Funding for Coordination and Network Activities in Svalbard – Svalbard Strategic Grant

The application must be submitted by a Norwegian research organisation from the RCN list of approved research organisations. This organisation will have the economic and scientific responsibility for the project.

Requirements relating to the Project Owner

The research organisation listed as the Project Owner in the grant application must have approved the submission of the grant application to the Research Council.

Requirements relating to project managers

For applications initiating pilot studies and planning larger projects, the project manager must have an approved doctorate when submitting the application.

All projects that receive funding must register and tag Svalbard Strategic Grant (SSG) in the Research in Svalbard Portal (RiS, http://www.researchinsvalbard.no/), when accepting the contract.

Requirements relating to collaborating partners

Workshop(s) do not require project partners, but all relevant Svalbard research parties must be invited.

Cooperation/network projects must include international collaboration with minimum two different partner institutions, of which one is a Norwegian research organisation and one is non-Norwegian. The project must involve scientists from at least two of the permanent research and monitoring locations in Svalbard (Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund, Barentsburg, Hornsund and Bjørnøya/Hopen) and should involve representatives from relevant research organisations.

Svalbard Strategic Grant provides seed money for cooperation/network projects and workshops. All workshops/events must include a dedicated session focusing on how to achieve SSF's strategic objectives through the workshop. Workshops and cooperation/network projects must be related to research in Svalbard and/or contribute to setting Svalbard research into a pan-Arctic or global perspective.

The budget must be formulated correctly to clearly indicate what the funding will cover. Remember to also attach the SSG 2022 Budget template. Please find more information about budgets here: What to enter in the project budget (forskningsradet.no)

Cooperation/network projects

These projects should be designed to enhance international and inter-disciplinary cooperation and they should stimulate open sharing of data. Such activities can include the initiation of new collaborative research networks, initiation of pilot studies and planning of larger cooperation projects. The funding provides support for:

• travel expenses
• living expenses
• consumables
• operating costs for scientific equipment and research infrastructure necessary for the execution of the project (for example renting expensive equipment and running expenses during testing)
• salary costs limited to a maximum of 10% of the total amount sought from RCN

Workshops

Svalbard Strategic Grant also provides funding for workshops as part of such collaborative efforts. The funding provides support for direct costs for participants and organisers related to:

• travel costs
• living expenses/room and board during the workshop
• salary costs limited to NOK 30 000 to write a workshop report

You may apply for a maximum of NOK 250 000 to cover direct costs related to one single workshop. Alternatively, the application may include two workshops within a maximum of NOK 500 000. If so, the second workshop should be a follow-up of the first. The application must state why the second workshop is necessary.

Representatives from all relevant research locations and institutions active in Svalbard should be invited. Due to environmental concerns, Svalbard should only be chosen as a location for the workshop if it has direct relevance to the workshop and is essential for its outcome.

The SSF secretariat reserves the right to attend all funded workshops with one representative. The secretariat will also have the option of bringing a second representative at own cost.

Additional funding from SIOS

Workshops and other activities that would benefit from a training module on data management will be considered for additional funding from SIOS.

This support is up to 50 000 NOK for one additional day dedicated to the theme “Data management as a tool for scientists", at a funded Svalbard Strategic Grant workshop or other collaborative activity. The aim is to make scientists familiar with the concepts of data management according to the FAIR principles, its opportunities and challenges. SIOS will help the scientists develop practices in planning, collecting and preparing their data in a way that allows for easy and sustainable archiving and publication of the data. The programme will be developed in cooperation between the SIOS Data Management and the applicant in order to streamline the content to the needs of the participants.

Read more in the document Workshop module for “Data management as a tool for scientists” (opens in a new window).

The Research Council will disburse funds automatically at four-month intervals.

The allocation meeting will be in April 2022.

The project owner must submit a final academic report in accordance with the RCN Template for final report on MyRCN web. The reporting deadline is one month after the project period has ended or after the (last) workshop/event. You will get a request to hand in your report automatically from MyRCN web. At the same time the academic report and possible meta data must also be uploaded/ linked to the registered project in the Research in Svalbard Portal (RiS).

From 2022, all grant recipients that are Norwegian research organisations or public sector bodies (Project Owners and partners) must have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) available on their website. This must be in place when they sign the grant agreement for projects awarded funding from the Research Council. The requirement does not apply to the business sector, special interest organisations or the non-profit sector.

The application must meet the following requirements, otherwise it might be rejected:

• The Project Owner and the project manager must be within the categories set out in this call.
• The grant application must lie within the scope of this call.
• The project description must respond to the call.
• The amount sought, and any own financing must be in accordance with the requirements set out in this call.
• The budget must show in detail what the amount sought from the call will cover.
• The grant application must be completed in full.
• All attachments must be submitted, using the correct templates.
• The grant application, including all attachments, must be submitted in English.
• All attachments must be uploaded in PDF format.
• The applicant must fill in all relevant sections in the Template for project description.

Mandatory attachments

The mandatory attachments must be prepared using designated templates found at the end of the call.

• SSG 2022 Project Description Template
• SSG 2022 Budget Template
• CVs for the project manager and partners/members of the project group

We assess applications on the basis of the following criteria:

Applications will be processed administratively by a panel composed of in-house staff plus external experts with extensive experience from Svalbard. The final funding decision is made by the Research Council of Norway's administration.

Funding from SIOS will be processed administratively by SIOS.