Are you an early career researcher, Ph.D. candidate, or advanced master’s student within the VREF Next Gen Scholars Community? VREF is pleased to announce that the call for the Next Gen Study Visit Grants (SVG) is open for applications.

This grant offers a unique opportunity to strengthen your research skills, build academic capacity, and engage in collaborative work at a host university. In line with VREF’s mission to develop knowledge for sustainable urban mobility and equitable access , the study visits are designed to concretely contribute to scientific knowledge building within VREF’s current international research programs.

Focus on collaborative outcomes and ongoing programs The study visit grant is specifically tailored to support research activities that connect directly with one of VREF’s five currently funded programs:

• PRISM (Partnership for Research on Informal and Shared Mobility) 
• The Walking Cities Lab
• POINT (Popular-to-Popular Transport Integration in Sub Saharan Africa) 
• ETAMAC (Equitable Transport Access and Mobility in African Cities) 
• MID-UTA (Governing Urban Mobility) 

Grants are primarily intended to fund comparative fieldwork, data collection, localized data analysis, or other situated activities that enhance the empirical robustness of ongoing research within these programs. The exchange should also foster tangible collaborative outputs, such as a joint draft paper or contributions to the scholar’s thesis.

Key details and how to apply

• Funding: Up to 40,000 SEK to cover direct travel and accommodation costs.
• Duration: VREF recommends a time frame of 3 to 6 weeks.
• Timeline: Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis until 31 October 2026, and visits must be completed before 31 December 2026.
• Review process: Please note that due to the summer period, the VREF Secretariat will not process applications during July and August; the first review decisions will be issued from 1 September onwards.

Applications must be submitted as a single PDF file by the applicant’s Responsible Supervisor and confirmed by the Responsible Host at the welcoming university.