Department for Health

Director: Mari Kristine Nes

The Department for Health is responsible for strategic activities to enhance the knowledge base for policymaking and long-term competence-building in the health care sector. The department’s project portfolio mainly comprises applied research, but also encompasses basic research and research-based innovation projects.

Research programmes under the department encompass somatic and mental health as well as health and care services in the broadest sense. The department is also in charge of global health and vaccination research. Research activities are multidisciplinary, with a main emphasis on medicine and other health sciences as well as psychology and other social sciences

Activities under the department are targeted towards improving the quality of disease prevention, diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation efforts, and supporting the development of effective, equitable health and care services. Research activities are closely linked to biomedical research and welfare research, which are administered under other departments. The department also takes steps to promote increased international research cooperation.