Norwegian Centres of Excellence – SFF VI – Phase 1

Only approved Norwegian research organisations may serve as the Project Owner. See the list of approved research organisations.  

In the context of SFF, the Project Owner is also referred to as the "host institution".

Requirements relating to the Project Owner 

The host institution is to be listed as the Project Owner in the grant application form. 

The top administrator of the host institution (e.g. rector of a university or university college, top director of other research organisations) must have approved the submission of the application to the Research Council. No later than the application deadline, the host institution must submit a list of grant applications approved for submission to the Research Council. Applications not specified on the list will be rejected. The list should be sent to: sff@forskningsradet.no.  

Host institutions submitting more than four grant applications are expected to have a female centre director in at least 40 per cent of the proposed centres. To facilitate follow-up of this stipulation, host institutions planning to submit more than four grant applications must additionally submit a list of the planned applications and centre directors well in advance of the application submission deadline, and by 1 October 2025 at the latest. A centre is considered to have a female director if a woman is designated as centre director from the planned start-up, or if there are plans to switch to a specified female director for at least half the centre’s period of operation. 

Requirements relating to the project manager 

• The project manager in the application is the same as the centre director. 
• To qualify as project manager, you must have an approved doctoral degree or have obtained qualifications at the associate professorship level before the application deadline. In the context of this call, current or previous employment in the Norwegian research institute sector in a position as forsker 1 (research professor), forsker 2 (senior researcher) or seniorforsker (senior researcher) is considered equivalent to associate professorship competence. 
• You must be employed by the Project Owner/host institution (Norwegian research organisation). 
• You can only be the centre director for one application. 
• If you are, or have been, a centre director at a SFF that is still receiving funding from the Research Council in 2028 (SFF-V), you cannot be the centre director in the application for this call. 
• You can participate in several applications to SFF-VI, but not as a centre director. 
• A centre can only have one centre director at a time. A centre may nevertheless have two centre directors who take turns in filling the role. This can be done by changing directors once during the centre’s period of operation, or by alternating back and forth multiple times. 
• If the centre director is not employed by the host institution at the time of the application deadline, a signed confirmation from the centre director must be submitted (see the template "SFF-VI - Confirmation centre director" at the end of the call) stating that he/she will work in a position of at least 80 per cent for the host institution and the centre and will be present at the host institution for the majority of the time each year. 

Requirements relating to collaborating partners 

An SFF centre is not required to have partners. 

Only approved Norwegian research organisations and corresponding research organisations in other countries are eligible to be partners and receive funding. 

The centre is intended to further develop a leading research environment in Norway, so financial support to foreign research organisations is therefore limited. If the proposed centre plans to incorporate financial support to one or more international partners, the project description must justify how this funding will benefit the Norwegian research environment. 

If the proposed centre is awarded funding, we require that a signed collaboration agreement between the host institution and each partner at the institutional level must be in place before the contract between the Research Council and the host institution can be signed. 

As a general rule, a centre must consist of co-located research groups at the host institution. Any group leader/principal investigator employed by a partner must be present in person at the host institution on a regular basis. 

Other types of organisations, including companies and other undertakings, cannot be partners in an SFF and receive support, but they may serve as suppliers of R&D services to the project. In such cases, the intellectual property rights related to the result of the supplier’s work activities will become the property of the institution procuring the services. See further description Use of R&D suppliers and subcontractors.  

Requirements relating to group leaders/principal investigators 

You must submit CVs for a minimum of two and a maximum of six group leaders/principal investigators. If the centre has two centre directors, you can submit a maximum of five CVs for group leaders/principal investigators, a total maximum of seven CVs. 

The following requirements apply to the group leader/principal investigator for whom CVs are submitted: 

• Group leaders must be employed by the Project Owner/the host institution or by a collaborating partner. 
• If a group leader/principal investigator is not employed in Norway at the time of application, a signed confirmation from the group leader/principal investigator must be submitted (see the template "SFF-VI - Confirmation group leader-PI" at the end of the call text) stating that he/she will be employed in at least  20 per cent of a full-time position at the centre during the centre period and will be present at the host institution for a minimum of four weeks in total each year. 

