The ACCESS Forum is open to researchers from all research fields.

Participants can be senior researchers, early career researchers (within 8 years of PhD award) and PhD-students.

Participants who are currently employed at one of the ACCESS member universities are given priority.

NOTE: Due to space limitations, participation in the Forum is limited. Participation is therefore not guaranteed, even if you have your own funding.

ACCESS does not directly fund Forum participation, however, some ACCESS member universities provide grants to their employees (including PhDs) to attend. Grant availability, amounts, and eligibility vary across universities.

The following universities require a supplemental application for travel funding:

• Gothenburg University

• Lund University

• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

• Universidad de Chile

• Universidad de O’Higgins

• Uppsala University

IMPORTANT: To be considered for participation with funding, you must submit two applications:

1. ACCESS’ application for participation; AND

2. Your university’s supplemental application for funding (linked above, if applicable).

If your university is not listed above, please speak with your local ACCESS contact person for details about your university’s internal process for obtaining travel funding.

The ACCESS Forum Research Themes are collaborative, interdisciplinary workshops that bring together Chilean and Swedish researchers to tackle global challenges related to specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Throughout the Forum, researchers collaborate to develop innovative solutions that can make a positive impact on the areas they are studying.

The Research Themes are proposed, designed and led by pairs of researchers (one from Chile and one from Sweden).

ACCESS Forum Research Themes are unique, interdisciplinary workshops that aim to bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines, institutional and national contexts in order to share knowledge related to the Research Theme and discuss challenges facing our world. As the participants come from a wide range of academic disciplines, you can expect to learn new perspectives and methods to tackle the challenges inherent in your Research Theme. At its core, ACCESS is aimed at building networks and connections between Sweden and Chile to support sustainability research to better our world.

You should not expect an ACCESS Forum to mimic a traditional academic conference where all participants share the same expertise. Instead, ACCESS intentionally breaks down the barriers to bring together perspectives across contexts.

The goal is to create new, interdisciplinary networks of researchers who can continue to collaborate even after the Forum through shared research data, grant applications, joint supervision and course development, and more.

Below you can find the preliminary program for the 2026 Forum:

Sunday (11 Jan)

• PhD event - separate registration required
  (details available in June 2025)

Monday (12 Jan)

• Open Plenary

• Research Theme workshops

• Welcome Dinner

Tuesday (13 Jan)

• Research Theme workshops

• Research Mingle

Wednesday (14 Jan)

• Research Theme workshops

Thursday (15 Jan)

• Research Theme workshops

• Closing Plenary

Friday (16 Jan)

• Excursion

Each ACCESS Forum focuses on a select number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which provide the framework for the Forum Research Themes. The SDG-inspired Research Themes guide the discussions and collaborations among researchers before, during, and after the Forum.

The SDGs selected for the 2026 Forum are:

• SDG #3: Good Health and Well-being

• SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

• SDG #13: Climate Action

• SDG #14: Life Below Water

• SDG #15: Life on Land