A man’s world—and getting more so?

Concern for Sweden’s much vaunted record on gender equality is rising in tandem with calls on the government to ramp up competition for block research grants in its research bill next year.

The bill, which will steer Sweden’s research policy for four years, is expected to increase the proportion of university block grants allocated according to quality and relevance criteria. Such a move would strengthen the trend to steer Sweden’s public research funding towards its ‘best’ researchers or most productive groups.