Post-doctoral Research Fellowships

The Research Council does not award funding for personal post-doctoral research grants.

Only research organisations are eligible to apply for funding via one of our calls for proposals. Post-doctoral research fellowships must therefore form part of a research project. The Project Owner (formal applicant) or a project partner is responsible for the employment of research fellows.

The Research Council’s support for payroll and indirect expenses relating to research fellowship positions may not exceed the amount of the lump-sum allocation (see Rates for Funding of Research Fellowships). The Research Council may provide support for other project-related costs for research fellows, such as use of equipment and travel and accommodation/board.

The postdoctoral fellowship position is funded for a period of at least three years and maximum four years. The Research Council can only fund one fellowship period per postdoctoral candidate. 

In Section 7-6 of Universitets- og høyskoleloven, the minimum fixed-term period for a postdoctoral fellow has been increased from two to three years. The fixed-term period should be three to four years. The calls for proposals with a deadline from 2024 onwards specify the minimum requirement for postdoctoral fellows of three years.

The Research Council primarily allocates funding for post-doctoral research positions to Norwegian universities and university colleges that are entitled to confer doctorates, cf.: Regulations concerning, Forskrift til universitets- og høyskoleloven. 

Other research organisations (in the institute sector) may also be granted funding for post-doctoral fellowships, provided the applicant can document special needs for such a position.

To qualify for this funding, it must be permissible to employ personnel in temporary positions of this type under the legislation regulating employment contracts at the relevant institution (the Civil Service Act or the Working Environment Act), and the position in question must comply with the requirements, Forskrift til universitets- og høyskoleloven. The individual institutions must have assessed this before they submit a grant application to the Research Council.

What is a post-doctoral research fellowship? 

The terms and conditions of employment for the post-doctoral research fellow are described in the Regulations concerning, Forskrift til universitets- og høyskoleloven, § 3-18.

Please note

• The person to be appointed to the post-doctoral research fellowship position must have submitted his/her doctoral thesis before the institution can take the appointment decision.
• The fellowship may not commence until the doctoral thesis has been formally presented, defended and approved.
• A professional development plan must be drawn up for the post-doctoral fellowship period.
• Fellowship-holders are expected to conduct a research stay abroad during their fellowship period. See the call for Research Stays Abroad for Doctoral and Post-doctoral Fellows.

For research fellows with a registered address in Norway who spend all or parts of their research fellowship period abroad, The Project Owner, which is a research organisation, can apply for funding for stays abroad for up to 12 months. 

Professional development plan for post-doctoral research fellows

The institution where the post-doctoral research fellow is employed is responsible for the content of the professional development plan.

All projects receiving funding from the Research Council of Norway are required to comply with the provisions of these regulations, in Forskrift til universitets- og høyskoleloven.

In accordance with the regulations, the objective of the appointment as post-doctoral research fellow is to follow a planned qualification track. In order to ensure targeted use of post-doctoral positions in projects, and to strengthen career development towards senior academic positions for post-doctoral research fellows, the Research Council has made it mandatory for all post-doctoral fellows it funds to draw up and submit a professional development plan.