ABOUT
The Aurora programme is a collaboration between French and Norwegian authorities represented by the Embassy of France in Oslo and the Research Council of Norway. The programme was launched in 1999 and replaces the government scholarships under the Cultural Agreement between France and Norway. From 1999 - 2008 the programme received 443 applications, 42 per year on average, and 185 allocations were made from the Norwegian side.
Objectives
The Aurora mobility programme seeks to establish and expand the contact between educational and research institutions in Norway and France. Grant applications are being accepted from Norwegian scientific staff/groups of researchers for funding of short-term visits in France for the purpose of launching and developing new joint research projects.
This programme normally accepts grant applications from:
Grant applications are being accepted from Norwegian scientific staff/groups of researchers for funding for short-term stays in France for the purpose of launching and developing joint research projects.
The programme is funded jointly by Norway and France, and applications must be submitted to both countries for processing. Applicants must therefore ensure that the French project manager submits an application for a stay in Norway to the French programme administration (ÉGIDE).
Duration
The programme will remain in effect until it is terminated by the Research Council or the French authorities.
Overall budget
The annual budgetary framework is approximately NOK 800,000. Funding is normally granted to about 12 projects per year.
Subject fields and thematic priorities
The programme is open to all subject areas and disciplines. Scientific staff/groups of researchers in the humanities and social sciences are especially encouraged to apply.
Funding
Applications will be accepted for funding to cover travel and living expenses at fixed per diem rates in connection with short visits to France.
Application deadline and procedure:
The closing date for submission of applications is in the automn (September) for stays commencing at the earliest in January the following year. Applications must be submitted via the eSøknad electronic submission service. Please see under the green 'Funding' tab on our Home page.
General application requirements
Details regarding requirements for grant proposals are described in the call for proposals under the individual programme/activity as well as in the appropriate application form with accompanying instructions for applicants. Proposals that do not satisfy these requirements will be rejected.
Grant proposal requirements may vary according to the type of application. Applicants should study the description of their chosen application type in detail, and should also pay close attention to the clickable instructions in the accompanying application form. Once an application form has been opened, it is possible to print out the entire form from the menu. It is also possible to print out all the related instructions.
The instructions to the application form also provide more detailed information regarding the criteria on which the proposal assessment process will be based.
The Research Council's Principles for Open Access to Scientific Publications
The Research Council has stipulated requirements relating to self-archiving and open access to scientific articles produced in connection with R&D projects funded by the Council. Read more about The Research Council's Principles for Open Access to Scientific Publications.
The formal applicant/project owner
As a general rule, the formal applicant to the Research Council is to be a Norwegian institution/enterprise with a specific individual designated as the project administrator. The project administrator is responsible for approving the grant application before it is submitted. The application form contains a box that must be checked off for this purpose. By checking this box, the institution/enterprise confirms that the application has been approved for submission to the Research Council.
When processing the application, the Research Council will normally deal with the project administrator. The project administrator will be sent notification of the outcome of the application review process, and will be the contractual partner and party responsible for following up the project in the event funding is granted.
Doctoral and post-doctoral fellows who spend their entire fellowship period abroad may be exempted from the requirement regarding affiliation with an institution/enterprise as project owner.
The Research Council has drawn up a document containing the definition and specification of the concept _3research institution_3 and a list of approved research institutions (PDF - 615 KB)
The project manager
The project manager is the person who, on behalf of the project owner, will be responsible for the project's scientific progress. The project manager may be contacted during the processing of the application and will be the contact for scientific matters during project implementation. Specific project manager requirements are set out in the formal description of each application type, and in the guidelines to the relevant application form.
Project description requirements
All applications should be accompanied by a project description There are size restrictions stipulated for each application type - see the instructions in the relevant electronic application form (eSøknad). The project description must not exceed the stipulated size restrictions.
Special requirements for attachments
Mandatory and optional attachments are stipulated for each application type. More information on attachments may be found in the individual funding announcement.
