Minor Field Studies

Application periods 2025:

• 5−25 April 2025
• 5−25 October 2025

Information meetings 2025

During the application period, a digital information meeting will be held on how to apply. The Zoom meeting link will be posted here no later than 1 week before the meeting.

• 7 April, 2025, 16:00–17:00 (Join the zoom-meeting)
• 6 October, 2025, 16:00–17:00

MFS grants can be applied for by students from all academic disciplines. You can be awarded the MFS grant several times during your studies, but you are only eligible to apply for one MFS scholarship per level of study. The grant cannot be applied for retroactively.

Eligibility requirements

To be able to apply for the grant, you must meet the following criteria:

• Undertake the field study as part of a Bachelor's, 60-credit Master’s or 120-credit Master’s level at Lund University.
• Enrolled and active student at Lund University at the time of the application or have been granted a leave of absence from your studies by your faculty and be registered on a degree project course at Lund University during your time in the field.
• Swedish citizen or registered (folkbokförd) in Sweden, i.e. registered at the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for at least one year at the time of approval of scholarship funds.
• Have never started a doctoral level programme.

Conditions

To be eligible for the MFS program, your field study must meet the following requirements:

• Academic relevance: The study must align with your academic program or subject area and meet the necessary academic standards.
• Host country: The field study must take place in a country where Sweden has active development cooperation.
• Strategic alignment: The field study must align with one or more of Sweden’s development cooperation strategies in the host country.
• Contact person: You must have a contact person in the host country who can provide support and assistance with the execution of your field study.
• Academic supervisor: Your field study must be supervised by an academic advisor at Lund University.
• Final output: The study must result in a course or degree project, which must be written in English.

You are also encouraged to connect your field study to current research or international strategies at Lund University.

Additional conditions – After Completing the Field Study

Once your field study is completed, you are expected to:

• Submit a participant report.
• Present your project to your class and teacher, either physically or by producing a video that can be used as information material, within three months of your return.
• Take part in any knowledge-sharing activities planned by Lund University. More info is shared directly with grantees.
• Publish your thesis or degree project in the MFS database (launching in 2025) within one year of your return.

In addition, you're encouraged to make your study available in the host country in the local language, when possible, for example, in the form of a summary or article.
 

Rules for outward and return travel

Your journeys to and from the host country must take place at the start and end of your field study. Departure from the Nordic countries can occur only when you have fulfilled certain requirements before your outbound travel. If you are already in the country as an active student at Lund University doing an internship or similar, you may also be eligible to apply for the MFS grant. If you receive the grant, you will need to show proof of start- and end- dates of your field study period through specific documentation.

The return journey for MFS in autumn 2025 and spring 2026 is to be completed by 7 June 2026 at the latest.

The MFS scholarship offers students the opportunity to conduct field studies in countries where Sweden has active development cooperation strategies. You can find a list of these countries and regions on the website Openaid under 'Countries and Regions'. 

Countries and Regions − Openaid.se

The strategies outline the key thematic areas prioritized by Swedish development cooperation, as well as the specific goals to be achieved in each country and region.

There are two types of strategies:

• Geographical strategies: focus on individual countries or regions.
• Thematic strategies: address specific issues, such as human rights, democracy, or the development of the justice sector.

Useful resources to find Swedish development cooperation strategies:

• Explore the active strategies of the Swedish government: Government Strategies – Regeringen.se
• Check strategies on the Openaid website: Openaid − Sida
• Read current bilateral, regional, and thematic strategies on Sida's website: Strategies − Sida

Learn more about how you can align your project to a strategy under 'Application step by step' / 'Project description'.

Travel dissuasion issued by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Please note that the MFS grant will not be granted to a country or a region if the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Utrikesdepartementet) advice against 'all travel' to a specific country or region. The safety situation can change quickly in different countries and regions. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible for informing about risks involved in traveling to particularly dangerous areas. We recommend that you carefully investigate the safety situation in the area you are planning to visit when preparing your MFS application. It is your responsibility to check the list of possible host countries for MFS against the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ travel advisory list. 

