In spring 2007, the Swedish Research Council (”VR”) announced a call for proposals to the establishment of graduate schools connected to particularly strong research environments in Sweden.

At the end of 2007, the application from a team of researchers at Evolutionary Biology Centre of Uppsala University to start a graduate school on the genomics of phenotypic diversity in natural populations was approved by VR. In early 2008, the Faculty of Science and Technology formally appointed a Director and a Board to be responsible for the establishment and organization of the school, which shall run during 2008-2012.