New CoE funding allocations
During the first few weeks after the start of the semester, the Faculty has received a number of positive messages relating to major project funding allocations. Of course, the most excitement arose in relation to the decisions made by the Research Council of Norway regarding the funding allocations for the Norwegian Centres of Excellence (CoE). On Friday 23 September, we received the happy news that the Faculty had been allocated two new Centres of Excellence. Arne Klungland’s project application for the Centre for Embryology and Healthy Development (in Norwegian) was successful. Karl-Johan Malmberg and Johanna Olweus were also successful with their application and will jointly head up the PRIMA Precision Immunotherapy Alliance (in Norwegian). Both of these projects will be anchored at the Department of Clinical Medicine. In addition to the above, our Faculty is also part of a recently allocated Centre of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, which will be led by Arnoldo Frigessi (in Norwegian).
The process from when the call for proposals was issued in 2019 until the new centres were announced two weeks ago has been long and laborious, especially for the applicants but also for the support system at the Faculty. You can read about the process leading up to the new centres here. Dean of Research Jens Petter Berg and Research Adviser Veslemøy Ramsfjell have performed excellent work to support our researchers throughout the entire process.
More funding allocations from the RCN
Not long ago, we were also able to announce that five of our research communities had been successful during this year’s FRIPRO allocations. The Department of Health and Society has also recently been allocated two major new Research Council of Norway (RCN) projects: Andrea Solnes Miltenburg was allocated NOK 12 million for a project on pregnancy and obstetrics in Tanzania (in Norwegian). Rosemarie de La Cruz Bernabe will receive NOK 11,999,000 for the Pandemic Ethics project.
EU applications in 2022
2022 has been a positive year for EU applications submitted by the Faculty. The Department of Health and Society has distinguished itself in particular with its excellent application outcomes. ClinMed and the Department of Basic Medical Sciences have also done well in their respective areas. The projects that were awarded funding include fields such as research ethics, autophagy, immunology, neuroinformatics and the use of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
EU allocations for the Department of Health and Society
In total, the Department of Health and Society (Helsam) has succeeded in securing funding corresponding to EUR 4.9 million from the EU this year. This is a development we would love to see continue. Please do read the great advice from Anne Moen for those who will be applying in 2023. Moen leads an extensive EU project with more than 40 partners, while also having been invited to participate in new projects that were also accepted this summer. Researchers at the Department of Health and Society can now list themselves as both coordinators and partners in a number of new projects.
Helsam is now the coordinator for two, soon to be three, EU projects.
Jan Helge Solbakk from the Centre for Medical Ethics has recently been awarded the ERC AdG (link in Norwegian). Together with four partners and with a total budget of EUR 2.5 million, he will develop tools to help healthcare professionals make and live with decisions for which there is no obvious morally correct solution – situations in which it seems impossible to envision the right outcome or avoid anyone being harmed. (Department of Health and Society budget EUR 1,153,000).
Yuichi Mori from the Department for Health Management and Health Economics is the coordinator for the EU-funded five-year flagship project, OperA. The project has a total budget of EUR 6 million (Department of Health and Society budget EUR 1,850,000). The project recently arranged its kick-off event at Holmenkollen, at which the 18 project partners presented the eight different sub-projects.
The department is currently negotiating with the EU concerning allocation for a final, larger project for which the department would be the coordinator.
The Department of Health and Society is a partner in three EU projects
The Department of Health and Society is a partner in the XR4Human project (link in Norwegian), of which Rosemarie de La Cruz Bernabe is the coordinator together with Rigmor Baraas from the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN). The aim of the project is to prepare Europe for eXtended Reality (XR). The project is based out of USN and has a total budget of EUR 2,325,000, of which the Department of Health and Society’s share is EUR 228,125.
Anne Moen, Professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences, was recently awarded EU funding as a partner in two research projects, OneAquaHealth and XpanDH (in Norwegian), relating to health, the environment, sustainability and mobility. OneAquaHealth is a project with 12 partners and a total budget of EUR 5 million. (Department of Health and Society budget EUR 228,125). The aim of OneAquaHealth is to identify and adopt the use of indicators for early warning of changes to the ecosystems in and around rivers and the impact these changes have on the environment and health.
The XpanDH project has 27 partners and a total budget of EUR 2 million. This is a mobilisation project with a network consisting of researchers, developers and decision-makers. The project will follow up on and further develop the ongoing ambitions concerning safe use of health data across European borders.
The department is currently negotiating with the EU concerning a fourth project in which the department is a partner.
EU allocations for the Department of Basic Medical Sciences (IMB)
The new Pro-Dean of Research, Jan Bjålie, is participating in three new EU projects in the field of neuroscience. The SCI-LAKE (EUR 297,000), eBRAIN-Health (EUR 436,000) and eBRAINS PREP (EUR 255,000) projects focus in particular on neuroinformatics and are closely linked to the Human Brain Project, as part of which the University of Oslo leads the EBRAINS subproject. Together, these four projects will lead to just under NOK 10 million in research funding, which will, among other things, be used to further develop digital research infrastructure. Read more on the department website EBRAINS is entering its final year of EU funding (in Norwegian).
EU allocations for the Department of Clinical Medicine
ERC is an important instrument and will become even more important going forward, with the expected cuts to national funding allocations. ClinMed can boast having had two ERC starting grants approved. Both of the prestigious projects are worth around NOK 15 million. One was awarded to Johanne Jacobsen (in Norwegian), who will continue her research into the adaptive immune system with a focus on T-cells in the “GCT-subsets” project. The other was awarded to Helene Knævelsrud (in Norwegian), whose project “FINALphagy” looks at autophagy, especially the mechanisms leading to the process being stopped.
Researchers and research communities from ClinMed will also participate in new MSCA Doctoral Network projects and will contribute to several EU projects carried out at Oslo University Hospital.
Next year’s applications
The next calls for proposals in Horizon Europe are expected to be published this December. These will provide new opportunities for researchers at the Faculty. The Division for External Research Funding at the Faculty has an excellent overview of the upcoming calls for proposals next spring, as well as other updates for 2023. Due to an expected reduction in the Research Council of Norway budgets, the EU is set to play an even greater part in research funding. If you would like further information about research funding from the EU, I recommend contacting our talented and motivated research advisers at the Division for External Research Funding. They will provide you with excellent advice and will be more than happy to assist you with your EU application.
Also read the ten recommendations from our research advisers for those who intend to apply in the article New opportunities through EU research programmes.