S? kommer vi tilbake etter ferien, da – med ferdigladede batterier, og fulle av inntrykk fra opplevelser godt unna jobbene v?re. Men s? er det likevel ikke akkurat s?nn, denne gangen. For denne koronaen som vi alle hadde fokus p? gjennom v?ren, har jo v?rt med oss ogs? gjennom sommeren, enten vi har st?tt i k? p? fergekaier eller i sikkerhetskontroller, enten vi har bes?kt stranden eller fjellet.
Og vel hjemme tr?r vi s? forsiktig, s? forsiktig og h?per at dette dyret ikke skal v?kne like kraftig til live igjen som det vi opplevde i v?r.
Godt er det da ? kunne unne seg ? se etter tegn p? normalitet. Og ingenting er s? normalt og fint som ? f? s?knader innvilget fra 澳门葡京手机版app下载sr?det. Sommeren er ikke storsesong for innvilgning av s?knader, riktignok. Men ikke desto mindre er det gledelig ? kunne konstatere at fakultetet fikk fullt gjennomslag for v?re s?knader i forbindelse med SAMEVAL.
Satset p? kurs
SAMEVAL er navnet p? 澳门葡京手机版app下载sr?dets evaluering av samfunnsvitenskapelig forskning i Norge. Den omfattet alle grunnenheter ved SV-fakultetet, bortsett fra psykologi, og resulterte i en rapport som forel? i 2018. Her fikk alle v?re aktuelle forskningsmilj?er enten h?yeste eller nest?h?yeste sk?r. I ?r kom s? oppf?lgeren fra NFR: alle samfunnsvitenskapelige milj?er som hadde oppn?dd nettopp h?yeste eller nesth?yeste sk?r i evalueringen i 2018, ble i mars 2020 invitert til ? sende inn s?knader om midler for ? drive nettverksaktiviteter.
Den eneste begrensningen var at NFR kun ga oss anledning til ? sende inn slike s?knader fra opptil ?tte av de i alt tretten forskningsgruppene ved fakultetet som i sin tid ble evaluert. Siden det ville gis ekstra midler for de s?kerne som utviklet nasjonale PhD-kurs, bestemte dekanen at vi bare ville st?tte s?knader som inneholdt slike kurs. I mai ble de ?tte s?knadene sendt av g?rde – og resultatet var, som nevnt, str?lende.
?tte forskningsgrupper ved fakultetet har alts? mottatt st?tte p? i gjennomsnitt rundt 1,6 millioner kroner hver for ? drive nettverksbygging og utvikling av nasjonale PhD-kurs – totalt rundt 12,7 millioner kroner.
I PhD-studiet er seks studie?retninger representert, dvs. alle unntatt psykologi. Det er snakk om to forsknings?grupper ved hvert av TIK-senteret og Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi og en forskningsgruppe ved hvert av ARENA, ?konomisk institutt, Institutt for statsvitenskap og Sosialantropologisk institutt.
Gode PhD-kurs er gull verdt for utviklingen av nye forskningsrekrutter. Det er derfor flott at 澳门葡京手机版app下载sr?det gir oss denne anledningen til ? skape nye og relevante kurs i emner der v?re forskere st?r sterkt og virkelig har noe ? tilby PhD-studenter b?de her og p? andre universiteter og h?yskoler rundt i landet. Det skal bli interessant ? se hva disse nye kursene f?rer til.
Ingen intervjuer
P? andre fronter er nyhetene dessverre noe mer preget av koronaen. Vi hadde denne gangen hele fem s?kere p? ERC Starting Grants som kom videre til runde 2. Dessverre ble denne runden litt avstumpet – det ble ingen intervjuer med s?kerne i runde 2, slik vi er vant med, verken i Brussel eller p? Zoom.
At ingen av de fem fikk s?knaden sin innvilget, kan v?re uflaks. Men det kan ogs? v?re at v?re s?kere normalt gj?r det veldig bra i intervjuer i ERC fordi forskningsadministrasjonen v?r legger til rette for ?ving, terping og forberedelser p? nettopp denne intervjusituasjonen.
Da skal vi v?re glade for at ERC igjen har ?pnet for intervjuer i neste omgang, som er ERC Consolidator Grants – riktignok bare p? Zoom, men det er bedre enn ingenting.
Det er p? sin plass ? understreke den store innsatsen som gj?res av forsknings?administrasjonen, b?de p? fakultetet og ved grunnenhetene, n?r det gjelder ? f? av g?rde gode s?knader og preppe s?kerne til gode intervjuer. Vi er n? s? heldige ? ha tilbake Konstantinos Chilidis fra sykdom. Dessuten har vi f?tt inn en forsterkning i form av Malin Solli Wandem.