All attachments to grant proposals sent through the eSøknad system must be submitted in pdf-format. The pdf-format satisfies the criteria stipulated by the National Archives of Norway, whereas Word and rtf-formats do not. Learn more about the application form and attachments.
For project description and CV following applies:
The page format should be A4 with 2 cm margins, 11 point font (Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman) and single spacing. For references and figure text, font size 9 can be used.
Links that are listed in the project description and CV will not be included in the assessment.
All attachments must be submitted together with the application. The only documents that the Research Council will accept after an application has been submitted are transcripts issued after the application deadline and confirmation of completed defence of a doctoral dissertation. Documents sent after the application deadline must be submitted by email to post@rcn.no, The email message must contain references to the project number, the title of the project and the name of the project manager.
Size of the projects
The Research Council is now targeting project support towards larger projects of greater scientific and strategic significance. While no fixed lower limit for the project funding sought from the Research Council has been set, an amount of at least NOK 300 000 per year on average over the project period is preferred. For certain application types, such as "Support for events" the funding sought will normally be lower.
Ethical guidelines
Projects funded by the Research Council are to maintain high ethical standards and uphold fundamental principles for integrity and ethics in research. Grant applications submitted to the Research Council must explain any relevant ethical questions and will be assessed on the basis of this.
The researchers and the institution or entity responsible for the project have the primary responsibility for ensuring high integrity and ethics in research. The awarding of funding from the Research Council therefore in no way entails an approval of the project relative to the applicable legislation and norms.
Read more about the ethical guidelines and the Research Ethics checklist.
Protection of privacy
The Norwegian Social Science Services (NSD) is the Data Protection Official for the research performed at the institutions. See here to read more about the agreement for protection of privacy.
The processing of data in studies that entail the collection of personal data is regulated under the Personal Data Act, and the project will be required to provide appropriate notification or obtain a license pursuant to Sections 31 and 33. If the application is granted, the applicant must complete a notification form and submit it to the NSD or the Norwegian Data Inspectorate, depending on his/her institutional affiliation.
Please see the NSD website for more information about the guidelines for projects that are subject to the provisions of the Personal Data Act.
Pursuant to current regulations regarding reporting requirements, approval from a regional medical research ethics committee is required for research projects that include subjects/patients/clients. More detailed information is available on the website of the National Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (NEM). The appropriate form is available from faculties of medicine.
Gender perspectives
Gender perspectives are to be incorporated as an integral part of the research funded by the Research Council. The Research Council is working to promote increased recruitmentment of women to subjects where the percentage of women is low, and to develop initiatives to boost the proportion of women in senior academic positions. For more information, please see the Policy for gender balance and gender perspectives 2013-2017 (PDF - 460 KB)
Charter and Code
Research funded by the Research Council is to be performed in accordance with the principles of set out by the EU in the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct of the Recruitment of Researchers” (Charter and Code).
Environmental impact
The Research Council attaches importance to any impact the research projects may have on the external environment. The project description should therefore discuss whether the use of the results from the projects will have any significant environmental impact (positive or negative). If the answer is yes, the following questions must be answered:
Is the need for research related to this environmental impact?
Has the project defined objectives or secondary objectives with a view to shedding light on the environmental impact?
The application form
In order to create an application, you must first find the call for proposals from which you are seeking funding.
How to create an application
Calls can be found under the menu heading “Find calls for proposals”.
Select the relevant call for proposals and choose the appropriate type of application. It is important that you acquaint yourself with the specific priorities, requirements and guidelines set out in the three parts of the text of the call.
To open the application form, you must confirm that you have read the entire call for proposals. Click on the “Create new application” button. If you are not already logged in, you will be directed to the user log-in page. First-time users of the eSøknad system will need to register as a user on “My RCN Web”. This is done by clicking on the link “New user?”.
The first page you see after you have logged in contains important information regarding the submission of grant applications. Please read this and click on “Accept” to proceed. A form entitled “Create new application” will then appear, containing information filled in from the call for proposals/type of application you have selected.
Select the language you wish to use in the form (for any specific language requirements, refer to the call for proposals).
