Apply for funding

Research Institution-based Strategic Project

Objective:
To enable existing research groups to maintain a high calibre within their given spheres of responsibility or build up new expertise in areas of strategic importance through basic research, applied research or competence building.

Comments:
The project must be in keeping with the strategies laid down by the administration of the applicant institution and/or relevant subject-specific evaluations and research agendas, and/or descriptions of priority areas given in the call for proposals.

Expenses that may be covered:
Relevant project expenses such as payroll expenses, grants/fellowships, procurement of R&D services, network measures, depreciation of equipment used under the project.

Applications will be accepted from:
The administration of a research institution (university, university college, research institute or other institution at which research constitutes an important activity).

Application requirements:

The Project Owner (formal applicant) must be a Norwegian institution, and must supply the name of the designated project administrator. Any exceptions to this rule will be described in the call for proposals.
The institution's administration is professionally and financially responsible for the development and implementation of institution-based strategic projects.
The project manager should have completed a doctoral degree or have corresponding qualifications.
Any special requirements regarding the language in which the grant proposal is to be submitted will be specified in the call for proposals.
The grant proposal will be evaluated relative to the assessment criteria that apply to that particular type of application, and the requirements and principles set out in the call for proposals.

Requirements for project descriptions

The project description is not to exceed 15 pages, including the list of references. It is not possible to upload an attachment that exceeds the page total stipulated. The page format should be A4 with 2 cm margins, 12 point font and single spacing. For references and figure text, font size 9 can be used.

Attachments to the application

A Mandatory attachments:

Project description
CV including publications list for project manager (Max. 4 pages) (Only one CV).

Letters of confirmation from active partners.

B Attachments that may be required in the call for proposals
Only the attachments requested in the call for proposals should be submitted. Attachments that have not been requested will not be included in the application review process.

Note: Non-binding declarations of support are not to be submitted

C Optional attachments:

The CVs of key individuals in the research group (max. 4 pages per CV).
Proposals for up to three expert referees who are presumed to be impartial and qualified to review the grant proposal.

Assessment of grant proposals
These elements will be taken into consideration when assessing and ranking grant proposals. The Research Council considers it essential that research projects seek to promote the internationalisation of Norwegian research, to increase the recruitment of women to higher academic positions and within MST subject areas, to enhance the gender balance in Norwegian research and to ensure that gender perspectives are adequately integrated into research activities.
The Research Council views it as a prerequisite that all projects will maintain high ethical standards, and give adequate consideration to potential environmental impacts.

Assessment criteria for the application:

Prosject mangager and the Prosject group
Strategic basis and importance
Benefits for the national knowledge base
Scientific Merit
Feasibility
National cooperation
Distribution of national research responsibilities
International cooperation
Relevance and benefit to society
Dissemination and communication of results
Relevance relative to the call for proposals

Additional assessment criteria may be specified in the call for proposals

Scientific merit

Scientific merit is a comprehensive criterion that gives an indication of essential, fundamental aspects of the research project. The scientific merit of a project will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Originality in the form of scientific innovation and/or the development of new knowledge.
Whether the research questions, hypotheses and objectives have been clearly and adequately specified.
The strength of the theoretical approach, operationalisation and use of scientific methods.
Documented knowledge about the research front.
The degree to which the scientific basis of the project is realistic.
The scientific scope in terms of a multi- and interdisciplinary approach, when relevant.

The project manager and project group

The qualifications of the project manager and project group will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Project management.
Expertise and experience within the field of research.
Publication record.
Experience with national and international collaboration on projects.
Experience with supervision of students and junior researchers.
The degree to which the project manager and project group are part of a research environment that has the competence and resources needed to ensure the success of the project.

Feasibility

The feasibility of the project will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Budget and resource parameters, including financing.
Plans for project implementation, including milestones and deliverables.

National cooperation

This criterion will be assessed in relation to the extent to which the project will make use of national research expertise and help to promote national network-building.

Distribution of national research responsibilities

This criterion gives an indication of the manner in which the project helps to achieve satisfactory distribution of research tasks at the national level. This will be assessed in relation to the following points:

The extent to which the project will contribute to the constructive distribution of tasks and responsibilities at the national level.
The extent to which the selection of national partners will enhance the quality of the project.

International cooperation

International cooperation will be assessed in relation to the extent and quality of the international cooperation activities set out for the project.

Dissemination and communication of results

Dissemination and communication of results will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Plans for scholarly publication, dissemination and other communication activities
Plans for popular science dissemination and communication activities vis-à-vis the general public as well as users of the project results, including planned use of channels and measures.
Plans for ensuring that important users (in industry, community life and public administration) are incorporated into/take part in dissemination activities for the project.

Relevance relative to the call for proposals

The grant application will be assessed in relation to the guidelines and stipulations set out in the call for proposals.

Relevance and benefit to society

The grant application will be assessed in relation to how the project will contribute to knowledge/competence of significance to meeting societal challenges.
In this context, the phrase “of significance” refers to how the knowledge/competence may be useful in meeting challenges in the public sector, industry or civil society viewed in a regional, national or global context.

Strategic basis and importance

This criterion gives an indication of how the project is incorporated into, and the role it will play, in relation to the project owner’s and partners’ strategic objectives and plans, as well as the relevant research challenges (e.g. subject-specific evaluations, research agendas and technology roadmaps, strategic activities and business plans).

Benefits for the national knowledge base

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the project will contribute to long-term competence development in the Norwegian research community. The benefits for the national knowledge base will be assessed in relation to the following points:

The role of the project in maintaining/strengthening the knowledge base.
The development of cutting-edge expertise.
Researcher training.
The importance for relevant educational programmes and other forms of knowledge management
The national status of the R&D institution in relation to the thematic research areas.

Ethical perspectives

The Research Council emphasises the need for projects to maintain high ethical standards and not conflict in any way with the fundamental principles for ethics in research.
More information on ethical perspectives may be found in the guidelines for ethics in research drawn up by the national committees for research ethics and in the Act on Ethics and Integrity in Research.

Environmental impact

The Research Council attaches importance to whether research projects give adequate consideration to any potential impacts (positive or negative) on the natural environment (external environment), when this is relevant. This applies both to the performance of the projects and to the utilisation of the results.

Recruitment of women

The Research Council considers it important for projects to promote increased recruitment of women to higher academic positions and within the MST subject areas (mathematics, science and technology).

Gender balance in the project

The Research Council works actively to enhance the gender balance in the Norwegian research sector. Each project can play a role in this by seeking to ensure gender balance in the composition of the project group.

Gender perspectives in the research

The Research Council views it as essential that gender perspectives are given adequate consideration in research projects where this is relevant. Good research must take into account biological and social differences between women and men, and the gender dimension should be one of the main pillars of the development of new knowledge. In research projects this dimension may be manifested through the research questions addressed, the theoretical approaches chosen, the methodology applied, and in the efforts to assess whether the research results will have different implications for women and men.

Internationalisation

In this context, internationalisation refers to the extent to which the project serves to promote the internationalisation of Norwegian research, by such means as:

International networks.
International mobility.
Measures that enhance Norway’s attractiveness as a host country for research activities.

Published:: 29.08.2003
Last updated:: 19.01.2012

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