Aims and Criteria

The goal of Helse Vest's research funding is to contribute to ensuring research activity among health providers, and to increase the productivity, the quality and impact for the health services. The research funds should serve as an incentive and an economic contribution to ensure research, and the development of research competence in health trusts.

The research funds announced are to be awarded to clinical patient-oriented research and health services research. Clinical, patient-oriented research also includes, among other things, registry research, laboratory research and other research necessary for specialised health care services to be able to offer good, safe and efficient health care services.

It is an objective that the research funds are used in a way that ensures good professional and geographical breadth in the research, that the larger environments can apply for funds from, for example, the Research Council and the EU. Additionally, it is important that the allocated funds are productively utilized and that the proportion of unused funds is low.

Criteria for awarding research funding

Applications are assessed based on scientific quality and impact. The two criteria are equal in the sense that high impact or high quality alone is not sufficient for the allocation of funds. In addition, there are requirements for mandatory elements in the application. Please consult the guidelines for each application category for more information regarding this.  

Quality Assessment (50 percent)

The quality criterion is an assessment of the scientific quality of the project, the applicant, and the research environment.

Elements included in the quality criterion:

Design and originality (20 percent

• Scientific background of the project, overview of the research front, relevant reference literature
• Presentation of hypotheses, goals, and milestones
• Description of positions (especially important for PhD) and roles
• Scientific novelty and originality concerning the research front in the field
• Degree of innovation, does the project challenge, for example, through the use of theory/method, current practice?

Feasibility (20 percent)

• Realistic and appropriate plan for completion of the project (data collection, methods, analyses, statistics, etc.)
• Identified risks with possible alternative strategies for completion
• Available data from pilot projects, other preliminary data where relevant
• Realistic budget

Applicant and Research Environment (10 percent)

• Competence and qualifications
• Competence related to project management/supervision
• Infrastructure, access to equipment and resources, professional network
• Relevant collaborators and learning environment
• Interdisciplinarity where relevant

Assessment of the impact for the health services (50 percent)

The evaluation of the project's impact for patients and the health service.

Elements included in the impact criterion:

Justification of Need (20 percent)

• Needs in the specialist health service
• Target group(s) of the project, i.e., patient group(s), relatives, other identified users
• Addressing knowledge gaps

Implementation (20 percent)

• Realistic implementation plans/translation of research into improved practice
• Realistic time perspective (short/long term)
• Identified dependencies on developments in other areas, alternative strategies

Significance of New Knowledge and Competence Building (10 percent)

• Realistic significance for the health service, possible improvements of existing offerings/practices
• Relevance of knowledge, addressing knowledge gaps, academic impact
• Societal impact, possibility for generalization/broad use of the knowledge

Additional Criteria for Certain Application Categories

For certain application categories, criteria have been established in addition to the criteria of quality and impact. This applies to the following application categories:

Open Project Support

The liaison committee places strong emphasis on regional collaboration in order to make effective use of expertise and resources, and at the same time create robust, regional networks. Collaboration is also considered important for the professional environment in the region to be able to compete successfully for funding at both the national and international levels. When assessing applications in the "open project support" category, regional cooperation will therefore be given positive weight. Regional cooperation in this context is research cooperation between the institutions represented in the liaison committee in different geographical parts of the region. Note that patient inclusion and/or the provision of research services alone are not considered research cooperation in this context. Regional cooperation must be documented, see requirements for the appendix.

Grants for Clinical Studies (20 percent)

The purpose of this grant scheme is to strengthen the involvement of healthcare professionals with a PhD degree in clinical research. This funding category is aimed towards healthcare professionals who have completed their PhD degree but have no or limited research experience beyond this. Applications for Grants for Clinical Studies (20 percent) are assessed based on the regional profile of the project in question, as well as the long-term impact of the fellowship in the relevant department. Please consult the guidelines for this funding category for more information. Provided that the applications meet the established criteria, allocation of funds in this category may be based on both scientific and geographical distribution.  

Mandatory items of the application

Impact and Visibility

Plan for dissemination (publications, articles, websites, etc.)

Other relevant ways to spread new knowledge, both nationally and internationally

Plan for User Involvement

Description of user involvement, justification if user involvement is not relevant

User Involvement in Research

User involvement is when users are involved in influencing, developing, and changing health research. Users can participate in phases of the research project and/or at a more overarching strategic level. User involvement is not the collection of data from patients and relatives who act as study subjects/respondents. All applicants for Helse Vest research funds must account for any user involvement in the project or why this is not relevant. Lack of user involvement or lack of explanation of why user involvement is not relevant will result in the application being set aside.

Application Categories

All the relevant application categories that can be applied for will be announced in the annual call for funding, in addition to the application form eSøknad. Separate guidelines have been prepared for the application categories. The openly announced research funds are distributed as follows:

• Fellowships for early-stage researchers: 60 percent
• Other application categories: 40 percent

Updated June 2026