— This will have major consequences for many years
The Research Council
— If you are to make research policy, the researcher’s voice must be heard, says Rector Svein Stølen at the University of Oslo. He and the Norwegian Association of Researchers are critical of extending the temporary board of the Research Council.
It was in March this year that Research and Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe (Sp) sacked the board of the Research Council due to the economic situation. Inn he set up an interim board of five people, with CICERO director and former politician Kristin Halvorsen as chairman. It was really only supposed to last until 2022. But on Friday, the announcement came that the government has decided to fislandextend the directorship until 30 June 2023.
Rector Svein Stølen at the University of Oslo and leader Guro Elisabeth Lind of the Norwegian Research Association are critical of this. They believe that the board is too narrowly composed and that researchers are too poorly represented.
Four out of five are economists
Svein Stølen recalls that the temporary government was put in place to clean up the economy.
— What worries us is that the government must now do far more than clean up the economy. Well, they have to get into deep, professional priorities, says Stølen, and points out, among other things, that the board has decided to go from 16 to 9 portfolio managers, who are the ones who decide who gets research funding.
The board probably also has on the table, among other things, a transition to open research, the ministry’s new requirement that 25 percent of research applications must be approved and a new funding system for universities and colleges.
In the temporary government, it is brand economists. Only one has a research background, namely research director Linda Nøstbakken at Statistisk Sentralbyrå. She is a former professor and vice-chancellor at the Norwegian School of Economics. In addition, board chair Kristin Halvorsen is the head of a research centre, and Britt Elin Steinveg is a senior adviser at the University of Tromsø.
In the old board, 6 out of 13 board members had a research background.
— What they are doing now will have major consequences for many years to come. And I think it is nice to have a board that has limited research expertise. I find it difficult to understand that a bureaucratic board such as this has to make such major professional priorities, says Svein Stølen.
Look at the neighboring countries
He believes Norway has something to learn from the research councils in Sweden and Denmark.
With all due respect to the board members – I believe that the board of a research council needs internationally excellent researchers. Look at Sweden and Denmark. Strong industry. Strong research nations. https://t.co/1CtUPwFMU0
— Svein Stølen (@sveinstlen) 16 December 2022
In the Swedish Science Council, for example, eight out of ten board members are professors. All have doctorates.
— They are much better at using the best researchers, also in boards. I am skeptical of a bureaucratization of research policy. Here, a broad professional board must be put in place again as soon as possible. It is absolutely necessary for Norwegian research.
— Surely there are good people on the board?
– Of course. There are nice people all over Norway. But it is an administrative rule. And it must do now are professional priorities. And you need the expertise found in the research community. How to balance the basic against the applied research, humanities and social sciences are set against the sciences also further. This is policy making. And if you are going to make research policy, the researcher’s voice must be heard.
Where is the plan?
Guro Elisabeth Lind in the Swedish Research Association says she understands the composition of the temporary board, since it had to clean up the economy. But now is the debt to the Research Council cancelled.
— Now we have to look ahead and what challenges lie ahead. We ask questions about whether the board has the right competence and legitimacy in the sector to take on the big challenges before us. Then we need good and broad representation to make the best decisions.
Lind asks Borten Moe to explain what the plan is:
— We want clear signals, right away, about what is planned here. What is the plan for the process? After all, we expect that it will set in motion an overall process that will stand in the future.
Political leadership in the Ministry of Education had no occasion to comment on the matter on Monday.