covered by the university.
25 % of the university's funding can be teaching.
A university may choose to fund the researcher’s entire salary, thereby helping to give him or her a larger unencumbered research grant. The university will also co-fund the initiative by contributing to indirect costs and rent over and above the potential contribution from the foundation for indirect cost and rent. Up to 20% of the awarded amount can be used for indirect costs and rent.
After five years, the universities can nominate their appointed researchers to compete for another five years funding. A maximum of 60 % of originally granted applications can receive an extension. If the support is prolonged, SEK 11 000,000 will be granted for five years.
Evaluation process
All assessment of nominations is handled under strict confidentiality. That is, information about the evaluation process in addition to the information below must not be disclosed to any third party.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and the Swedish Academy, will be responsible for the evaluation process.
The selection process will be implemented in five different evaluation panels: medicine, engineering and technology, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities/religion.
The panel members are appointed by the Academies and have broad academic expertise.
One of the five subject areas above must be specified in the nomination. Only one area can be specified for each nomination.
The five panels will evaluate and rank incoming nominations. The five ranking lists will then be submitted to the Foundation, which will decide on the number of grants in each area.
According to the Foundation’s funding guide for both individual- and research project grants, only basic research is supported, and scientific excellence is the only review criteria. Furthermore, all the Foundation’s programs, including WAF, apply the rule that if a female and a male researcher end up with the same scientific grade, the underrepresented gender is prioritized. The researchers total funding can, in specific cases, be applied as a boundary criterion, which mean that if two researchers end up with the same scientific grade, the research group’s total financing in relation to the research plan can be decisive.
Publishing
Research funded by the Foundations must be published with open access, that is, published articles must be archived in openly searchable databases. The respective university's rules apply to open access. The additional cost for this can be taken up as a direct cost in project applications.
Closing date for nominations and applications
Complete nominations/applications must be received by the Foundations no later than 1 pm on September 15, 2028.
Full documentation for each nominee must be submitted electronically, by the universities, to the Foundations in accordance with the routines for grant applications. The complete budget form is not required with the nomination, only submit a brief description of the amount applied for.
Decision
The decision will be announced in June 2029.
Additional information
Contact persons at the universities