The Leiv Eiriksson mobility programme, summary of information for applicants to Norway

The Leiv Eiriksson mobility programme is a follow-up to the “Norwegian Strategy for Scientific and Technological Cooperation with North America” and aims to contribute to the long-term escalation of R&D collaboration with the United States and Canada by allowing more Norwegian researchers and research recruits to spend time in the U.S. or Canada, and more researchers and research recruits from these countries to spend time in Norway.

The Research Council of Norway offers mobility grants to nationals of the USA and Canada for research stays of one to ten months' duration in Norway.

Norwegian institutions may apply for mobility grants on behalf of scientific staff and PhD-students from the USA and Canada for research stays of one to ten months' duration in Norway. The allowance must cover travel and living costs and cannot be used to cover expenses directly related to a research project or for the purchase of equipment.

Terms and conditions

Mobility grants can be obtained for research stays of one to ten months' duration in Norway. Support is granted in the form of a monthly allowance of NOK 11,000 for individuals or NOK 22,000 for families plus a flat-rate travel subsidy of NOK 7,000 per person. Some operating costs may also be granted to cover e.g. course and seminar fees.

Recommendation/invitation

A letter of recommendation from the parent institution and a letter of invitation from the host institution must be attached to the application. Doctoral students must enclose a letter from their supervisor indicating that the research stay is an integral part of their doctoral studies.

Assessment criteria

The mobility programme encompasses all disciplines and subject areas and the following assessment criteria will be employed:

The applicant's competence and scientific qualifications
• The scientific purpose and value added of the stay
• Quality of the sending/receiving institution/research milieu
• All else being equal, younger candidates and longer stays will be given priority

Application deadline: 29 August 2007, 1800 hrs

Earliest permitted project start: 1 January 2008

Status of call for proposals: Preliminary

Amount of funding presumed available at the time of this call for proposals:

The Leiv Eiriksson mobility programme is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Available funds for 2008 are at least NOK 4, 5 million.

Guidelines and important considerations relevant to all types of applications: The closing date for submission of applications is 29 August 2007. All research stays must commence after 1 January 2008. All mobility grant applications must be submitted via the eSoknad electronic submission service. The result will be announced by the end of 2007. Funding is disbursed as a grant to the relevant institution in Norway.

Application type: Other personal research grant

Special requirements:

The application form is filled in by the project manager (project manager and applicant may be the same person). The project description must answer the following questions (use this template):

1. Applicant’s full name, institute/school/dept., title/degree
2. Name of parent institution and host institution
3. Type of scholarship: Inbound (from the USA or Canada to Norway) with/without family1
4. Discipline, e.g. Molecular biology
5. Duration of stay (dates of arrival and departure)
6. Simple budget.

Budget

Number of months x 11,000/22,000 (monthly allowance) + number of persons x 7,000 (travel subsidy) + operating costs (up to 2,000 per month) = Sum total From Research Council.

The sum total must be entered into all three budget frames; Cost plan, Cost code and Funding plan in the electronic application form. Please use the 2008 column and enter the same amount under Payroll and indirect expenses, Abroad and From Research Council. The sum total must be the same in all three frames. Specify your budget as detailed above in the Specifications field underneath the Funding plan.

Fellowship

Select Doctoral fellowship or Postdoctoral fellowship (includes visiting researcher grants). Use the to- and from-dates here to indicate the length of the stay.

Partners

Enter the name of the American or Canadian sending institution and contact person. As Partner’s role select Research Activity.

Attachments

All attachments must be uploaded in the PDF format .The following attachments are compulsory2:

1. Project description (max. 5 pages)
2. Project manager’s resume with a list of relevant publications (max. 2 pages)
3. Applicant’s resume with a list of relevant publications (max. 2 pages)
4. Letter of recommendation from parent institution (max. 1 page)
5. Letter of invitation from host institution (max. 1 page)

Doctoral students must enclose a letter from their supervisor indicating that the research stay is an integral part of their doctoral studies. All attachments specified above are compulsory. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications cannot be complemented after the deadline, with the exception of letters of invitation, which may be forwarded after the application deadline, if the applicant expressly states this in the application.

Application deadline

The application deadline cannot be extended. All applications must be submitted via the eSoknad electronic submission service. Applications received in any other form will be discarded.

Anticipated date for notification of results:

The result will be announced by the end of 2007.

General guidelines for Other personal research grants:

n/a

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¹ Travel expenses for spouse/registered partner or cohabiter and children under 18 may be covered when said persons accompany the grant recipient throughout the grant period.

² The application must not exceed a total of 15 pages including the electronic form