Aims and Criteria

In Norwegian

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 are able to 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

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

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 considers regional cooperation important to utilize regional competence and resources in a good way, and at the same time create robust, regional networks. Cooperation is also considered important for the professional environments in the region to be able to compete for funds at the national and international level. When assessing applications in the "open project support" category, regional cooperation will therefore be weighted positively. Regional cooperation in this context is research cooperation between institutions in different geographical parts of the region.

• Grants for Clinical Studies (20 percent)

  • The purpose of this grant scheme is to strengthen the recruitment of healthcare professionals with a completed PhD into 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 longterm impact of the fellowship in the relevant department. Please consult the guidelines for this funding category for more information. Provided that the applications otherwise meet the established criteria, allocation of funds in this category will be based on both scientific and geographical distribution.  

• Clinical Career Fellowships

  • The clinical career fellowship is awarded to researchers with ambitions to build a research environment. Therefore, extra strong requirements will be placed on applications in this category. The applicant must have demonstrated independence, and it will be emphasized whether the applicant will be able to build their own research environment during the project period. This must be clearly stated in the application. The applicant's research production will be assessed against the extent of clinical activity.

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 May 2025