Call for Centres of Research Excellence based at OsloMet - Ansatt

Centres of Research Excellence

Centres of Research Excellence

OsloMets strategy 2024 identifies the goal of "developing three to five academic environments of particularly high quality, at least one of them in technology subjects." In 2020 five academic environments based at OsloMet got the status as Centres of Research Excellence (CRE) for the period 2021-2024.

The applicant academic environment had to be of high to excellent quality, with the potential to compete for status as a national Centre of Excellence in the future, as defined by the SFF scheme of the Research Council of Norway.

During the four-year-period, the academic environments which are granted status as Centres of Research Excellence are expected to apply for external funding; to strengthen their national and international networks and collaboration; to identify and pursue relevant societal challenges defined by the UN SDG key targets and indicators; and to pursue excellence in education within their focus disciplines.

The Centres of Research Excellence receives extra administrative support when applying for external funding, additional funding of up to NOK 1 million/year and one earmarked PhD/Postdoc position.
The evaluation criteria were the Research Council of Norway SFF criteria  – Norwegian Centres of Excellence scheme – combined with a set of specific OsloMet criteria.

Evaluation Criteria

Grant applications will be assessed in relation to the following criteria and performed in net-form for each applicant

  • General criteria

    • Whether the CRE contributes to achieve OsloMet’s strategic goals, as laid out in Strategy 2024.
    • Whether the CRE contributes to strengthening OsloMet’s competitiveness and profile.
  • Excellence

    Novelty: The extent to which:

    • the proposed research addresses important research challenges that will have great impact on international research themes and/or research methods.
    • the objectives are ambitious and beyond the state-of-the-art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches, development of novel methodology or development between or across disciplines).
    • the proposed research has the potential to achieve ground-breaking results.

    Solidity: The extent to which:

    • the outlined scientific approach is feasible.
    • the proposed research methodologies are appropriate to achieve the scientific goals of the CRE.
    • the combination of scientific elements put forward in the proposal is crucial to address the scope and complexity of the research question (s).
  • Impact

    The extent to which:

    • the CRE will contribute to the development of an internationally leading research environment in Norway.
    • the CRE will create an environment that will attract and train research talents beyond what could be attained in the individual research groups
    • the CRE will create an environment that will attract and train students beyond what could be attained in the individual research groups (state type of students, briefly describe how)

    If relevant: the CRE will contribute to the SDGs (describe which, including key targets and indicators)

  • Implementation

    CRE leader and principal investigators/group leaders

    CRE leader, the extent to which:

    • has demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research.
    • has the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully lead the CRE.
    • has demonstrated sound leadership in the training and advancement of young scientist.

    Group leaders, for which CVs are submitted, the extent to which:

    • have demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research.
    • have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully execute their part of the CREs activity.
    • Does at least one of the group leaders, in addition to the CRE leader, have an accomplished track record?

    CRE organization, the extent to which:

    • the proposal goes beyond what the individual group leaders could achieve alone.
    • the group successfully demonstrates in the proposal that it brings together the elements – such as skills, knowledge, experience, expertise, disciplines, methods, approaches, teams – necessary to address the proposed research of the CRE.
    • the physical organization of the CRE is optimal for the scientific collaboration and a fertile student environment
    • If the group consisting of the CRE leader and the group leaders is characterized by gender imbalance, are the plans to support development of research talents of the under-represented gender towards qualification for senior-level positions appropriate?
    • The CRE represent OsloMet representative research areas
    • Strategic plans, vision and ability to follow through; demonstrated through applications where the environment defines themes, give grounds for their ambitions and render visible how they will achieve excellence in research.

    Overall assessment of the evaluators

    Overall assessment of the evaluation based on the criteria Excellence, Impact and Implementation. Each element will be assessed on a scale from 1-7, where 7 is best.

    Scoring according to The research council of Norway.

  • Evaluation Process

    There was one external recruited committee (3-4 members) with experience of SFF or other larger applications. 
    Members of OsloMets R&D Committee (vice deans for research, SVA, SPS, vice rector and representative from R&D, central EU team) also evaluated the proposals. 

    The result was announced 4th of November 2020.

  • The Centres of Research Excellence

    Read more about the five centres here: Centres of Research Excellence

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