Support for Network-related Activities for Research Groups Following the Evaluation of the Social Sciences in Norway (SAMEVAL)

This call is open to universities, university colleges and research institutes that participated in the Evaluation of the Social Sciences in Norway and have research groups that received a mark of 4 or 5.  

See here for the list of institutions and maximum number of research groups for which funding may be sought per institution. 

Requirements relating to the Project Owner  
The research organisation listed as the Project Owner in the grant application must have approved the submission of the grant application. 

Requirements relating to the project manager  
The project manager is to be the scientific director of the research group for which funding is being sought.

Please see the webpage on “What to enter in the project budget” for details and important information.  

Institutions with research groups that received a mark of 4 or 5 under the Evaluation of the Social Sciences in Norway are eligible to apply for funding for network-related activities and for arranging Ph.D. courses.  

The amount of funding available per group is maximum NOK 1 million for applications for support for network-related activities or maximum NOK 2 million for groups that offer courses for Ph.D. candidates in addition to networking activities.  

Network-related activities for up to NOK 1 million. Funding may be used for the following activities:   

• Support for one or more visiting researchers in Norway: Funding is to cover extra expenses related to research stays and may not be used to cover payroll expenses in connection with R&D activities. 
• Support for research stays abroad: Funding is to cover expenses related to research stays for one or more members of the research group at a research institution abroad.  
• Support to arrange meetings, seminars and/or workshops; 
• Support for participation in national and international conferences; 

• Project establishment support: for the development of proposals for larger-scale projects (targeted towards international funders).   

All grant applications must include one or more of the network-related measures listed above.  

In addition to support for network-related activities, applicants may also seek:  

Up to NOK 1 million in support for national Ph.D. courses within the research group’s area of expertise: 

• The Ph.D. course must be offered multiple times and is to be available nationwide to Ph.D. candidates (and other interested researchers).   

• Funding for national courses may be used to cover expenses related to administration, travel and accommodations for guest lecturers or other relevant costs for course implementation. 
• The course must count as part of the Ph.D. training.  

The project description is to provide a more detailed budget for the research group for which funding is sought. A budget template can be found at the end of this call. 

Funding may not be sought to cover payroll expenses in connection with R&D activities. 

Conditions for funding  
The project must start between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2020. The project period must be from two to four years (24, 36 or 48 months). The latest permitted project completion date is 30 June 2024.  

Support from the Research Council to a research organisation is to be reserved for the organisation’s non-economic activity, and as such therefore does not constitute state aid. The Research Council requires a clear separation of accounts for the organisation’s economic and non-economic activities. 

Reporting and disbursement of funding  
Funding will be subject to automatic disbursement based on the submission of annual progress reports and the final report. 

You may revise and resubmit your grant application form multiple times up to the application submission deadline. We recommend that you submit your application as soon as you have filled in the application form and included all mandatory attachments. After the deadline, it is the most recently submitted version of the grant application that will be processed. 

The Research Council will only assess grant applications from institutions with research groups that received a mark of 4 or 5 under the Evaluation of the Social Sciences in Norway. The number of grant applications that may be submitted per institution is specified in the list of institutions, found under the heading, “Who is eligible to apply?”. 

Application requirements  

• The applicant/Project Owner must come from an eligible category of institution. 
• The grant application must lie within the scope/satisfy the objectives of this call. 
• The funding amount sought and the expenses to be covered must be in keeping with the framework of the call. 
• The budget must be formulated correctly to clearly indicate what the funding will cover. 
• The application form must be fully completed. 

• The required attachments must be included using the designated templates. 
• The project description must provide answers to the items set out in the text of the call. 
• The grant application, including all attachments, must be submitted in Norwegian or English. 
• All attachments must be uploaded in PDF format. 

Mandatory attachments  

• A project description using the designated template, found at the end of this call. 
• A CV for the project manager using the designated template, found at the end of this call. 

Grant applications that do not satisfy the above requirements will be rejected. 

Links to websites and documents, as well as other attachments than those specified above, will not be included in the application review process. There is no technical validation of the content of the attachments you upload, so please make sure that you upload the correct file for the selected type of attachment. 

The applications will be subject to an administrative review by the Research Council. 

Priority will be given to groups that offer national Ph.D. courses. If the amount of funding sought exceeds the amount of funding available, allocations to the other groups not offering courses will be reduced.   

The final funding decision will be announced at the end of June 2020.