Pre-projects on Global Health
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Important dates
01 Dec 2025
Earliest permitted project start
01 Mar 2026
Latest permitted project start
30 Apr 2026
Latest permitted project completion date
Important dates
Purpose
Funding is available to research groups that wish to develop equitable partnerships with partners in low- or lower-middle-income countries, with a view to applying for funding through the call for Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists on global health in 2026.
About the call for proposals
Funding is available to prepare an application for the Research Council's call for proposals for Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists on Global Health in 2026, and to develop equitable collaboration with research partners from low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMIC).
The funds will be used for activities to:
- develop ideas and concepts
- clarify user needs
- ensure strategic support, usefulness and knowledge and research needs
- develop principles for equitable partnership in the collaboration constellation.
The funds must not be used for research.
We will support activities such as travel, workshops, meetings and writing work, and each project can apply for up to NOK 250,000.
About the main call for proposals in 2026
The Research Council will announce funding for the Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists on Global Health and Development Research in 2026. The call will be aimed at researchers at an early stage in their careers, 2–7 years after the defence of their doctoral degree. The deadline has not been finally decided but will be during the spring semester.
This call will cover priorities 3 and 4 of the Portfolio Plan for Democracy and Global Development (in Norwegian). It is desirable to have projects that see topics covered by the two priorities in context.
In this pre-project call, funding will be provided for pre-projects based on priority 4: "Research to reduce health inequalities and strengthen health security globally and particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries". At the same time, we encourage applications that explore the links between priority 4 and priority 3, and that can contribute to the development of research questions and collaboration across these thematic areas.
The main call will require that the project includes at least one research organisation from a low- or lower-middle-income country (LLMIC) defined in the OECD DAC list as "least developed countries, low-income countries, and lower middle-income countries and territories which are not LDCs". Partners from Colombia and Gaza and the West Bank will also be considered partners from low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs) in this call.
The collaboration must be based on principles for equitable partnerships, and the main call for proposals will include requirements for equitable partnerships that you should take into account in the pre-project. The project must:
- have a fair distribution of funds and institutional costs with partner institutions in LLMICs. The distribution of funds to and costs among partners in LLMICs must be proportionate to their expected roles, involvement and responsibilities in the project.
- have equitable sharing of credits, e.g. scientific analyses, authorship, intellectual property rights and dissemination.
- contribute to the strengthening of individual competence and institutional capacity of partner institutions in LLMICs.
- ensure joint leadership with project managers from the LLMIC institutions on the scientific content of the project.
We do not require that you must have completed and received funding for a pre-project in order to apply for funding in the Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists on Global Health and Development Research in 2026.
More information about the requirements for equitable partnerships can be found in the Guidelines for Responsible International Cooperation (Partnerships in the research field | HK-dir).
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
You must have an approved doctoral degree.
Please note that for the final application for the main call for Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists, a requirement will be that between two and seven years must have passed from the date of defence of your doctoral dissertation to the day you submit the application. The expected deadline is at the end of April/beginning of May 2026, but this may change. It will be possible to apply for deductions in accordance with the current rules for subtracting time found in the call for Researcher Project for Early Career (FRIPRO).
There will also be a requirement that you must dedicate at least 25 per cent of a full-time position in the project for the duration of the project period and be employed in at least 50 per cent of a full-time position at the Project Owner for the entire duration of the project period. You can be employed in a position as a postdoctoral research fellow, researcher or other academic position. You may, but do not have to, be employed by the Project Owner when you submit the application.
Requirements relating to partners
In the pre-project, approved Norwegian research organisations and similar foreign organisations may participate as partners and receive funding. You must not register partners in the application form for the pre-projects, but include them in the project description.
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.
You can apply for up to NOK 250,000 in support to cover costs necessary to carry out the pilot project. Costs covered are:
- payroll and indirect expenses, which are costs incurred by the Project Owner and partners. Please note that research fellowship positions cannot be included in the pre-project.
- other project costs, which are costs for other activities that are necessary to carry out the project's activities. All costs entered as "other operating expenses" must be specified in the application.
Procurement of R&D services and equipment are not approved project costs in the pre-project.
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 250,000 per project may be awarded under this call. There is no requirement for self-financing.
Conditions for funding
The projects must start between 1 December 2025 and 1 March 2026. The latest permitted project completion is 30 April 2026.
Companies are not eligible to receive funding to cover project costs.
In addition, you must be aware of the following if you should receive funding from us:
- The Research Council's conditions for funding can also be found in our general terms and conditions for R&D projects on the information page What the contract involves.
- The project manager and the Project Owner must have assessed and handled the consideration of research security in the project. Research security refers to risks associated with unwanted transfer of knowledge and technology, impact on research and innovation, or breaches of research ethics/integrity where knowledge and technology are used to undermine key societal values.
- Grant recipients in research organisations and the public sector (Project Owners and collaborating 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.
Reporting and disbursement of support
The project will have a simplified contract with the Research Council. We pay the support in arrears based on an approved final report and itemised invoice. 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
Democracy and global development
Practical information
Requirements for this funding scheme
This call has open-ended application submission, with the very last deadline for submission on Friday 12 December 2025 13:00 CET. Please note that you can only submit the application once. If you submit the application and subsequently see that it still needs to be changed, you can create a new application – e.g. as a copy of the one you have already submitted – and in this way submit a new version as long as the call is open for applications. In such cases, you must contact the Research Council to clarify which application is to be processed.
- The application and all attachments must be written in Norwegian and/or English.
- All attachments must be in PDF format.
Mandatory attachments
- Project description of maximum 3 pages. Use the standard template that you can download at the bottom of the page.
- CV for project manager. Use the standard template that you can download at the bottom of the page.
Applications that do not meet the requirements above will be rejected.
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.
Assessment criteria
Applications will be assessed in light of the purpose of the call and the following points:
- The applicant/Project Owner must be in the right category.
- The application amount, type of costs, project period and project manager must be within the limits stipulated in the call.
- The requested attachments must be attached, in the correct template.
- The application must meet the thematic and structural requirements set out in the call. This must be clearly stated in the project description.
Administrative procedures
Applications are processed administratively and on an ongoing basis by the Research Council's administration.
If we receive more applications than the funds can cover, those who submitted the application first will be awarded funding. Applications that are processed after the funds have been awarded, will not receive funding.
The expected response time for each application is no more than four weeks after you have submitted the application.
The Research Council of Norway may reject applications where the Project Owner or any partner has significantly breached its obligations in other projects funded by the Research Council within the two years prior to the submission of the application.
The application may be rejected if the project manager has been convicted of misconduct by the Joint Integrity Committee or the Investigation Committee in the last two years prior to the submitted application.