External Funding Opportunities

- NEW: The Unger-Vetlesen Medical Fund: The fund invites applications from the Norwegian medical doctors for funds to be used for the pursuance of further medical studies or research outside Norway. The applicants must be Norwegian citizens and qualified MDs with a wish to become proficient in a major foreign language and familiarize themselves with medical development and research centered outside Norway. Applications are encouraged from medical doctors and researchers in early stages of their career. Deadline: 15 April 2019.

- Young Research Talents -  the FRIPRO program at Research Council of Norway: Young Research Talents funding is targeted towards young researchers in the early stages of their careers who have demonstrated the ability to conduct research of high scientific quality. Young Research Talents projects are intended to give talented young researchers the opportunity to pursue their own research ideas and lead a research project. Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- Mobility Grants - the FRIPRO program at Research Council of Norway: The Mobility Grant is a three-year personal grant at the post-doctoral level in which the project manager is to spend two years at a research organisation abroad and the third year at a research organisation in Norway. This application type is designed to increase international mobility and promote career development among researchers at an early stage in their careers, as well as to facilitate knowledge transfer to research groups in Norway. Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- ERC Starting Grant and Consolidator Grant writing course in Bergen - Are you an early stage researcher (2-7 years since defending PhD for StG and 7-12 years for CoG)? Come to a workshop held by the experienced consultany company Enspire on how to prepare competetive proposals for these two ERC schemes. The workshop is divided into two main sections. First we will lay the foundations of the ERC grant. Then, we focus on conveying to the participants information which cannot be found in the ERC official documentation. You can also book 1:1 session to discuss your idea and project. PS: This course can also be valuable if you plan to prepare a proposal to Research Council of Norway's FRIPRO scheme. Time and venue: 19 June 2019 - 09.00–15.00, Hotel Ørnen

- Research Stay Abroad - each funding source offers funding for research stays abroad for the candidates:

• The Faculty of Medicine - Postdoctoral fellows with UiB funding: granted for stays 3-12 months. Deadline: 1 March and 1 October.
• Helse Vest: granted for 6 or 12 months. Postdoctoral fellowship applicants are especially encouraged to apply for an overseas fellowship over the course of their fellowship period. Continuing deadline
• Research Council of Norway: granted for 3-12 months. Continuing deadline

- EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Fellowships Research on the molecular mechanisms of life at all levels.

• Short-term Short-Term Fellowships fund research exchanges of up to three months between laboratories in eligible countries.
• Long-term The EMBO Long-Term Fellowships are awarded for a period of up to two years and support post-doctoral research visits to laboratories throughout Europe and the world. Deadline: throughout the year.

- As of 2019, Research Council of Norway will introduce a new grant application process. The new deadline for researcher projects, young research talent and mobility grants will be 10 April 2019. The deadline for innovation projects will be in September. Please refer to this page for an overview of the various announcements and their deadlines. In addition, you can see preliminary versions of the evaluation criteria and dates for webinars.

The most important changes:

• An application can be evaluated by all relevant programs announced on the same deadline
• New evaluation criteria: Excellence, impact and implementation
• New templates
• One principal investigator can send a maximum of two applications at the 10 April deadline using identical applications (to be evaluated by, for instance, young research talent and mobility grant programs) or diffe applications (to be evaluated by different programs (for example FRIPRO and BEDREHELSE)
• One researcher can participate as partner in an unlimited number of applications
• Researcher projects will have a finance span of 4-12 million NOK
• The mobility grant will extend from a maximum of 6 years after defense date to a maximum of 7 years

- The funding scheme for independent projects (FRIPRO): Funding is available under the FRIPRO scheme for independent, basic research projects in all subject areas. This call encompasses funding for three types of research projects for researchers at different stages of their careers. The call aims to promote:

• ground-breaking research with scientific quality at the forefront of international research;
• careers for young research talents;
• increased international mobility among researchers in the early stages of their careers.

- Better Health and Quality of Life (BEDREHELSE): This program supports research of high quality and value which can contribute to better health, increased quality of life and reduced social inequalities. The funded research needs to fall under the priorities of the BEDREHELSE work program. This year, priority is given to research covering:

• Substance abuse and addiction
• Stages of life and transitions in life
• Neurodegenerative diseases
• Antibiotic resistance

Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- Research Programme on High-quality and Reliable Diagnostics, Treatment and Rehabilitation (BEHANDLING): Projects are to help to achieve the objectives set out in the work program. The BEHANDLING programme is especially interested in project proposals that address personalised diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation for different public health diseases and within different medical disciplines. The BEHANDLING programme is seeking projects that support the various measures set out in the Handlingsplan for forskning og innovasjon innenfor persontilpasset medisin (2018-2021) PDF - 2,0 MB  [Action Plan for Research and Innovation in Personalised Medicine in Healthcare (2018–2021) – English abstract]. Project proposals on personalised medicine are to:

• encompass stratification bio-markers; 
• describe clear plans for implementing personalised medicine in the health care services;
• incorporate relevant interdisciplinary cooperation (medicine, the humanities, law, technology, etc.) and cooperation between researchers, clinicians and the health services;
• consider the possibility of contributions from industry (the business sector) to provide/pay for drugs;
• incorporate the principles of responsible research and innovation (RRI) and describe relevant issues in connection with health, safety and the environment (HSE), ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) or other relevant RRI perspectives.

Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- Programme on Nanotechnology, Microtechnology and Advanced Materials (NANO2021) - Proposed projects must promote national competence-building in the field of neutron research and must provide a good starting point for future utilisation of Norwegian membership of the European Spallation Source (ESS).

The applicant institution will be required to provide own financing of minimum 25 per cent of the total budget amount in the grant application. The amount of funding sought from the Research Council may not exceed NOK 6.5 million per grant application. Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- Programme on Nanotechnology, Microtechnology and Advanced Materials (NANO2021) - NOK 65 million for Researcher Projects in the fields of nanotechnology, microtechnology and advanced materials. Grant applications must primarily be of relevance to one or more of the following thematic priority areas:

• renewable energy
• environment and climate
• improving health and promoting new medical technology
• increasing value creation and innovation based on Norwegian natural resources
• expanding insight into the impacts of nanomaterials on human health and ecosystems

Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- Health, Care and Welfare Services Research (HELSEVEL) - This call for proposals is limited to services research projects within the three service areas and the six cross-cutting themes described in the work programme. Priority will be given to projects that

• generate new knowledge about structural, organisational and economic factors that impede and promote integrated, coherent patient and user pathways;
• generate new knowledge about structural, organisational and economic factors that help to ensure sustainable health and welfare services, reduce unwarranted variation and avoid undesirable priorities;
• employ a comparative perspective and design.

Deadline: 10 April at 13:00.

- Research programme on Welfare, Working Life and Migration (VAM): Up to NOK 250 million is available for research in all thematic priority areas set out in the new work programme for the Research programme on Welfare, Working Life and Migration (VAM).

Projects are to generate knowledge about and seek solutions to societal challenges within one or more of the programme’s three thematic priority areas: 

• Welfare, living conditions and inequality;
• Achieving an adaptable, inclusive, and health-promoting working life;
• Active citizenship, migration and the role of institutions.

Deadline: 10 April at 13.00.

- Norway-Global Partner (NORGLOBAL2): NORGLOBAL2 seeks projects with high quality research that can contribute to knowledge and understanding of development issues. It encourages innovative, policy-oriented research that addresses the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Proposals can focus on one or more of the five priority research areas:

• global education;
• humanitarian efforts;
• conflict, security and fragility;
• business development and job creation;
• the environment, climate and renewable energy.

Projects carried out in one or several of the 16 partner countries of the Norwegian development cooperation will be given priority. Partner countries include Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Myanmar, Indonesia, Colombia, Afghanistan, Mali, Niger, Palestine, Somalia and South Sudan. Deadline: 10 April at 13.00.

Horizon2020 - several calls. Selected H2020 deadlines 2018:

1. European Research Council (ERC) Frontier research grants

-Pre-announcement: Advanced Grant - Applicants for the ERC Advanced Grants are expected to be active researchers who have a track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years. The Principal Investigators should be exceptional leaders in terms of originality and significance of their research contributions. Deadline: 28 August 2019.

PS: Research Council of Norway and University of Bergen invite applicants and everyone interested to a course where you will learn how to prepare a competetive proposal for ERC Advanced Grant scheme. This training will clarify the basic knowledge and requirements of ERC alongside the more elusive and conceptual parts of this unique grant. PS: This course can also be valuable if you plan to prepare a proposal to Research Council of Norway's FRIPRO scheme.Time and venue: 13 March 2019 - 09.00–15.00, Hotel Ørnen.

2. Marie Sklodovska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Excellent and innovative research training plus attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through cross-border and cross-sector mobility, no thematic priorities.

- MSCA-Research and innovation staff exchage (RISE) -2019: RISE supports mobility and exchange of research and innovation staff, incl.managerial, technical and administrative staff, between institutions in different sectors in Europe and/or with research institutions in countries outside of Europe. Deadline: 2 April 2019

3. Societal Challenges (SC): Collaborative breakthrough research and radical innovation

Selected calls from SC1-2018-2019: Health, demographic change and wellbeing:

1 stage, deadline 16 April 2019

• SC1-BHC-07-2019: Regenerative medicine: from new insights to new applications
• SC1-BHC-10-2019: Innovation Procurement: Next generation sequencing (NGS) for routine diagnosis
• SC1-BHC-13-2019: Mining big data for early detection of infectious disease threats driven by climate change and other factors
• SC1-BHC-28-2019: The Human Exposome Project: a toolbox for assessing and addressing the impact of environment on health
• SC1-HCO-01-2018-2019-2020: Actions in support of the International Consortium for Personalised Medicine
• BHC-31-2019 - Pilot actions to build the foundations of a human cell atlas
• BHC-32-2019 - Towards a next generation influenza vaccine to protect citizens worldwide – an EU-India collaboration
• HCO-15-2019 - Support for the functioning of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R)

- IMI2 – Call 17

The following topics have been published. Please refer to the call page or the links below for further information:

• Optimising future obesity treatment
• Open access chemogenomics library and chemical probes for the druggable genome
• Intelligent prediction and identification of environmental risks posed by human medicinal products

Deadline: 25 April 2019

- The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI2) has published preliminary information on future call topics for inclusion in IMI2 calls in the longer term. Topics under consideration are:

• Neurodegeneration and other neuroscience priorities
• Immunology
• Infection control including vaccines
• Translational safety
• Big data, digital health, clinical trials and regulatory research
• Oncology
• Facilitating the translation of advanced therapies to patients in Europe
• Other enablers of research topics

Please visit the call page for details of the specific research fields under the listed topics that could be included in the upcoming call.

