Background
There were five predecessors of the council, each established as independent councils related to their own areas of interest: science and technology (1946), social sciences (1949), agriculture (1949), fisheries (1972) and applied social sciences (1987). The five were merged in 1993 to form the current council.Organization and Management
The Research Council is governed by the Ministry of Education and Research. Together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, about half of the funds that the Research Council manages are responsible. The Research Council is commissioned by a total of 15 ministries and manages a budget of approximately NOK 10 billion (2019). Mari Sundli Tveit has been the CEO since March 1 2021 The Research Council's board of directors is appointed by the Government for four years at a time. 16 portfolio managers are responsible for portfolios of programmes and other activities in specific thematic or scientific areas. Overview of the portfolio boards' tasks and members.Research funding
Research organisations, companies and public entities can apply for funding through the Research Council, often in cooperation with other similar entities. International experts assess and rank the applications on behalf of the Research Council, and decisions on grant funding are made by the 15 portfolio boards. The Research Council: * uses a number of instruments to promote basic research and research-based innovation and commercialisation. Different grant application types and different structural schemes are used to support the needs of the research communities; * has the strategic and administrative responsibility for the government basic funding received by about 50 research institutes; * funds several centre schemes: Centres for Excellence in Research (SFF), Centres for Research-Driven Innovation (SFI) and Research Centres for Environmentally Friendly Energy (FME). In addition, several research centres receive funding from the Research Council; * funds national investments in research infrastructure. This includes scientific equipment, laboratories, databases and scientific collections. The research infrastructure must be of national interest and can only be found in one or few places in the country.Research communication
The Research Council has a national responsibility for research dissemination and aim to contribute to the use of results from research. Among other things, the Research Council is responsible for thLogo
In 2022 The Research Council presented a new logo, after paying the PR-company Anti NOK 6 million to make a new visual profile. Thorbjørn Kongshavn, who is teaching about branding and visual communication at Høyskolen Kristiania in Oslo, thought that the logo was based around an logo example in a book about graphic design by the swiss Armin Hofmann from 1965.The Research Council's Awards
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