The application deadline is Thursday 4th September 2025 at 16:00
Application categories
For 2026, research funding is available within the following application categories:
- Doctoral grants
- Postdoctoral grants in the specialist healthcare services
- Open project support
See the guidelines and an overview of mandatory attachments for applications in all categories.
Who can apply?
The Principal Investigator (PI) should register as the applicant. The PI must have a PhD and be employed in at least 20% position at the applicant institution from the application deadline and throughout the project period. In addition, the PI's main position must be in the Helse Sør-Øst health region. Please refer to the requirements for the PI and a list of approved applicant institutions.
Please note: A PI may only submit one application through their applicant institution in this call for proposals.
Helse Sør-Øst RHF has set an upper annual limit for the amount awarded per PI. This limit is NOK 4.5 million for 2026 and includes both ongoing and new research projects, independent of the application category.
Selection of thematic group for distribution of the application to the relevant review panel
The application must be submitted electronically via the online platform eSøknad. The application form includes a list used to allocate the application to one of the following groups:
- Clinical research in mental health and substance abuse/addiction
- Research in public health, epidemiology, health services etc.
- Clinical somatic research
- Clinical somatic research, including therapy research
- Health and biomedical informatics
- Biomedical research with a translational perspective
- Experimental medical research
- Translational research and precision medicine
The members of the review panels are carefully selected to reflect the thematic profile within each group and the subject areas included within these groups. A correct classification of the application is therefore central in the application process and instrumental for the distribution of applications to the members in each panel.
Please note that subgroups have been added to the subject groups for clinical somatic research and biomedical research with a translational perspective. The subgroups may be merged if the number of applications in one group is particularly low.
Please note: The PI is personally responsible for classifying the application in the correct group. The administration in Helse Sør-Øst RHF cannot re-classifiy the application after the application deadline. .
Please see an overview of the composition of each subject group.
Prioritised research areas
The board of Helse Sør-Øst RHF has decided to earmark up to 10 million NOKs of the call to research projects within the following three areas:
- Quality improvement and patient safety
- Decentralised services and seamless patient pathways
- Digitisation
Please refer to our website for a description of the prioritised thematic areas.
Strategic allocation to non-university hospitals
The board of Helse Sør-Øst RHF has decided that the same amount as previously will be earmarked for the non-university hospitals in the region. These funds have been included in this call for proposals.
Please see the guidelines for the strategic research funds of non-university hospitals.
Design requirements
The application must be complete and meet all the requirements in the call for proposals. We draw particular attention to the following:
- The PI must fulfill all formal requirements.
- The application must contain all mandatory attachments, which must be within the set page limits
- The budget must be drawn up in accordance with the guidelines for the relevant application category.
- User participation in the project must be explained, or why this is not appropriate.
Applications that do not meet the formal requirements in the announcement may be rejected. See an overview of possible reasons for rejection of applications.
Application form
Create an application for research funding.
Application review
All applications are assessed according to criteria for scientific quality and for expected impact on the health services.
Please see the description of the procedure for processing applications for regional research funds in Helse Sør-Øst RHF.
Frequently asked questions and contact information
Under frequently asked questions, you will find answers to many of the most frequent questions regarding applications for research funding. If you have any other questions, please contact us via email: forskningsmidler@helse-sorost.no
If necessary, please contact:
Randi Vad, 936 18 028
Berit Merete Øien, 974 00 284
In the event of any discrepancies between the Norwegian and English versions of the tender documents, the Norwegian version will take precedence.