What can be applied for?
The LiU profile area MATTER is motivated by the pressing market and societal need for accelerated sustainable materials development, which requires translational research with complementary expertise from physics, chemistry, engineering, AI, circularity, and more.
This call focuses on investments in scientific instrumentation and hardware targeting technology development and innovation. This includes equipment and infrastructure, such as testbeds for proof-of-concept, and equipment for design of scalable and sustainable synthesis methods, or instruments for characterization of materials and processes.
The funding shall enable a technology transition from TRL2 to TRL3-6, and a granted proposal will receive a contribution of 200-400 kSEK. A granted proposal requires a minimum of 1:1 co-funding from the applicant.
Who can apply?
This call is open for researchers with a PhD, today employed for at least 50.1 % at IFM, ITN, IDA, and IEI, and that are employed for the duration of the grant (1 year).
Application information
The applications process is divided into two stages. Stage 1 is a one-page written proposal according to the instructions below. In stage 2, selected proposals will be invited to pitch the idea to the MATTER review committee on 27 May, and the results will be announced by the beginning of June. Applicants with a proposal moving to stage 2 will be notified at the latest 6th of May 2025. We have the intention to fund up to 10 projects in 2025.
The written proposal in stage 1 should include:
- A one-page summary of the proposal, using the proposal template, including a table of contents image and a motivation on how the investment contributes to materials science for sustainable technologies.
- The proposal summary should include
o the societal problem that the investment is addressing,
o a description of the instrumentation, equipment, or method development, and
o how the investment contributes to a TRL advance. - A standard two-page CV including a link to Google Scholar and 5 publications relevant to the project.
Submit the proposal as a one-pdf document to emma.bjork@liu.se by 15 April at the latest.
Reporting
A final report on the investment should be submitted by 31 May 2026.
Timeline
2025-03-10 Call opens
2025-04-15 Call closes
2025-05-06 Selected proposals invited for pitches
2025-05-27 Pitching to evaluation committee
2025-06-05 Decision communicated
2026-05-31 Report submitted