The mobility programme is targeted towards Norwegian researchers who are interested in conducting research stays in the USA or Canada, as well as towards their US and Canadian counterparts who want to come to Norway to do the same. To date, five times as many Norwegian as North American researchers have taken part in the programme.

Positive results for the Leiv Eiriksson mobility programme. (Photo: Photodisc) Researchers very satisfied

In a recent survey, seven of ten Norwegian researchers who have been in the USA and Canada on a Leiv Eiriksson grant said that their stays led to the publication of scientific manuscripts. Nine of ten stays resulted in lasting cooperation between the research groups involved, and 90 per cent of the grant recipients said that they could not have carried out their research stay abroad without funding from the programme.

Will be continued

“The Leiv Eiriksson programme has functioned well,” states Anders Hanneborg, Executive Director for the Division for Science at the Research Council. “We have therefore decided to continue the scheme for another five-year period,” he adds.

The objective of the programme is to renew and strengthen Norway’s ties to the research community in North America, and is a follow-up of the “Strategy for Norway’s Scientific and Technological Cooperation with North America” (2004) under the Ministry of Education and Research.

Want more to come from the USA and Canada

Leiv Eiriksson sets eye on the coast of America for the first time. Now the Research Council wants more researchers from the USA and Canada to discover Norway. (Painting: Christian Krogh, 1893) Up to now, 33 researchers from the USA and Canada have received grants for research stays in Norway compared with 169 Norwegian researchers who received funding for stays at North American research institutions. From Norway’s perspective, it would be beneficial to achieve a more balanced exchange.

Doctoral students from the USA also have other funding opportunities for research stays in Norway. One of these is the Nordic Research Opportunity scheme, a collaborative effort between the Research Council of Norway and the National Science Foundation that was established in 2008. The first group of US doctoral research fellows are now in place in Norway.