Norwegian Centres of Excellence – SFF VI – Phase 2

This call, Phase 2, is reserved for qualified applicants selected from the SFF-VI Phase 1 assessment process. 

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. 

Important points from "Requirements and guidelines for SFF" that the host institution should take note of: 

• The Project Owner’s organisation must facilitate co-localisation of the centre and make suitable premises available. 
• The Project Owner’s organisation must contribute administrative services to the running of the centre. 
• The Project Owner’s organisation must adopt guidelines for SFFs in their organisation to ensure that the centres and their activities are supported by the host institution’s management. 

Requirements relating to the project manager 

• The project manager named in the application must be the same as the project manager /centre director in the Phase 1 application. 
• The project manager named in the application must be the person designated as centre director upon project start-up. If the application for Phase 1 had two centre directors, the same two persons must be named as centre directors for the same time periods as described for Phase 1. 
• To qualify as project manager, you must have an approved doctoral degree or have obtained qualifications at the associate professorship level before the application submission 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 professor or associate professorship competence. 
• You must be employed by the Project Owner/host institution (Norwegian research organisation) at project start. 
• You can only be the centre director for one application. 
• If you are, or have been, a centre director at an SFF that is still receiving funding from the Research Council in 2028 (SFF-V), you cannot be the centre director in an application for this call. 
• You can participate in other applications to SFF-VI but may not serve as a centre director. 
• An SFF centre may 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) where she/he confirms acceptance of a minimum 80 per cent position at the host institution and as a centre director and that she/he will be physically present at the host institution for a 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 collaborating 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 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 funding, but they may act as subcontractors providing services to the centre, as long as these do not involve R&D activities. See further description Use of subcontractors.  

For companies defined as “undertakings” in the state aid rules, it is particularly important to note that the Research Council does not award state aid under the SFF scheme. 

Requirements relating to group leaders/principal investigators 

If the centre only had one centre director, a CV could be submitted for no more than six group leaders/ principal investigators. If the centre had two centre directors, a CV could be submitted for no more than five principal investigators/group leaders, altogether seven CVs. 

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

• The CVs submitted must belong to the same persons as for Phase 1. 
• Group leaders/principal investigators must be employed by the Project Owner/the host institution or by a collaborating partner at project start. 
• 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 principal investigator/group leader may participate in several applications for Phase 2 if he/she also participated in the same applications for Phase 1.  

The Research Council's funding scale for each centre ranges from NOK 80 to 160 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.  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 in Norway and research stays abroad), 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 budget tables in the application form do not have room for all ten years. Therefore, only the first 96 months (8 years), 2028–2035, 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" together with the amounts of supplementary funding. A maximum of 60 per cent of the Research Council’s SFF contribution for the 10-year period can be budgeted for in the period prior to the underway assessment, i.e. the first 72 months. 

Please note that project participants and guest researchers funded through the centre’s basic funding are not eligible to apply for the Research Council’s call Overseas Research Grants for PhD and Postdoctoral Fellows under the SFF-VI scheme. Overseas stays for these individuals may instead 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 projects that support the centre's research objectives. 

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 Research Council’s other calls) that support the centre's research objectives. Ongoing projects with funding that runs into 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 should include 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. 

Ethics    

The Research Council requires a high standard of research ethics in the projects we fund, and ethics is included in the assessment criterion for Excellence - quality of R&D activities  The description of ethics must be included in the project description and is first and foremost an assurance to the referees/members of the scientific committee that there is a plan in place to deal with the most important ethical dilemmas in the project.  

The responsibility for ensuring that the research ethics standard is followed lies with the individual researcher and research institution (cf. the Act on the Organisation of Research Ethics Work). The panel's assessment and the Research Council's decision on funding do not entail any research ethics approval. 

Conditions for funding 

Provided that the contract, including its and requirements and guidelines, are duly complied with, each centre will be funded for 10 years. 

Based on the underway assessment, the Research Council may, in a revised contract, set new conditions for the centre's activities for the remaining project period, 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 implies that the Research Council's funding must cover only 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.   

The centres that are granted funding will be invited to a contract meeting with the Research Council. 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 for SF-IV in Norwegian here. 

If you are awarded funding for your project, the following must also be in place before you enter into a contract with The Research Council: 

• 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. After the application deadline has passed, the most recently submitted version of the application will be the one assessed in the review process. 

Applications that do not meet the requirements outlined in the Call, will be rejected: 

• The grant application has been invited to proceed to Phase 2 of the process. 
• The centre director and group leaders/ principal investigators whose CVs are submitted must be the same as in Phase 1. 
• The application and all attachments must be written in English. 
• All mandatory attachments must be included. 

Attachments 

It is mandatory to use the templates, which you can find and download at the end 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 15 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 seventeen 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.  
• Funding plan specifies the centre's total funding, both basic funding and supplementary funding for 10 years (see the template "SFF-VI - 10-year budget") 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/principal investigator (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 "Attachments/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 referees/peer reviewers (name, title, and affiliation). For interdisciplinary grant applications, applicants are encouraged to suggest interdisciplinary referees or referees 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. The applicant is not allowed to contact the proposed experts. Names of referees (name, title, affiliation, reason) who should not be used due to a conflict, may be mentioned in addition. 

