The Swedish Research Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS) promotes the accumulation of knowledge in matters relating to working life, public health and welfare. FAS awards funding to basic as well as applied research and the most important selection criterion is scientific excellence. Currently FAS provides a broad range of funding instruments with the purpose of promoting the careers of young, talented researchers. The Career path offered by FAS includes national postdoc grants, research grants, as well as larger grants to programmes or centres of excellence. To promote research mobility and international collaboration, FAS provides travel grants, stipends abroad and grants for visiting researchers. FAS research strategy for 2009 to 2012, emphasizes, on the one hand, the importance of providing career opportunities and favourable working conditions to young aspiring researchers and, on the other hand, the importance of strengthening FAS’ international dimension. By developing an International Postdoc Programme, consisting of ten outgoing fellowships with a repatriation phase upon return to Sweden and three fellowships for foreign researchers coming to Sweden, FAS would like to increase the possibilities for young researchers to pursue a research career and at the same time promote increased mobility and international cooperation in the research areas covered by the council. The programme will thereby reach two of the goals of the postdoc COFUND action, the transformation of stipends into research positions and the opening up of national programmes to trans-national mobility. The created Career path will thereby provide transparent stepping stones into employm¬ent and research careers both in a European as well as a global perspective, well in line with the Lisbon goal and the creation of the Global research area (GLOREA).