Each year, the Faculty of Science and Technology announces a call for applications for part of its research grant as research time for professors and associate professors at the Faculty’s departments. The call is referred to as Faculty-funded Research Time (FFT). The call is usually announced in March with a deadline for applications in May.
Eligibility
Professors and associate professors who have been permanently employed for at least three years at the Faculty of Science and Technology can apply for research time for 25, 50 or 75 per cent of their position.
Awarded FFT grants are transferred to the department from the first month for which the applicant has been permanently employed for three years as an associate professor or professor. This means you can apply for FFT the year before you reach three years as a permanently employed associate professor or professor.
An assistant professor is eligible to apply for FFT at the first call after promotion to associate professor. In some cases, there is special bridging funding for the time between promotion and approved application. See the section on bridging below.
A lecturer (Swedish: adjunkt) who has been permanently employed for three years and who is promoted to associate professor is eligible to apply for FFT. An adjunct associate professor or adjunct professor, on the other hand, is not eligible to apply for FFT.
Other periods of employment as substitute associate professor, for example, or for positions other than associate professor or professor are not included in the three years required for eligibility.
When funding for research time in a specific area is announced within the University, you may be asked to apply for these specially allocated funds if you are eligible and are active in the relevant research area in order to be considered eligible to apply for FFT.
Rules on the use of FFT
Research time is usually allocated in periods of three to five years. The allocated funding is personal and cannot be transferred or saved except for periods of parental leave.
Granted FFT is a guarantee of university-funded research time for a certain part of your employment. If you already have this type of funding for research time, that amount of funding is deducted from the awarded FFT. This can include when you receive grants from another faculty at the same time as an FFT period or if you received grants for research time when you were recruited.
The funding is transferred to the department and funds that have not been used within the granted period are returned to the Faculty.
Rules for leave
FFT is calculated for a full-time position and is scaled down proportionally in case of leave or if the employment is not full-time.
Parental leave is an exception. In this case, granted funds are retained at the department but must be used immediately when the individual returns after parental leave. If this is not possible, the funds are returned to the Faculty. Additionally, you cannot be granted new FFT while retained FFT is used. This exception also applies to reduced working hours to care for a child. In those cases, however, an individualized solution may be necessary.
Special assignments
If an applicant already has other assignments that do not allow all FFT to be used, then only a lower percentage of FFT can be allocated. For example, if an individual who is head of department for 50 per cent is granted 75 per cent FFT, only 50 per cent of the FFT funding can paid out. The FFT funding for this applicant can, however, be increased to 75 per cent if the assignment as head of department ends during the granted FFT period.
Application to extend FFT for the current granted period
If your qualifications significantly improve during a current granted FFT period, you can apply to increase your FFT for the remaining period. In that case, the applicant must be able to show that they have significantly improved their qualifications since the current FFT period began.
An application for a completely new FFT period is not allowed if FFT for the following year is still in place.
FFT guarantee for professors
Professors at the Faculty are guaranteed at least 25 per cent faculty-funded research time. Each year, the Faculty follows up research time for professors to ensure that at least 25 per cent of faculty-funded research time is available, regardless of whether an application for FFT has been submitted.
If a professor with permanent research funding ends their employment or retires, the department retains the funding for a period to fund recruitment of a replacement. If the newly recruited individual is internal, the department keeps the funding for three years. If the newly recruited individual is external, the department can keep the funding for six years.
Bridging time for assistant professors
Assistant professors appointed on or after 21 April 2021 may be eligible for bridging support for the period from the start date of their appointment as associate professor until the first occasion when FFT could be granted in a regular call.
Applicants for promotion should contact the faculty’s research coordinator well in advance to obtain the application documents used in the most recent FFT call. When submitting the promotion application to the faculty coordinator responsible for the Appointments Committee, an FFT application must also be submitted to the faculty’s research coordinator. The faculty dean decides whether bridging support can be granted and at what level it should be.
The assessment process
Applications are assessed by the Faculty’s research committee, and the formal decision is taken by the Faculty Board. The decision is made in the autumn of the same year as the call was announced.
The allocation of funds is based on the following merits, which are also reflected in the application form:
Examples
Here are some common situations.
Head of department:
An employee who is head of department for 75 per cent cannot receive more than 25 per cent FFT while serving as head of department, even if they have been granted a larger percentage of FFT. However, if the assignment as head of department ends during the current FFT period, the FFT can increase for the remaining FFT period.
Part-time employment:
An associate professor with a 50 per cent position at Umeå University who is on leave for 20 per cent has been granted 50 per cent FFT. The employee thus works 80 per cent of a 50-per cent position, which corresponds to 40 per cent, and receives half of this as FFT, that is, 20 per cent of a full-time position.
The three-year rule:
A permanently employed associate professor or professor should apply for FFT in the first year before their permanent employment reaches three years. For example, an associate professor is employed permanently from 1 September 2025, making them eligible for FFT from 1 September 2028. The associate professor should thus apply for FFT in the 2027 call. If the employee is awarded 75 per cent FFT, the department receives 4 months of 75 per cent FFT for 2028 and 12 months of 75 per cent FFT for the remaining years of the granted period.
Employed with other grants from Umeå University:
An associate professor has received research time financed by grants from another faculty corresponding to 50 per cent of full time while also being granted 50 per cent FFT from the Faculty of Science and Technology. FFT only applies as a guarantee of university-funded research time and since such grants have already been allocated, the department is not awarded any FFT based on this specific decision during the period.
Parental leave:
FFT is normally granted for periods of three to five years and cannot be saved for subsequent years after the granted period. Funds that are not used during the period are returned to the Faculty. An exception is if the employee is on parental leave. In that case, funds can be retained at the department. However, unused funds due to parental leave are to be used by the applicant as research time in conjunction with returning from parental leave. This decision is made in consultation with the head of department. New FFT cannot be granted at the same time as retained FFT funding is being used up.
The content on this page has been translated from Swedish into English. If the English version differs from the original, the Swedish version takes precedence.
