Two processes at the Faculty have had the main collective focus this autumn: The SFF (Norwegian Centres of Excellence) process and the INFRASTRUCTURE process.
The SFF process
It has been very interesting to follow the SFF applicants. After a long process with contributions from external consultants and our internal panel of experts, we are left with 21 applications hosted by departments at our Faculty. Department of Technology Systems submits one application, the Departments of Chemistry and Mathematics submit two applications each, the Department of Geosciences three, the Departments of Physics and Biosciences four applications each, and the Department of Informatics five applications. Some research communities have withdrawn from the process due to high work pressure or have due to strategic purposes considered it prudent to postpone their application processes. We look forward to seeing applications from you in the next announcement period!
The Faculty's own expert panel consisting of experienced applicants have assessed the applications and provided input in the application process. Nils Christian Stenseth has directed it all, along with Trygve Helgaker, Mats Carlsson, Bjørn Jamtveit and Ragnar Winther. Ingse Noremsaune from the Faculty Administration has acted as administrative leader and evaluator. Thank you all for your contribution to raise the quality of the applications from our Faculty.
INFRASTRUCTURE process
The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has had a thorough process for prioritizing the applications for the Research Council's INFRASTRUCTURE program. The competition for these funds has been tough, and the investments are large and of high strategic value. The financial and personnel-related obligations are extensive and long term. Which makes it very important to be aware of what is advisable to own ourselves and which consortia we should rather be participating in.
In February and March, our applications were discussed and prioritized by our Heads of Departments, our Dean and Vice Deans before a final prioritization of the applications was made in October and November. We have chosen to follow UiO's roadmap for research infrastructure by dividing the applications into the categories Life Sciences and STEM, and rank the applications in each category in three levels: A = top priority, B = high priority and C = eligible.
In total, the Faculty is involved in almost 30 applications, where we are the owner of five. This year's call emphasizes the continuation of established infrastructures and we have found it important to pay attention to this while providing room for new entrants. Institutional involvement, national and international commitments and solid consortia have been guiding parameters. Based on the discussions, we have given top priority to four applications within each category:
STEM:
- EST (European Solar Telescope) from Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics
- NORTEM II (The Norwegian Centre for Transmission Electron Microscopy) from the Department of Physics and Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology (SMN)
- NorLHC II (Enabling LHC Physics at Extreme Collision Rate) form Department of Physics
- Goldschmidt II (The Goldschmidt Laboratory - Stage II) from Department of Geosciences
Life Sciences:
- PheNo (Norwegian Plant Phenotyping Platform) form Department of Biosciences
- ELIXIR III (Strengthening the Norwegian Node of ELIXIR) from Department of Informatics
- NNP II (Norwegian NMR Platform II) from Department of Chemistry
- CEBIGEN (Centre for Biodiversity Genomics) from Department of Biosciences
Other applications that have been involved throughout the application process have been given high priority. Applications that came too late to participate in the process but who are still considered important for our departments are characterized as eligible.
We are sending this list to the Research Infrastructure Committee, which under the leadership of Vice Rector Per Morten Sandset will prepare UiO's priority list of applications that are submitted to the Research Council of Norway.
I want to send a big thank you to the research environments, the administrative staff and the Heads of Departments for their great efforts in this application process, and wish them the best of luck!
Lastly, I hope everyone endures this second wave of the pandemic, with hopes for a vaccine and normal working conditions in 2021!