Guidelines for assessment and evaluation of researchers at the Faculty of Humanities who have been awarded a grant from the Bergen Research Foundation (BFS)

According to article 10 of the project agreement, as project completion approaches, the Faculty is obliged to

• Make an international, professional evaluation of the project and also of the project management
• Assess whether the project manager has the professional competence for possible appointment as a professor at UiB at the end of the project period

As far as possible, both of these tasks must be carried out by an expert committee supplemented with an administrative member who can assess the financial and also the research and human resource aspects of the project.

Evaluation of the project and project management
The project manager writes a self-evaluation based on the following:

• Development of research strategies and implementation of plans, including initiation of research projects and obtaining external funding
• Ability to create / develop a creative, productive research environment and a good working environment among the research team
• Cooperation with other, relevant research teams and environments outside the University of Bergen
• Cooperation at institute and faculty level
• Project management, including financial management and budgeting
• Handling anomalies and conflicts
• Project reporting and publication strategy

The project manager must also submit a report consisting of maximum ten pages explaining the team’s research activity during the project period and the research findings. A list of publications from the project, including speeches at conferences, etc. must also be enclosed with the report.

The expert committee evaluates the project and the project management based on the project manager’s self-evaluation and report, as well as a visit to Bergen, when the committee is given the opportunity to interview the project manager and project team, and also the University and Faculty Board.

Assessment of competence
Assessment of professional competence will be based on The provisional rules regarding the procedure for appointment of professors and The guide to assessment of candidates for professorships and national promotion to professor adopted by the National Conference of the Faculty of Humanities on 27th November 2006 with amendments passed on 3rd May 2007. The specifications in the next paragraph must also be taken into consideration.

The committee’s work
The committee will be composed of at least 3 members, where the head of the committee is a professor in a full-time post at a Norwegian university. The other two committee members must have professional competence and must come from an international specialist environment. The Faculty, with the Dean of the Faculty Board’s authority, appoints the committee members in collaboration with the University Director of the university to which the Bergen Research Foundation grant is attached. In order to evaluate project implementation and management, the committee will also include an administrative representative who has competence in research and human resource management.

When assessing the project manager’s teaching qualifications, it must be taken into consideration that he or she has not had normal teaching duties during the project period.

As far as possible, the committee’s recommendation must be ready no later than 30 days before the end of the project agreement.

The committee’s work is limited to evaluation of the project and assessment of the project manager’s professional competence. For a trial lecture and interview, a local committee is set up according to the usual rules.