For the first time, UiO:Energy announces funding for convergence environments within sustainable energy. An information meeting has already been held – with subsequent and successful researcher-speed-dating – and now the deadline for submitting mandatory sketches is approaching: 30 October. The final application deadline is expected to be 31 December.
– This is an excellent opportunity to join interdisciplinary collaborations! We can put different disciplines in contact with each other ahead of the deadline(s), for example if you are working on a sketch and see that there is need for participation from another field, Bakken says.
Will inform about any overlap
A main point of having mandatory sketches is to see if any of the initiatives have overlapping themes. In such instances, the researchers will be made aware of it.
– We will not force anyone to collaborate, only point out that more people are working within the same area. Then it is up to the researchers themselves to initiate contact and assess how to best proceed. I should also stress that no one will be stopped at the sketch stage: if you have submitted a sketch, you can submit a full application, Bakken explains.
In the long run: applications to the EU
The focus on convergence environments within sustainable energy involves the establishment of large, interdisciplinary projects and 3-6 recruitment positions per environment.
– This is our largest endeavor so far, after having used a number of other instruments in recent years – including recent support for Thematic Research Groups. We want to copy the very successful convergence work carried out at UiO:Life Sciences, says Bakken and elaborates:
– Such environments have proven to be very effective in achieving radical interdisciplinarity. We hope that these new, collaborative constellations in the long-run can become platforms for applications to both the Research Council of Norway (RCN) and the EU. The first opportunity actually presents itself already in February 2021 - with the call for Large-Scale Interdisciplinary Researcher Project from RCN.