Note to attachments 

Pay attention as to uploading the correct attachment type, as there are no technical restrictions on what kind of attachments 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. Information/text beyond what is explicitly requested in the attachments will not be considered. 

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 into 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 2 

Once the application deadline has passed, the Research Council will check that the formal requirements for the application have been met. Applications that do not meet these requirements may be rejected.     

The Research Council 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 Common Commission on Research Integrity, the organisations commission on research integrity, or the National Commission for the Investigation of Research Misconduct in the last two years prior to the submitted application.   

Where the requirements are met, the Research Council will make the application, with all mandatory attachments, available for referees in panel and the scientific committee in Phase 2, for assessment.  

First, each grant application in Phase 2 will be assessed by peer reviewers in a referee panel  

Three individual peer reviewers/referees will assess each grant application. The number of referees may be increased if the Research Council's administration deems this necessary. None of the referees may be employed in a permanent position in Norway. In Phase 2, applicants may suggest up to three referees (in optional attachment) in addition to those submitted in Phase 1, and the Research Council may choose to use one of these.  

Each of the three referees first prepares their individual assessment of the application. They then form a panel that communicates and prepares a panel assessment of the grant application, including assigning marks on the four assessment criteria "Excellence - potential for advancing the state-of-the-art", Excellence – quality of R&D activities", "Impact" and "Implementation". If one or more panel members has a dissenting opinion regarding one or more of the assessment criteria, this must be stated in the panel assessment.  

The applicant will be sent the referee panel’s preliminary assessment and marks. The applicant will have the opportunity to clarify any misunderstandings of a scientific nature in the panel’s assessment (Rebuttal). These comments will then be returned to the panel, which can choose whether to take the comments into account when making their final panel assessment. 

Please note that the referee panel's assessment and marks are given by a panel that has only reviewed one single grant application. The panel has therefore not been able to compare the application with the other applications. 

The names of the referees/peer reviewers will be made known to the applicant after the application assessment process in SFF-VI - Phase 2 is concluded. 

Scientific committee for Phase 2 

The scientific committee for Phase 2 will comprise ten members with backgrounds in a broad range of research fields at a high international level, and experience in leading large-scale research activities. None of the members will be employed in a permanent position in Norway. None of the members have been involved in the Phase 1 scientific committee or the referee panels. There will be three committee members from the humanities and social sciences community, three from the life sciences community and three from the natural sciences and technology community. The last member is the chair of the committee and will have knowledge of interdisciplinary research. 

The names of the members of the scientific committee for Phase 2 will be published on the SFF scheme's website as soon as all members have been appointed. 

Meeting of the scientific committee for Phase 2 

The referee panels' assessment and marks have been awarded by referees who each reviewed one application, and they have therefore not been able to compare the level of the applications against one another. In Phase 2, the scientific committee will assess the submitted grant applications in relation to one another. The scientific committee is responsible for the scientific assessment and ranking of all applications in Phase 2. Please note that the final ranking by the scientific committee may therefore differ from a ranking based solely on the marks given by the referee panels, reviewing one application only.  

The committee’s task is to compare and rank the grant applications and propose a final list of 15 highest ranked grant applications for funding. First, the scientific committee will review the grant applications, the referee panel’s assessments, and the applicants’ comments (rebuttal). Second, the scientific committee will conduct interviews with proposed centre directors. Thereafter, the scientific committee prepares the list of prioritised applications by identifying the two highest-ranked applications from each main subject area: Life Sciences, Natural Sciences and Technology, and Humanities and Social Sciences, for the top positions. The main subject area of the applications corresponds to the primary subcommittee they belonged to in SFF-VI Phase 1.  This means that positions 1–6 on the list are reserved for the two highest-ranked applications within each subject area, based on the scientific assessment. The scientific committee then ranks applications for positions 7–15, based on the scientific assessment, regardless of subject area. Moderate gender quotas are applied in cases of otherwise equal assessment between applications, where applications with a woman centre director are prioritised before applications with a man centre director. A centre is considered to have a woman centre director, if a woman holds the position at the start of the centre, or if a named woman director is planned to take over when at least half of the centre’s duration remains. 

Final decision in Phase 2 

Based on the ranked list from the scientific committee in Phase 2, the administration prepares a recommendation for which grant applications should be awarded funding. The Portfolio board for Ground-breaking research will first determine whether to approve the application assessment process for Phase 2. If the process is approved, the portfolio board will make the final decision regarding funding of the new SFF-VI centres. Should a conflict of interest arise among the members of the portfolio board, substitute members will be appointed if necessary. 

Funding decisions are expected to be announced in autumn of 2027. 

Feedback to the applicant after Phase 2 

The feedback to the applicants in Phase 2 will consist of the final assessment from the referee panel and a brief statement from the scientific committee for Phase 2. Decisions on which grant applications will receive funding are expected to be announced after the meeting of the Portfolio board for Ground-breaking research in autumn of 2027.