A group leader/principal investigator may participate in multiple grant applications. 

The Research Council's funding scale for each centre ranges from NOK 80 to160 million over 10 years. 

As a general rule, an SFF will have several different funding sources: the SFF funding from the Research Council, own financing from the host institution, own financing from any collaborating partners, competition-based research commissions, and other private/international funding.  

The Research Council distinguishes between the centre's 

• basic funding – which is to be entered in the grant application form 
• supplementary funding – to be entered in a mandatory attachment to the grant application form (see the template SFF-VI - 10-year budget) 

Basic funding 

Basic funding typically consists of the SFF grant funding from the Research Council, own financing from the host institution and any collaborating partners and other funding that has already been secured.  

The Research Council does not require a contribution of own financing for basic funding.  However, an SFF centre has scientific objectives and a level of complexity that will in most cases require a substantially higher level of funding than the Research Council's grant. We therefore recommend that the research organisation/host institution responsible for the SFF centre and/or the centre’s   research collaboration partners contribute to the basic funding amount. In addition, contributions already secured from other parties, such as foundations and private and public organisations, may be included in the basic funding. 

The basic funding must finance activities that support the centre's objectives. This may include payroll and indirect costs (including costs related to visiting researchers), costs for the use of research infrastructure, travel and meeting expenses, and other operating expenses. 

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

Please note that the application form does not have room for all ten years in the budget tables. Therefore, only the first 60 months (5 years), 2028–2032, are to be entered. 

The basic funding amounts for the entire 10-year period must be included in the attachment "SFF-VI - 10-year budget.xlsx" together with the amounts of supplementary funding. A maximum of 60 per cent of the RCN’s SFF contribution for the 10-year period can be planned for in the period prior to the underway assessment, i.e. the first 72 months. 

Please note that if you are planning stays abroad for project participants, both researchers and PhD and postdoctoral candidates, who are funded by the centre's basic funding, this may be covered within the centre's basic funding. 

Supplementary funding 

Supplementary funding consists of all other anticipated income, including income from new competition-based research contracts. 

The Research Council expects the host institution and any collaborating partners to obtain and include new competition-based research projects (e.g. EU projects or projects funded by the RCN’s other calls) that support the centre's research objectives. Existing projects with funding for the centre’s period of operation may also be included in the supplementary funding. The optimal amount of supplementary funding will vary from centre to centre, and the applicant will be asked to enter a realistic financial target for this funding in the attachment to the grant application form. The extent to which the centre achieves the stated target for supplementary funding will be monitored through annual progress reports, an underway assessment and the centre's final report. 

Conditions for funding 

Each centre is planned to be funded for 10 years, but based on the underway assessment, the Research Council may, in a revised contract, set new conditions for the centre's activities in the last four years so that the centre's activities and original objectives are fulfilled in the best possible way. 

The Research Council will not award support that constitutes state aid under this call. This means that the Research Council's funding must only go to the non-economic activity of the research organisations, as defined by the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA)’s guidelines on state aid for research, development, and innovation. The Research Council requires a clear separation of accounts for the organisation’s economic and non-economic activities. Read more about state aid.   

Our conditions for awarding and disbursing support for the first year, and any commitments and payments for subsequent years, can be found in our general terms and conditions for R&D projects on the information page What the contract involves.   

In connection with their planning activities, applicants should acquaint themselves with the Research Council contract and the attachment setting out the specific requirements and guidelines for SFF-VI centres. See a preliminary version in Norwegian here.  

The centres that are ultimately proposed for funding in Phase 2 will be invited to a contract meeting with the Research Council. 