The short name is a name/text of your choice used to keep track of each of your applications.
Confirm that you have read and accept the information, and click on the “Create application” button. The application form will be created based on the call for proposals/type of application you have selected. The application form will be stored in your user account on “My RCN Web” under the menu heading “Applications in eSøknad”, and may be opened and revised multiple times until you have submitted it or the submission deadline has expired.
Copying applications
You must choose whether you wish to create an empty application form (“Create new blank application form”) or copy from an existing application (“Copy existing application”). First follow the procedures for locating the relevant call for proposals and opening a new application. When the “Create new application” box appears, select “Copy existing application” and choose the appropriate application.
Please note that the following data will not be copied: Project period with Main activities and milestones, Budget tables, and Attachments. If you wish to copy budget figures and main activities, you must first enter the dates of the project period under the section Progress plan in the copied application.
Saving information/automatic logout
The application form is divided into several pages. Each time you navigate to a new page, the information you have entered on the previous page will automatically be saved. If you close your browser without storing your application, you will lose all changes to the last page on which you were working.
Please note: You will automatically be logged out of the system after a period of inactivity (i.e. not switching pages or saving your information). The automatic log off time is given at the top of the screen, and is adjusted automatically each time you store your application. We recommend that you store your information frequently using the “Save” button when you are working on the same page over an extended period of time.
Deleting applications
You may delete applications that have been created but not submitted under the menu heading “Applications in eSøknad” by clicking on the “Delete” icon.
Document storage
It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that relevant applications, letters/contracts and reports are stored in a separate storage system.
Navigating through the pages
You can navigate between the various pages of the application form by clicking on the “Previous” and “Next” buttons at the top and bottom of the screen, and by using the menu in the left-hand column.
Please note: The “Back” function on your browser must not be used when you are working in eSøknad. Use of this function will cause you to lose all changes that have not been saved in the last section you are working in.
Error detection
The “Check page” and “Check entire” buttons are designed to help you detect logical errors and missing information in your application and provide a supplement to your own ongoing quality control. “Check page” will only check the page you are on. “Check entire” will check the entire application form. All fields marked with an asterisk (*) must be filled in. If the application contains errors or is incomplete, the relevant part of the application will be shown on the screen. It is not possible to submit an application that contains logical errors.
Budget
To be able to fill in the budget tables you must first enter the dates of the project period in the Progress plan section. The Cost plan, Cost codes and Funding plan represent different methods of categorising the use of funds within the project budget. The total amount for each budget year must therefore be identical for all three tables. Please use the “Check page” function to make sure this is the case.
Attachments
A set of mandatory attachments must be uploaded for each type of application. Any additional requirements pertaining to attachments will be described in the individual call for proposals. The call for proposals will also stipulate the specific requirements regarding the content and size of attachments. The length of the project description must not exceed the limitations set for the application type. It is not possible to upload an attachment that exceeds the page total stipulated, nor is it possible to upload attachments larger than 40Mb. All attachments must be submitted in pdf-format.
Submission of attachments after the deadline: The only documents that the Research Council will accept after an application has been submitted are transcripts issued after the application deadline and confirmation of completed defence of a doctoral dissertation. Documents forwarded after an application has been submitted should be sent by email to the responsible application officer or to post@forskningsradet.no, and should be marked with the project number, project title and name of project manager.
Submitting grant proposals
All application deadlines are final. It is possible to open, revise and resubmit an application that has already been submitted provided that the submission deadline has not yet expired. It is always the most recently submitted version of the grant application that will be registered and assessed by the Research Council. Please note that this does not apply to grant applications to programmes and activities operating with open-ended submission deadlines.
It is only possible to resubmit an application if it has been completed correctly and is accompanied by all the mandatory attachments.
Signatures
The project administrator must confirm that the institution/enterprise has approved the grant application by ticking the box in the “Confirmation” field of the Applicant page.
Both the user who has created the application and the project administrator will receive email confirmation of receipt as soon as the application has been received by the Research Council.
For more information click "Further official information" below.