Network Funding for Research Groups Following the Evaluation of Legal Research in Norway

Only universities and university colleges evaluated in the Evaluation of Legal Research in Norway can apply. They are:

• BI Norwegian Business School – Department of Law and Governance
• The University of Agder – School of Business and Law, the Department of Law
• The University of Bergen – Faculty of Law
• The University of Oslo – Faculty of Law
• The University of South-Eastern Norway – USN School of Business, the Department of Business, Marketing and Law
• The University of Tromsø – Faculty of Law

Requirements relating to the Project Owner

The Project Owner must be a research organisation evaluated in the Evaluation of Legal Research in Norway (JUREVAL).

The research organisation defined as the Project Owner in the grant application form must have formally approved submission of the application.

If the application is a collaboration between several organisations, the Project Owner submits the application on behalf of the entire research group.

Requirements relating to the project manager

The project manager is the scientific director of the research group for which you are applying for funding. The project manager must be employed by the Project Owner institution at the time of the project start. If the project manager does not have permanent employment when the application is submitted, we ask that you provide information about plans for employment in the application. We also ask that you let us know as soon as the project manager has been employed.

Requirements relating to the research group

The research group must comprise at least three members, two of whom must be affiliated to the applicant organisation. All members of the research group must be active researchers affiliated to approved Norwegian research organisations or international research organisations.

The research group’s activity must be rooted in legal issues, but we encourage research groups to collaborate across disciplines and with other Norwegian and/or international research organisations.

You may be granted funding for the following network measures:

• event funding (meetings, seminars and/or workshops)
• establishing and running national/international networks
• research visits that last from one to twelve months in Norway. The funding will cover extra expenses in connection with research visits within the rates for research visits to Norway and not R&D personnel expenses. Research Visits to Norway (forskningsradet.no)
• participation at national and international workshops/conferences/meetings
• expenses linked to stays abroad (three to twelve months) at a research institution for research fellows, within the rates for stays abroad. Funding for this is conditional on the initiative not being covered by other schemes in the Research Council. Research Stays Abroad (forskningsradet.no)
• running national PhD courses aligned with the research group. We place emphasis on courses being held in several rounds and that they are open to PhD candidates in Norway and other interested researchers. We assume that the course will count as part of the PhD programme. Funding for national courses can be spent on administration, travel and accommodation expenses for guest lecturers or other relevant expenses linked to running courses. This point only applies to degree-conferring institutions.

A requirement for being awarded funding is that you have included at least one, and preferably more, network measures from the list above.

We also assume that the research group has specific plans to develop a project application to national or international funding bodies by the end of the project period. Any plans to apply for external funding must be included in the project description.

You must also describe how the planned activity supports scientific renewal and development at the institutions. 

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

Scope of funding

The funding amount per group is up to NOK 1 million for groups only applying for funding for network measures, or up to NOK 2 million for research groups that, in addition to network measures, also run courses for PhD candidates.

Conditions for funding

The project must start between 1 July 2023 and 1 December 2023. The latest permitted completion date for the project is 30 November 2027. The minimum permitted project period is 36 months.

There is a limit on how many research groups from each evaluated research organisation can apply. The maximum number of research groups that can apply for funding:

• two research groups from evaluated units with up to 50 academic members of staff
• five research groups from evaluated units with more than 50 academic members of staff

The Research Council’s requirements relating to allocations and disbursement of funding 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, available in their entirety on the following information page: What the contract involves.

Funding will be disbursed every four months, and only the research group’s actual expenses entered in the institution’s accounts will be covered. The research group must submit an annual progress report, and submit a final report at the end of the project. All reporting takes place electronically.

You may revise and resubmit your application form multiple times up to the submission deadline for applications. We recommend that you submit your application as soon as you have filled in the grant application form and included all mandatory attachments. After the deadline, it is the most recently submitted version of the grant application that will be processed.

The number of applications that can be submitted per organisation is set out under “Conditions for funding”.

Requirements relating to the application

• The applicant/Project Owner must come from an eligible category of institution.
• The application must lie within the scope of the objectives of this call.
• The funding amount applied for and the expenses to be covered must be in keeping with the framework of the call.
• The budget must be formulated correctly so that it clearly indicates what the funding will cover.
• The application form must be completed in full.
• The required attachments must be included using the dedicated templates.
• The project description must provide answers to the items set out in the text of the call.
• The application and all attachments must be written in Norwegian or English.
• All attachments must be uploaded in PDF format.

Mandatory attachments

• Use the standard template available for download at the end of the call.
• The CV of the project manager. Use the standard template available for download at the end of the call.

Applications that do not meet the requirements listed above will be rejected.

We will not assess documents and websites linked to in the application, or other attachments than those specified above. There is no technical validation of the content of uploaded attachments, so please ensure that you upload the correct file for the selected type of attachment.

Only administrative assessment criteria are used in this call.

Once the deadline expires, we will check that the applications meet the formal requirements. Applications that do not meet the requirements will be rejected.

Applications that meet the formal requirements will be assessed by the Research Council's administration. We will give priority to groups that emphasise regulatory developments (see explanation above).

If the total funding amount in the application exceeds the available budget, we will cut an equal percentage of the allocation made to groups that do not emphasise regulatory developments.

If groups that emphasise regulatory developments apply for an amount that exceeds the available budget, we will cut an equal percentage of the allocation made to all groups awarded funding.

A funding decision can be expected at the end of February 2023.