- Blue Bioeconomy Cofund (BlueBio): BlueBio aims at achieving a sustainable and competitive Blue Bioeconomy in Europe. The goal is to generate knowledge for Blue Bioeconomy value chains and improve the transfer of bio-based products and services from research, innovation and demonstrations to production scale implementing the multi-actor-approach. Proposals must demonstrate industry involvement and target one of the following four priority areas: 

• Priority area 1: Exploring new bio-resources
• Priority area 2: Exploring improvements in fisheries and aquaculture
• Priority area 3: Exploring synergies across sectors
• Priority area 4: Exploring Biotechnology and ICT

Further information on eligibility and national co-funding is available in the call text document. Deadline for pre-proposals is 17 March.

- Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) A Healthy Diet for A Healthy Life (HDHL): JPI-HDHL has been established to coordinate research in the areas of food, diet, physical activity and health in order to achieve tangible societal and health impact. The aim of this call is to support transnational, collaborative research projects that address important research questions regarding the effects of food (components) or diets and/or food processing on overweight and related metabolic diseases. An additional objective is to support Early Career Scientists in the area of food, nutrition and health. Deadline for pre-proposals: 2 April 2019.

- NEW: Sustainable Smart Solutions for Ageing well: The Active and Assisted Living Research and Development Programme (AAL) aims to provide innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based solutions including products, systems or services. These solutions aim to enhance older adults’ quality of life, to improve the long-term sustainability of health and long-term care systems, and to strengthen the industrial base in Europe and internationally. The main goal is to improve the autonomy, participation in social life, skills, and employability of older adults.  Solutions funded under the AAL Programme address the wishes and needs identified by end-users, are transnational, collaborative and cost-shared between private and public funding. Deadline: 24 May 2019 at 17:00 CET.

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) provides funding for the creation of research networks, called COST Actions. These networks offer an open space for collaboration among scientists across Europe (and beyond) and thereby give impetus to research advancements and innovation. COST is bottom up, this means that researchers can create a network – based on their own research interests and ideas – by submitting a proposal to the COST Open Call.

Participants are invited to submit COST Action proposals contributing to the scientific, technological, economic, cultural or societal knowledge advancement and development of Europe. Multi- and interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged. The next collection date is 5 September 2019 at 12:00.

- The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) is a unique program that supports innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries.

Awards are made to international (preferably intercontinental) teams of 2 to 4 members. HFSPO encourages projects that are at the frontiers of knowledge and therefore entail risk. Two kinds of research grants are available, the Young Investigators’ Grants and Program Grants. You must initiate an application (with a 2020 reference number) via the website by March 18th, 2019. Submission of the Letters of Intent deadline: March 28th, 2019.

On the following page the UiB's local contact points are listed where every call has a responsible research advisor. You can contact them or faculty advisors MEDforsk@uib.no.

- Increasing Demand for Vaccination Services (Round 23): Considerable gaps remain in our ability to fully vaccinate all children. As health care systems - and immunization systems in particular - evolve, we see an increasing opportunity to take lessons learned from other sectors to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of vaccination systems. Within this call to increase demand for vaccination services, and thus increase the number of children vaccinated globally, we are looking for innovative ideas in the following specific areas:

• Novel approaches for providing practical knowledge about vaccines and vaccination services to caregivers
• Novel ideas for improving the convenience and/or caregiver seeking of vaccination services

Deadline: 10 April 2019 at 11:30am PDT

- NEW: Emerging Technologies for New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas (Round 23): A set of rapidly-evolving technologies is changing the world and expanding the realm of the possible. These emerging technologies include – but are not limited to – artificial intelligence, materials science, wearable sensors, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, microscopy, augmented and virtual reality, geospatial mapping, robotics, and DNA sequencing.The foundation seeks proposals that apply an emerging technology – or a combination of emerging technologies – for new and potentially transformative solutions in global health priority areas. Deadline: 10 April 2019 at 11:30am PDT

Please visit our web page dedicated to innovation relevant funding possibilities.

- EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Fellowships Research on the molecular mechanisms of life at all levels.

• Short-term Short-Term Fellowships fund research exchanges of up to three months between laboratories in eligible countries.
• Long-term The EMBO Long-Term Fellowships are awarded for a period of up to two years and support post-doctoral research visits to laboratories throughout Europe and the world. Deadline: throughout the year.