The majority of funding opportunities from each of the participating UKRI research councils (AHRC, ESRC, MRC, EPSRC and NERC) are eligible for the inclusion of Norway co-investigators. This agreement enables Norway co-investigators to be included in UK-led applications and to receive funding from the participating UKRI research councils.
The inclusion of Norway co-investigators is permitted in funding opportunities open to the inclusion of co-investigators that:
- do not expressly forbid international collaboration
- do not provide alternative support for international co-investigators
General conditions and budget available will differ depending on the funding opportunity to which an application is being submitted.
Collaborative research applications led by UK researchers, involving Norway co-investigators, may be submitted in any disciplinary or interdisciplinary area which falls within the remit of the participating research councils.
Search funding opportunities.
You should consult the specific funding opportunity guidance or the specific research council’s guidance to applicants for information on eligible funding opportunities. Conditions will vary depending on research council and funding opportunity to which an application is being submitted.
You should refer to the ‘contact’ section for key contact details of each of the participating research councils.
Costs we cover
UKRI covers the following costs of Norway co-investigators involved in project applications led by UK principal investigators, according to its applicable regulations.
Directly incurred costs
For example, travel and subsistence costs, conference attendance.
This component will be assessed in the context of the application as a whole and the justification of resources.
Travel and subsistence costs for Norway co-investigators are required to be reasonable and fully justified in accordance with the applicable participating research council guidelines.
Applicants may apply for funds to cover other directly incurred costs (for example, consumables, consultancy fees, survey costs and equipment costing less than £10,000), provided they are fully justified.
For some participating research councils, ‘other directly incurred costs’ will include further possible costs and have specific requirements, if these costs are to be incurred by the Norway co-investigator.
Research assistants based in Norway
For example, salary costs for research assistants employed at a Norwegian institution or seconded from a UK institution.
Applicants may apply for funds to cover the cost of a research assistant based in Norway to support research activities in Norway.
Where the research assistant is recruited and employed by a Norwegian institution to support the Norway co-investigator, direct costs will be paid at 100%.
In cases where a research assistant is employed by a UK institution but seconded to Norway, costs will be paid at 80%.
Salary costs
UKRI covers salary costs for Norway co-investigators, provided that these costs are justified and it is demonstrated that the funding of investigator salaries within research grants is the standard practice of the Norway co-investigator’s institution.
Alternative arrangements to secure researcher time, such as teaching replacement costs, will be considered where these are required by the Norway co-investigator’s institution.
UK institutions preparing applications for submission are strongly advised to liaise closely with the Norway co-investigators named on the application to ascertain any requirement for salary costs.
Salary costs requested for the Norway co-investigator must be justified within the ‘Justification of Resources’ section of the application.
Infrastructure and facilities
UK applicants budgeting for the use of large infrastructure or facilities, should, where possible, use UK large infrastructure or facilities when applying to UKRI funding.
Costs we do not cover
The following costs of Norway co-investigators are not eligible:
Estates and other indirect costs
Since institutions outside the UK do not use the Transparent Approach to Costing methodology, it is not possible for UKRI to check and monitor the calculation of estates, overheads and indirect costs in Norwegian institutions.
For these reasons UKRI research councils will not consider any estates, overheads or indirect costs pertaining to Norway co-investigators.
Equipment
Any individual item, or components combined to make an item, with a value greater than £10,000.
Cost of the project
For the Money Follows Cooperation principle to be applied, the contribution and added value of the international participants to the research must be clearly explained and justified in the application.
Justified costs for Norway co-investigators will be funded at 100%. However, the total costs claimed for the Norway co-investigator contribution to a project must not exceed 30% of the overall cost of the project, calculated at 100% full economic cost. Applicants who include Norway co-investigators must fully justify the associated costs within the ‘Justification of Resources’ section of the application.
Under this agreement, more than 1 Norway co-investigator may be involved in an application to an eligible funding opportunity. However, the combined funding incurred by the Norway co-investigators must not exceed 30% of the overall cost of the project, calculated at 100% full economic cost.
Depending on the participating research council and funding opportunity, other international co-investigators may also be eligible for inclusion in an application. Where this is the case, the combined total costs requested for the international co-investigators (including those incurred by the Norway co-investigators) must not exceed 30% of the overall cost of the project (full economic cost).
All costs must be specifically justified. Applicants must explain why such costs are required to achieve the aims of the research project, with an appropriate explanation of which costs in the application relate to the Norway co-investigators. Each budget line requested for Norway co-investigators should be itemised, as noted in annex 1: Je-S application process document (PDF, 153KB).
Award payments
UKRI will pay the award directly to the lead UK organisation under its standard terms and conditions. The UK organisation where the UK principal investigator is based will then be responsible for disbursing the funds to the Norway co-investigators.
You should refer to the ‘contact’ section for key contact details of each of the participating research councils.
