Communication and dissemination of climate, environment and ocean research

Approved Norwegian research organisations, companies, public sector entities and non-governmental organisations are eligible to apply. See here for the list of approved Norwegian research organisations and the definition of public sector. Sole proprietorships are not eligible to apply. 

Requirements relating to the Project Owner 

The Project Owner must have approved submission of the grant application. 

Requirements relating to the project manager 

The project manager must be employed by the Project Owner or a partner. 

Requirements relating to the project group 

The project group must have both research and communication competence within the thematic area of the grant application. 

About collaboration in the project 

We do not require partners under this call. Approved Norwegian research organisations, companies, public sector entities and non-governmental organisations may be partners. Sole proprietorships may not be partners. 

You can apply for funding to cover actual costs that are necessary to carry out the project. 

In the grant application form, the project budget is to be broken down into the following cost categories: 

• Payroll and indirect expenses: costs incurred by the Project Owner. 
• Other operating expenses, which are costs for other activities necessary to carry out the project. Any purchases from subcontractors must be entered here. All costs entered as "other operating expenses" must be specified in the application.  

You must specify how funding from the Research Council will be used. 

The cost codes procurement of R&D services and equipment cannot be used.  

You cannot apply for funding for:  

• scientific publication; 
• conferences – we do not support pure conferences/seminars/meetings, etc.; 
• continuation of existing and/or funded communication and dissemination activities; 
• communication and dissemination activities that are part of the existing obligations under agreements entered into with the Research Council; 
• communication and dissemination activities that are considered a natural part of existing research projects; 
• activities that fall under researchers' general duty to disseminate. 

You will find detailed and important information about what to enter in the project budget on the website.  

Conditions for funding 

Companies will be disbursed the aid as de minimis aid. This means that an enterprise in total cannot be paid more than EUR 300,000 in a three-year period. 

Prior to disbursement of de minimis aid, the Research Council will request written confirmation and an overview of all other de minimis aid that the company has received during the last three fiscal years. For enterprises that are part of a group, the maximum limit generally applies to the group as a whole. See also the EU de minimis aid regulation (Commission Regulation (EU) No 2023/2831).  

The Research Council's requirements relating to allocation and disbursement of support for the first year and any pledges and payments for subsequent years are set out in the General Terms and Conditions for R&D Projects.  

We will disburse the support in arrears, and you will only be reimbursed for actual expenses that have been accounted for. Terms and conditions for reporting and disbursement of support will be set out in the contract. 

Please note that you can only submit the application once. If you submit the application and afterwards 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 thus submit a new version. 

The project group must have research competence and communication expertise within the topic you are applying for. 

The grant application and all attachments must be submitted in Norwegian or English. 

All attachments must be uploaded in PDF format. 

Mandatory attachments 

• Project description, download the template at the bottom of the page. 
• CV for the project manager (maximum 4 pages, including any list of publications). 
• CV with documentation of research competence (within the chosen topic) in the group or with partners (if this competence is not covered by the project manager (see point above) (max. 4 pages including any list of publications)). 
• CV with documentation of communication expertise in the group or with partners (if this competence is not covered by the project manager (see point above) (max 4 pages including any list of publications)). 
• Confirmations from any partners and/or others involved in the project. 
• For companies: Declaration form for de minimis aid using the standard template, which can be downloaded at the end of this call. 

Applications that do not satisfy the above requirements will be rejected. 

All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application. 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. 

Grant applications will be assessed in light of the objective of the call and the following criteria: 

The applications will be processed administratively. The expected processing time is six weeks (expect a slightly longer processing time during the summer holidays). 

When we assess grant applications, priority will be given to: 

• projects with clear target groups and concrete plans to reach the target group(s); 
• projects that can highlight the impacts the project will have on the target group(s); 
• projects that incorporate declarations of collaboration with partners and other stakeholders where relevant. 

Overall, we want projects to reach different target groups, consist of different activities and forms of dissemination, and to cover all topics set out in the call. We therefore assess the applications in relation to each other and the overall portfolio of projects that will receive funding under this call. 

See also: How we process applications.