Mandatory outline for the Centre for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME Society)

Approved Norwegian research organisations in binding collaboration with partners from other research organisations, the business sector, the public sector and other societal actors are eligible to apply. See the list of approved research organisations.

Requirements relating to the Project Owner 

• The Project Owner must be an approved research organisation. 
• The research organisation listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application. 
• The Project Owner submits the application on behalf of all partners. 

Requirements relating to the project manager 

• The project manager (centre director) must have documented experience from managing large, complex projects. 
• The project manager must be employed by the Project Owner or by one of the research partners. 
• The main application must specify the availability and planned time commitment for the project manager, the work package leaders, or any other members of the centre’s management. 

Requirements relating to partners 

• The research conducted in the centre must be carried out by research organisations in binding collaboration with relevant actors from Norwegian business sector, the public sector, and other societal actors. 
• The application must be strategically anchored within the host institution and all collaborating partners. 
• All collaborating partners must actively contribute to the planning, follow-up and dissemination of results from the centre, and ensuring that new knowledge is utilised 
• The centre must have at least three collaborating partners that are approved Norwegian research organisations, and preferably more. 
• The centre must have a minimum of three, and preferably more, funding partners which are not research organisations. These are referred to as user partners. 
• The centre must have at least one foreign research partner, and preferably several. 
• The centre may also include foreign user partners. It must be documented how any foreign user partners will contribute to achieving the centre's goals. 
• Centres with many user partners place great demands on the organisation of the centre. If the centre plans to include a large number of user partners, applicants are encouraged to differentiate between companies/enterprises that actively participate in research and companies/enterprises that primarily serve as "listening posts", "problem owners", or similar. The first group may have the status as user partners and be part of the consortium, while the latter group may have a looser affiliation to the centre, for example as member of a reference group, and not be included in the consortium and the centre budget. 
• The centre must have a board in which the chair and the majority of the members are representatives from the user partners. 

No funding is provided under the outline call.

Please, note that an outline proposal can only be submitted once. It is not possible to edit a submitted outline. Therefore, do not click the "submit" button until the outline is fully completed and ready for submission. 

When you submit the outline proposal, you will immediately receive an automatic confirmation that it has been received. It is your responsibility to make sure that the submission is confirmed. If, after submission, you realise that the outline needs to be changed, you may create a new application – e.g., as a copy of the one already submitted – and in this way submit a revised version before the deadline. 

The outline proposal must be created and submitted via My RCN Web. You must use your own template for the outline, which you can download at the bottom of the call text. 

Write the outline in Norwegian or English (note that the main application must be written in English). 

The outline description and contact information are uploaded as a single PDF file. The document must not exceed five pages, and it is not possible to upload more than this.

The purpose of the outline call is to promote better coordination and interaction between different research organisations planning to submit an application. It is also to prevent applicants from investing excessive effort into applications that are clearly not competitive. 

All outline proposals will be administratively assessed by the Research Council of Norway. 

You will receive a brief written response to your outline proposal. The feedback will indicate whether the outline meets the formal requirements for a Centre for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME Society) and whether it falls within the purpose and scope of the call. 

No applications will be excluded based on the outline feedback. It is up to you as an applicant to independently assess whether you should proceed with a full application by the main deadline. Our feedback on the outline does not imply any obligation to process applications submitted to the main call. This means that the applicant is responsible for fulfilling all formal requirements in a main call. 

We will provide feedback on the outlines during April 2026. 

Please note that we will publish an overview of all submitted outlines (title, summary, project owner, contact person, and partners) on the Research Council's website. This will happen during April 2026.