An MFS study cannot be undertaken when the Foreign Ministry  advice against travel according to the following:  

• 'all travels' to the country
• all Swedes to leave a country / part of the country

Please note:  

• If advice against 'all travel' applies only to a specific part of the country, students may still carry out an MFS in a safe area of the country, as long as they can travel there and back without passing through the restricted area.
• If the travel advice against travel is introduced, or changed, after departure and includes a dissuasion from 'all travels', the students need to leave the country and return to Sweden within 30 days.
• If the advice against travel is introduced, or changed, after departure and is 'urges to leave the country/ part of the country', the University must ensure that the student immediately follows the dissuasion and leaves the country / part of the country.

Should the Foreign Ministry dissuade from travelling when you have already arrived in the host country, you do not need to meet the MFS conditions of spending 8 weeks in the field. This is specified in the MFS general terms.

Even if a travel dissuasion has not been issued by the Foreign Ministry, Lund University should always secure that the personal safety and health of the student, and of persons concerned in the host country, is not at risk during the period of the Minor Field Study. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' travel information (in Swedish)

 

The MFS grant is SEK 35 000 and can be used for expenses such as travel, accommodation, vaccinations, and visas. Please note that the grant is not intended to cover all costs during your time abroad, and you may need to supplement it with other funding, such as student loans.

A field study within the MFS program means collecting data for a minimum of 8 consecutive weeks (56 days) and a maximum of 20 weeks. The field study period starts the day you arrive in the host country and ends the day you leave.

You should have an idea yourself about how you want to conduct your field study. In consultation with supervisors or other contact persons, you develop a feasible project. Various organisations can also offer project proposal outlines.

Concretise and state the following:

• What you are going to do
• Where you are going to do it
• How it will be implemented (method, theory)
• Who is going to help you (academic contact at home / contacts in the host country?)

• Demarcate your study. Remember that two months pass quickly, especially in a new environment.
• Choose a subject that relates to development issues.
• Remember that it is a field study. For that reason, choose a subject that requires you to be on site and not a desk-based study.
• Consider your choice of method. Remember that your study must be feasible.
• If you are going to use an interpreter, consider what this might mean for your results. Consider what bearing it may have if the interpreter is male or female, someone known to you or a stranger, familiar with your subject or not, official or unofficial, local or not local. If you are not going to use an interpreter and the interview is conducted in a language other than the respondents’ native tongue, consider how this might affect responses and interpretation of answers.

Familiarise yourself with MFS students’ travel reports in Lund University’s travel reports portal

The project description is the most important appendix. It is to communicate that your project plan is well-prepared and that your field study is feasible. It must comprise a maximum of five pages and be written in English. 

The project description should include the following:

Project title, purpose and method 

• Project title − a short descriptive title of the project.
• Purpose − description of the defined subject area, formulation of the research question, and what you want to do.
• Method
  • Method reflection on choice of subject and its connection to development issues, and how the study may benefit the host nation, as well as if, and if so, how the results from your thesis will be made available to the host country.
  • Method discussion about selection and how you will gain access to the objects of the study.
     

Connection to Swedish development cooperation strategies

How can I align my MFS project with Swedish development cooperation strategies?

1. Start by choosing a country or region from the list on Openaid 
   •    Check if there is an active country strategy for the chosen country.
   •    If no country strategy exists, consult the relevant regional strategy to understand Sweden’s focus areas for development cooperation in that region.
   
   Read more about strategies and how to find them under 'Possible host countries' above.
    
2. Study the strategy carefully
   Read the country or regional strategy thoroughly to understand the prioritized areas and goals for that country or region.
    
3. Is your project relevant to any of the thematic areas in the strategy?
   Evaluate if your project aligns with any of the thematic areas outlined in the strategy.
   For example, if you are planning a project in Latin America, refer to the Swedish government’s regional strategy (Strategi för Sveriges regionala utvecklingssamarbete med Latinamerika 2021–2025, in Swedish) which emphasizes human rights, climate, and migration. Read the specific goals under each thematic priority.
    
4. Align your project with the strategic goals
   Ensure that your project is clearly connected to one or more goals within the thematic areas of the strategy.
    

5. Specify the connection in your application
   In your application, clearly state:
   •    Which country or regional strategy your project is linked to.
   •    The specific goal(s) within the thematic area that your project addresses.
   •    Additionally, specify the thematic strategy that provides context for the thematic area in the strategy.
   
