Gender Balance, Diversity and Inclusion in Norwegian Research
Important dates
13 Aug 2025
Open for applications
24 Sep 2025
Application deadline
15 Feb 2026
Expected response to the application
01 Apr 2026
Earliest permitted project start
01 Apr 2026
Latest permitted project start
31 Mar 2028
Latest permitted project completion date
Important dates
Purpose
The purpose of this call is to fund projects that will develop innovative measures aimed at gender balance, diversity (including Sami) and inclusion in academia. These projects will be part of a network (BalanseHub) where they can exchange experiences and get updates on new ideas, methods and theories about gender balance, diversity and inclusion in academia. The network is coordinated by NIFU. The project period must be two years.
About the call for proposals
You can apply for up to NOK 1 million for the development of innovative measures and participation in the network BalanseHub for a two-year period. We are announcing funding for approximately 30 two-year projects.
The call is aimed at research organisations that want to develop innovative measures for gender balance, diversity (including Sami) and inclusion in academia. These projects will then be part of the BalanseHub network (Community of Practice – CoP), where participants in the projects will exchange experiences and where participants will update each other on new ideas, methods and theories about gender balance, diversity, and inclusion in academia. BalanseHub will run over a two-year period from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2028. The network will meet at least four times a year. The working language of the network is Norwegian. BalanseHub is led by NIFU.
In the application, you must provide a description of your own challenges and goals, and planned measures that meet the challenges in a good way. The measures may include the entire organisation, a faculty, an institute, a department or other units. The application must have a clear research question with good and innovative measures. For institutions that have had many previous balancing projects, the application should have a strong focus on diversity, while new applicants may have projects that are more focused on gender balance. The measures should mainly be aimed at structural and cultural challenges such as management culture, organisational culture, organisational changes, etc. The application must be clearly supported by the management and the institution's own action plan for Gender Equality (GEP). The funds must go to measures beyond what the institution is already obliged to or expected to do. You must budget for one trip per year to participate in the gathering, and you should set aside some of the funds for analysis of measures you have initiated yourself.
The call is available in both Norwegian and English. The text of the Norwegian call for proposals is legally binding.
Who is eligible to apply?
Only approved Norwegian research organisations are eligible to apply. See the list of approved research organisations.
Who can participate in the project?
Requirements relating to the Project Owner
The research organisation listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application.
If the application is a collaboration between several organisations, the Project Owner must submit the application on behalf of all partners.
Requirements relating to the project manager
The project manager's academic competence and suitability to carry out the project will be assessed by an administrative panel of Research Council employees. There are no formal requirements for the project manager's qualifications.
The project manager must be employed by the Project Owner or by one of the partners.
Requirements relating to partners
Approved Norwegian research organisations may participate as partners in the project and receive funding.
What can you seek funding for?
You can apply for funding to cover the actual costs necessary to carry out the project. The Project Owner must obtain information on costs from the partners in the project. These costs must be entered in the cost plan under the cost type to which they belong.
We require that you break down the project budget into the following cost types in your application:
- payroll and indirect expenses, which are costs incurred by the Project Owner and partners
- other operating expenses, which are costs for other activities necessary to carry out the project's R&D activities. All costs entered as "other operating expenses" must be specified in the application.
The items equipment and procurement of R&D services cannot be used.
You will find detailed and important information about what to enter in the project budget on the website.
Scope of support
Funding of up to NOK 1 million per project may be awarded under this call. There is no requirement for self-financing.
Conditions for funding
Projects must start on 01 April 2026 and you must apply for funding from the Research Council of Norway for 2026-2028. The latest permitted project completion date is 31 March 2028.
Support for a research organisation goes to the organisation's non-economic activity. It therefore does not constitute state aid. The Research Council assumes that the necessary accounting separation is in place.
Ethics
All applicants for the Research Council must give an account of the ethical issues in the project and describe how these will be handled. This is part of the project description and application assessment, and is primarily an assurance to the panel that will assess the application that there is a plan for dealing with the most important ethical dilemmas in the project. You can use the research ethics checklist, which the national research ethics committees have prepared, to help. Here you can read more about our ethical standards in research.
In addition, you must be aware of the following if you should receive an award from us:
- The Research Council's prerequisites for awards can also be found in our general terms and conditions for R&D projects on the information page What the contract involves.
- Research organisations that receive grants and the public sector (Project Owners and partners) must have action plans for gender equality (GEPs) available on their websites.
- The Research Council requires full and immediate open access for scientific articles, see Plan S - open access to publications.
- For all projects that handle data, the Project Owner must prepare a data management plan in connection with the revised application, where you will find more information about the requirements for data management plans in projects that receive funding from us.
Reporting and disbursement of support
We pay the support in arrears and you will only be reimbursed for actual costs that have been entered in the institution's accounts. All reporting must be done electronically.
Relevant thematic areas for this call
The research system
Practical information
Requirements for this funding scheme
You can change and submit the application several times until the application deadline. We recommend that you submit your application as soon as you have completed the application form and uploaded the required attachments. When the application deadline expires, it is the version of the application that was submitted most recently that we process.
Mandatory attachments
- Project description of a maximum of 5 pages. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page.
- CV for project manager. Use the default template that you can download at the bottom of the page.
Applications that do not meet the requirements above will be rejected.
Optional attachments
- CV for key participants in the project in accordance with the guidelines for the application type.
All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application. We do not accept attachments submitted after the application deadline unless we have requested additional documentation.
We will not consider documents and websites linked to in the application, or attachments other than those specified above. Be careful to upload the correct attachment type, as there are no technical restrictions on what kind of templates it is possible to upload in the application form.
Excellence
• The extent to which the concept is sound, credible and novel.
Solidity
• The extent to which the project objectives are clear and relevant.
• The quality of the proposed deliverables from the project.
Impact
• The extent to which the expected effects are specified.
• The extent to which expected impacts on the system and societal levels are specified.
Knowledge sharing and exploitation
• The quality of the proposed communication and dissemination activities.
• The extent to which it is credible that the proposed outputs will contribute to the specified effects and impact.
Implementation
• The extent to which the Project Manager and project group are qualified and have the necessary expertise and are positioned to implement the project.
• The extent to which management structures and procedures are appropriate.
Plans and management
• The extent to which the work plan is clear and understandable, and the time table realistic
• The extent to which objectives and measures are coherent.
• The extent to which the project has the support of the leadership of the Project Owner and any partners, and the allocation of roles in the project is clear.
• The extent to which the budget is realistic and appropriate, and resources are allocated so that each of the partners can fulfil their role.
• The extent to which potential risks have been discussed.
Relevance to the call for proposals
Administrative procedures
Applications to BalanseHub will be processed by an administrative panel of Research Council case officers. We will make a ranked recommendation of the applications, based on the administrative panel's assessments of the four criteria.
It is the portfolio board for the research and innovation system that makes the final decision on which applications receive funding. All applicants will receive a written explanation for the portfolio board’s decision on My RCN Web. The portfolio board bases its decision on a comprehensive portfolio assessment. This takes into account:
- relevance to the call
- the marks given in the assessment of the applications
- innovative measures
- distribution of projects on the topics gender balance, diversity (including Sami) and inclusion
After the application processing has been completed, the applicant receives the administrative panel's assessment. The names of the case officers involved in the application process are posted on our website. There we also post which projects will receive support.
Applications that receive funding must be revised. During the revision phase, the Research Council will request an updated progress plan and budget in accordance with the given framework.
We expect to publish which applications will receive funding on 15 February 2026.