If you proceed to Phase 2 and are awarded funding for your project, the following must also be in place before you enter into a contract with us: 

• The project manager and the Project Owner must have assessed and managed the consideration of research security in the project. Research security refers to the risks related to undesirable transfer of knowledge and technology, malign influence on research and innovation or violations of research ethics or integrity, where knowledge and technology are used to undermine key societal values.  
• Grant recipients that are research organisations and public sector entities (Project Owners and partners) must have action plans for gender equality (GEPs) available on their websites. This must be in place before the contract is signed for projects with grants from us. The requirement does not apply to the private sector, interest groups, or the voluntary sector.  
• 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. Here you will find more information about the requirements for data management plans in projects that receive funding from us.  
• The Project Owner decides which archiving solution(s) will be used for storing research data that emerges from the project. 
• For medical and health studies involving humans, the Research Council sets special requirements and guidelines for prospective registration of studies and publication of results.  

If a centre is awarded funding, the contract must be signed by the centre's host institution and by the Research Council. A breach of contractual terms during the centre's lifetime will have consequences for the funding. 

The application can be created from six weeks before the application deadline and must be submitted via My RCN Web. You can change and submit the application several times before 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 has passed, it is the version of the application that was submitted most recently that we process. 

Applications that do not meet the following requirements will be rejected: 

• The application and all attachments must be written in English. 
• All mandatory attachments must be included. 
• The requirements relating to the Project Owner, the research organisation, the project participants and partners must be met. 
• The requirements for the centre director must be met. 

Attachments 

It is mandatory to use the templates, which you can find and download at the bottom of the call Links contained in the submitted attachments will not be included in the application review process. 

Mandatory attachments 

• Project description, 1 front page + maximum 5 pages project description (optionally including some references) + 1 page reserved for references only. This is to be uploaded as a single attachment of a maximum of seven pages.  
• CV and track record for project manager(s)/centre director(s):  
  CV (maximum 2 pages) + 10-year track record (maximum 2 pages). This is to be uploaded as a single attachment of a maximum of four pages 
• CV and track record for group leader/principal investigator:  
  CV (maximum 2 pages) + 10-year track record (maximum 2 pages) or CV (maximum 2 pages) + early achievements track record (maximum 2 pages) for minimum 2 and maximum 6 group leaders/principal investigators. If there are two centre directors, CVs can be uploaded for a maximum of 5 group leaders/principal investigators. This is to be uploaded as a single attachment of a maximum of four pages for each group leader/principal investigator.  
• A funding plan specifying the centre's total funding, both basic funding and supplementary funding for 10 years (see the template "SFF-VI - 10-year budget" in Excel) Upload the attachment under "Attachments/Other items" in the application form.  
• If the centre director is not employed by the host institution at the time of the application deadline, a signed confirmation from the centre director must be submitted. The template "Confirmation centre director" must be used. Upload the attachment under "Attachments/Other items" in the application form.
• If a group leader (for whom a CV is submitted) is not employed in Norway at the time of the application deadline, a signed confirmation from the group leader must be submitted. The template "SFF-VI - Confirmation group leader-PI" should be used. Upload the attachment under "Attachments/Other items" in the application form.  
• If the application has a non-Norwegian collaborating partner, a signed letter of intent from the rector/ top director of the research organisation must be submitted, stating that the foreign research institution intends to sign a collaboration agreement with the host institution in the case that the centre is funded. Upload attachments under "Attachements/Confirmation from partners" in the application form. No attachments should be uploaded under "Partner information".  

Optional attachments 

A proposal for up to three impartial international experts (include name, title, and affiliation) who can be used to review the grant application if the proposed centre is invited to advance to Phase 2. For interdisciplinary grant applications, applicants are encouraged to propose interdisciplinary experts or experts in all disciplines relevant to the grant application. The Research Council is not under any obligation to use the proposed referees but may use them as needed.  

Note to attachments 

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. Attachments that do not comply with the templates and page number limits for this call will not be included in the assessment of the application. Attachments other than those mentioned here as mandatory and optional as well as any websites that you link to in the application, will not be included in the assessment of the application. 

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. 

The assessment criteria have been translated from English to Norwegian. It is the English language version that will be used in the application review process and all applicants should respond only to the English assessment criteria.

Application assessment process for SFF-VI, Phase 1 

Scientific committee for Phase 1 

The applications submitted during Phase 1 will be assessed by a scientific committee consisting of three subcommittees. The consolidated scientific committee recommends which applicants should be invited to advance to Phase 2. 