Til sammen har Konstantinos og Malin nesten 20 ?rs erfaring som EU-r?dgivere ved Universitetet i Oslo. Det er all grunn til ? tro at vi i fremtiden skal hevde oss minst like godt n?r det gjelder EU-s?knader som vi har gjort s? langt. Det er bare ? h?pe at EU ikke barberer FoU-budsjettet sitt for hardt. Det vi selv kan gj?re, er ? ta i bruk de ressursene som Konstantinos og Malin – og alle de andre forskningskonsulentene rundt p? fakultetet – representerer.
Editorial: Funding granted to all the Faculty’s SAMEVAL applications
“Good PhD courses are hugely beneficial for newly recruited researchers. We are therefore thrilled that the Research Council of Norway is giving us this opportunity to create relevant new courses in subjects where our researchers excel and really have something to offer PhD students,” writes Research Dean Tore Nilssen, who is delighted that all the Faculty’s SAMEVAL applications have been successful.
Here we are again, back after the holidays – refreshed and recharged, brimming with impressions from our time away from our jobs. Although everything is of course slightly different this year. COVID-19, which dominated our lives all through the spring semester, has remained with us through the summer break too – as we queued at ferry docks or airport security checkpoints, and whether we headed out to the coast or inland to the mountains.
Now we are back at home, we are still tiptoeing around, cautiously, anxiously, hoping the monster will not rear its ugly head again with the same vigour as in the spring.
I am probably not alone in enjoying recognising signs of a return to normality. And nothing is as normal – and nice – as having applications for funding from the Research Council of Norway granted. Summer is not usually high season for decisions on applications. It is therefore especially pleasing to be able to report that all the Faculty’s SAMEVAL applications have been awarded funding.
Focus on courses
SAMEVAL is the Research Council of Norway’s evaluation of social science research in Norway. All the units at the Faculty of Social Sciences were included, except psychology. The evaluation culminated in a report published in 2018. All our relevant research environments received the highest or second-highest score. In March 2020, the Research Council of Norway followed up the evaluation, by inviting all the social science communities that had achieved the highest or second-highest score in the 2018 evaluation to submit an application for funding for networking activities.
The only restriction was that we were only allowed to submit applications from a maximum of eight of the 13 research groups at the Faculty that had been evaluated. Since additional funding was going to be provided for applicants that developed national PhD courses, the Dean decided that we would only support applications that included relevant courses. In May, the eight applications were submitted – and the results were, as mentioned, outstanding.
Eight research groups at the Faculty have received funding of an average of around NOK 1.6 million each for networking and development of national PhD courses, amounting to some NOK 12.7 million in total.
Six areas of study in the PhD programme are represented, that is, all the Faculty’s areas except psychology. The following groups have been granted funding: two research groups each from the TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture and the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, and one research group each from ARENA, the Department of Economics, the Department of Political Science, and the Department of Social Anthropology.
Good PhD courses are hugely beneficial for newly recruited researchers. We are therefore thrilled that the Research Council of Norway is giving us this opportunity to create relevant new courses in subjects where our researchers excel and really have something to offer PhD students, both here at the University of Oslo and at other Norwegian universities and university colleges. It will be interesting to see what these new courses lead to.
No interviews
On most other fronts, the news is more dominated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. This time we had five applications for ERC Starting Grants that made it to round 2. Unfortunately, this round was cut rather short and no interviews were held, neither in Brussels, as is usually the case, nor even via videocall. The fact that none of the five round-2 applicants had their application granted may therefore be down to sheer bad luck.
But it may also be the case that our applicants normally do particularly well in interviews with the ERC, because our research administration provides such excellent assistance in the form of practice interviews, training and tailored preparation for this particular interview situation.
We are therefore pleased that the ERC has reintroduced interviews for the next round of applications, which is for ERC Consolidator Grants – albeit via Zoom, but that is certainly better than nothing.
I would like to take a moment to emphasise the fantastic work done by the research administration, both at the Faculty and at the various units, in helping us submit good applications and coaching applicants ahead of interviews. We are very pleased to welcome back Konstantinos Chilidis, after a period of illness. We have also expanded the team with Malin Solli Wandem. Together, Konstantinos and Malin have almost 20 years of experience as advisers on EU applications at the University of Oslo.
There is every reason to believe that in the future we will continue to do at least as well with applications for EU funding as we have done in the past. We must hope that the EU does not cut back its R&D budget too much. In the meantime, we should all make maximum use of the resources that Konstantinos and Malin – and all the other research consultants around the Faculty – represent.