General guidance. This page is not legal advice.
FoU-bisyssla, Explained
Swedish law expressly allows teachers at state universities to undertake external research and development work within the subject area of their employment. This is an FoU-bisyssla. It can include consultancy, scientific advice, development work, expert assignments, and work based on methods or inventions from your field.
For a straightforward, well-defined assignment, the administration is normally simple: check the four criteria below, report the activity through your employer's process, and ask for a written answer if anything is unclear.
This page explains the general national framework for FoU-bisyssla at Swedish state universities. Your employer may have additional procedures or local rules. Other higher-education employers may be governed by different agreements and policies. Check your employer's current guidance if you are uncertain.
Four Checks Before You Begin
- Is the substance research or development within the subject area of the employment? External teaching may be another kind of side activity, but it is not covered by the special FoU-bisyssla right.
- Is it clearly separate from the university employment and its resources?
- Could it create a serious conflict of interest or reasonably damage trust?
- Will it interfere with the researcher's job or improperly compete with the employer's commissioned activity?
When these conditions are met, the law's starting point is that the activity is permitted - not that you must persuade the university to make an exception.
What Phinder Provides
Phinder does not decide whether a bisyssla is permitted. It gives you a clear, documented description of the client, scope, fee, timing, expected workload, and agreed work that you can use when reporting the activity.
More Detail
Reporting the activity and asking for guidance
Report the engagement through the process specified by your employer. The exact administration varies. If you are uncertain, the national rules give covered teachers the right to ask their institution for advice and a written answer.
Högskoleförordningen 4 kap. 14-15 §§ sets out the institution's duty to provide advice and, on request, a written answer, as well as the teacher's duty to keep the institution informed about subject-related side activities. The statutory model is disclosure followed by employer assessment and, where applicable, prohibition - not a universal prior-approval process.
Why the four checks matter
Högskolelagen 3 kap. 7 § provides the special right for teachers to undertake research and development work within the subject area of their employment, while requiring the activity to remain clearly separate from their university work and not damage public confidence.
The trust rule is in lagen om offentlig anställning 7-7 c §§. A written, reasoned decision under 7 c concerns incompatibility with the trust rule in 7. Work-hindering and competing side activities arise under the central agreements; they are not all decisions under 7 c.
Hours and workload
The national framework does not supply one practical hours allowance. Consider the assignment's scope and timing against your actual workload. Whether a side activity interferes with the researcher's job is addressed by the central agreements.
External teaching
The special FoU-bisyssla right covers research and development work within the subject area of the employment. External teaching may be another kind of side activity, but it is not covered by this special right.
Use of university resources
Keep the assignment clearly separate from your university employment. Do not assume that university time, premises, equipment, email, branding, or other resources may be used. If the assignment requires university resources, ask whether a separate written arrangement is available.
Förordning (2022:1378) om avgifter för forskningsinfrastruktur provides a separate national framework for research-infrastructure fees. It does not give a FoU-bisyssla automatic access to any institution's resources; availability and any arrangement remain for the institution to decide.
Possible institutional engagements
In some cases, a client and a university may separately agree that an assignment should be undertaken by the university and performed within the researcher's employment. That is an institutional engagement rather than a private bisyssla. Whether this route is available and appropriate is entirely for the university to decide.