The members of the scientific committee will not have specialist expertise in the thematic area/topic of each grant application but are to have extensive research experience at a high international level, as well as experience leading large-scale research activity. None of the members may be an employee with a permanent position in Norway. Each of the subcommittees will have approximately 11 members, and the consolidated scientific committee will comprise approximately 33 members. 

The names of the members will be published on the SFF scheme's website as soon as all members have been appointed, and before the application submission deadline. 

Three subcommittees 

The Scientific Committee in Phase 1 consists of three subcommittees: 

• Humanities and Social Sciences 
• Life Sciences 
• Natural Sciences and Technology  

The meetings of each of the three subcommittees will be virtual meetings that are held simultaneously. Each grant application will be discussed primarily in one or two subcommittees. The committee members are to read the grant applications prior to the meeting. A principal assessor will be assigned for each grant application along with at least three additional committee members who are to deliver a written assessment addressing each of the assessment criteria. At the meeting, each grant application will be discussed, and the subcommittee will prepare a brief joint assessment. 

The subcommittees assign a mark for each assessment criteria. The scientific committee will rank grant applications with a female centre director higher when applications are otherwise considered to be equally good according to the assessment criteria (moderate gender quotas). A centre is considered to have a female centre director, if a woman holds the position at the start of the centre, or if a named female director is planned to take over when at least half of the centre’s duration remains.  

Each subcommittee will prepare a list of applications that they recommend for advancement to Phase 2. 

Assessment process for interdisciplinary applications in Phase 1 

On the first page of the project description, the centre directors must specify which of the three sub-committees they want the application to be assessed by. Each subcommittee is comprised of members from a wide range of fields and will therefore also assess some interdisciplinary applications. Other interdisciplinary applications may extend across multiple subcommittees, and in these cases, the centre director may select two subcommittees for the review process, specifying one of them as the primary subcommittee. In this case, each subcommittee will focus on the research that falls within its area of expertise. If one of the subcommittees finds the grant application to be “very good”, an interdisciplinary panel will be set up. This panel will comprise 4-6 subcommittee members, each of whom has been responsible for a written assessment of the application. The interdisciplinary panel’s joint assessment will be returned to the primary subcommittee, which will take this assessment into account when drawing up its list of grant applications to recommend for advancement to Phase 2. 

Meetings of the Scientific Committee for Phase 1 

Once all the applications have been discussed in subcommittees and interdisciplinary panels, and the subcommittees have drawn up their recommendations, the subcommittees will come together for a joint meeting. The consolidated scientific committee will propose a final list of applicants to be invited to advance to Phase 2. The consolidated scientific committee may choose to include more applications from one subcommittee than another, based on the number of applications from the subcommittees and discussions about quality. It is also the responsibility of the consolidated scientific committee to ensure that very good interdisciplinary applications that have been reviewed by two subcommittees receive the necessary attention in the joint discussion. 

Approximately three times as many grant applications as can be funded will be invited to submit a full application to the SFF-VI - Phase 2 call. The consolidated scientific committee will recommend a list of applicants that in their opinion should be invited to advance to Phase 2. 

Final decision in Phase 1 

The Portfolio Board for Ground-breaking Research will determine whether to approve the application process for Phase 1. If the process is approved, the portfolio board will take the final decisions regarding which applicants from the scientific committee’s list are to be invited to advance to Phase 2. The impartiality of the members of the portfolio board will be verified in advance. It may be necessary to appoint substitute members to the portfolio board. 

Feedback to the applicant after Phase 1 

The joint assessment prepared for each grant application in the subcommittees will be sent as feedback to the applicants, along with marks for each criterion. Applicants who are not invited to participate in Phase 2 will not receive any additional scientific explanation of why their grant application was rejected. 

Application assessment process for SFF-VI, Phase 2 

As soon as possible, we will publish the planned call for proposals for Phase 2, which will include the application assessment process for this Phase. The application deadline for Phase 2 will be in 2026. 

We expect to announce which applications will receive funding by autumn 2027.