   Please note that you cannot split your field study between multiple countries.

   Find links to strategies etc. under “Possible host countries” above.
    

Plans and backup plans

•  A timescale including preparatory work, a preliminary travel schedule and work after your return home.   
• A plan for practical implementation on location.   
• A description of your “Plan B” – i.e. what your backup plans and alternative arrangements for the study are, should the original plan need to be altered for any reason. Describe alternative plans for if unexpected obstacles would appear, e.g. if your interviewees are not available or if the Ministry for Foreign Affairs issues a travel advisory restricting you from traveling.
   

Reflections

• Reflect on risk and security issues. Describe how the field study needs to be adapted to ensure health and safety for you and those you meet.  
  
  Useful resource about field research security: Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences: A Guide to Human and Digital Security in Hostile Environments
   
• Reflect on ethical issues. All types of studies come with ethical issues, even those that do not require ethics approval from Sweden or from the country where the field study is conducted. These ethical reflections are important before the field study and are part of the assessment of the application. Taking ethical aspects into account in the project plan means demonstrating research ethical sensitivity and problem reflection in relation to all parts of the project, especially regarding problem formulation, design and collection of data.
   

Source reference

Source references (this does not need to count towards the maximum five pages that the project description is allowed)

The budget including travel costs, possible costs for printing of the essay/thesis, vaccines, daily expenses based on the cost of living in the destination country, potential extra expenses for equipment or technical services, a standardised sum of SEK 1 000 for various other costs (e.g. literature, maps).

A certificate is needed from a supervisor at Lund University with responsibility for endorsing the planned study’s suitability and ensuring that it is of an equivalent level to other degree projects.

The supervisor is to be well-versed in the method you intend to use, and to have knowledge of field work in general.

If, at the time of your application, you have not been assigned a supervisor, contact your department/program to find out when you are to be assigned one. Upload a document from your department/program stating this.

Documents – such as a printed email exchange or a formal invitation – proving that there is a contact person in the country in which the study is to be conducted.

The contact person in the host country can represent or be employed by a local authority, university, organisation, or company in the country, or by a development project (Sida, UN, NGOs, consultancy firms, or Swedish companies), or similar. The contact person does not need to be affiliated with an organisation.

Your contact person should be someone working in your research area who can assist you in identifying and connecting with relevant individuals or organisations for interviews or data collection. They should also be able to support you with practical matters both before and during the fieldwork, such as providing tips on accommodation, transportation, and safety.

Your contact also needs to briefly describe the organisation/company/university and where in the host country they are located.

Your contact person needs to be in the host country throughout your period in the field.

Approved grant recipients’ contacts will need, at a later stage, to sign a cooperation agreement and a safety assessment.

How to find a contact person

• Ask your supervisor or teacher responsible for your thesis course at your department. They often have contacts abroad and have worked with MFS earlier.
• Lund University is involved in many different research areas and have established research cooperations with universities and organisations all over the world. Search in the Lund University Research Portal to find researchers who are experts in the area you are interested in. Ask for advice.
  Search in the Lund University Research Portal − portal.reseach.lu.se
• Google organisations in your area of interest.
• Read more about the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency’s (SIDA) work in different regions and partnerships with local organisations.
  Read more at Sida.se
• The country’s embassy can give you tips and advice about organisations or refer you to other contacts.
• Contact earlier students who have done MFS in your country of interest – they often have good contacts and can help you along − Familiarise yourself with MFS students’ travel reports in Lund University’s travel reports portal
   

Official transcript of records from Lund University can be downloaded via 'Ladok for students' showing your grades of completed courses. 

Ladok for students – log in

Certificate of Registration from Lund University can be downloaded via 'Ladok for students' showing you are registered at Lund University at the time of the application. 

Ladok for students – log in

Your CV is to be no longer than two A4 pages. List your qualifications, highlighting any international experience.

Attach a copy of your passport. A population registration certificate containing information about your citizenship is also acceptable.

If you are not a Swedish citizen, you should attach a population registration from the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) that shows you have been registered as living in Sweden for at least twelve months. This document is called an “extract of the population register” (personbevis).