This text has been translated from Norwegian with assistance of UiO GPT
Universities’ core responsibilities are research and teaching. These two core functions are closely interlinked: the teaching we offer is research-based and is, as a rule, delivered by staff who both conduct research and teach. In many ways, research-based teaching is the hallmark of universities and what distinguishes us from other types of institutions in our sector. Traditionally, the most common academic staff category has therefore been the combined teaching-and-research posts of Associate Professor and Professor. Associate Professors and Professors have both research and education duties in their roles and are expected to devote roughly equal time to both.
We are, however, observing a development in the Faculty’s Appointments Committee for academic posts that is of interest and relates to changes in the universities’ framework conditions. The Faculty’s Appointments Committee is the appointing authority for academic posts, except for recruitment positions such as doctoral research fellows (PhD candidates) and postdoctoral research fellows. The trend we can observe is that an increasing share of the appointment cases handled by the Committee concern appointments to dedicated researcher posts. Reviewing the cases considered in 2024, the Committee appointed seven people as Researcher 1108 (Master’s-level), 13 as Researcher 1109 (doctoral-level), and one as Researcher 1183, which is the top grade on the research track. The Committee appointed a total of five people as Associate Professor. In 2025, the Committee appointed three people as Researcher 1108 and eight as Researcher 1109. A total of six people were appointed as Associate Professor in 2025. Appointments in smaller fractional posts are not included in the overview for either year. In both 2024 and 2025, a relatively large number of appointments to researcher posts were made without prior advertisement, often by invitation, with concern about project delays frequently the reason. Appointments to Associate Professor posts are always made following open international competition. According to Tableau data, the Faculty of Social Sciences had a total of 59 researcher full-time equivalents (FTEs) as of 1 January 2026. Ten years earlier, in January 2016, the Faculty had a total of 16 researcher FTEs.
The growth in the use of researcher posts at the Faculty is driven by the increase in externally funded activity. The Faculty has performed well in competitive funding arenas, and in a situation where the real value of universities’ core funding (block grant) declines slightly year on year, externally funded projects are crucial if we wish to maintain a high level of academic activity. Researcher posts are typically linked to specific externally funded research projects, and the duties are aligned with the research needs those projects have to meet. Many project needs are met by appointing doctoral research fellows and/or postdoctoral research fellows to the projects, but for various reasons some needs must be met by appointing staff to researcher posts. The Appointments Committee always stipulates that the posts are externally funded when appointing people to researcher positions. Most of our researchers are employed on fixed-term contracts, but the Faculty also has around 16 researcher FTEs where the researcher’s employment contract does not have an end date.
The University of Oslo (UiO) is currently revising and updating the regulations governing the appointment and promotion of researchers. A proposal for revised regulations is now out for consultation, and the Faculty has very few comments on the proposal as it stands. Among other things, the proposal confirms that, as a general rule, a researcher’s contractual duties should be devoted in full to research activity, and that the scope of duties not directly linked to the project—such as teaching and supervision—should not detract from the research and should at most constitute 10 per cent of the post during the appointment period. The Faculty considers this an important clarification of researchers’ duties. This clarification also contributes to a clear distinction between the content of researcher posts on the one hand and the combined teaching-and-research posts of Associate Professor and Professor on the other, making it clear that these are distinct career tracks.
It is also positive that the proposal states that a person who meets the conditions for applying for promotion to the top grade on the research track and wishes to apply must have scholarly qualifications equivalent to the requirements for promotion to Professor in the same discipline. In addition, the individual must have qualifications beyond the normal performance of duties at lower levels, either in knowledge utilization and impact or in academic leadership and administration. This latter requirement mirrors the rules for promotion to Professor. As researchers do not have teaching duties, there is no requirement for educational (pedagogical) qualifications for promotion to Researcher 1183. On this point too, the proposed new regulations contribute to clarifying that the research track is a distinct career pathway within academic posts.
The growth in the use of researcher posts at the Faculty reflects the growth in externally funded activity, and this activity is unlikely to become less important in future. Both application volume and success rates vary over time, and there is therefore reason to believe that the pace of appointments to researcher posts will also vary over time. The Faculty is, in any case, pleased that regulations clarifying key aspects of researcher posts and creating predictability in career development for this staff group are soon to be introduced.