Graduate school in bioeconomy

Formas has a government assignment to establish a ten-year national graduate school in bioeconomy, and is announcing funding for the first five-year phase of this graduate school's coordinating consortium and the first rounds of doctoral student admissions. The call is aimed at consortia of universities and research institutes that represent the thematic and disciplinary breadth necessary to address key challenges for the development of the bioeconomy. The aim of the graduate school is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the Swedish bioeconomy by strengthening the supply of expertise in the field. The graduate school will place great emphasis on the knowledge needs of the business sector, and the business sector is expected to participate actively in the establishment and implementation of the graduate school. The coordinating consortium must be able to demonstrate relevant contacts with industry in forestry, agriculture, food, textiles, chemistry, plastics and the blue industries, as well as a good understanding of the skills needs of these industries. The doctoral projects must be based on issues relevant to industry, which can include issues relevant to an individual company or common to an industry or cross-industry challenges. Doctoral students can be employed by industry, universities or research institutes and will be admitted in rounds.