Collaboration with organisations abroad

Partner abroad

The call text will clearly state which foreign sectors are eligible to participate in applications to the Research Council and whether they may be eligible for funding. To be eligible for funding, the organisation must accept the Research Council's general terms and conditions and that there is a signed collaboration agreement between the Project Owner, the organisation and the partner.

All disbursement of funding goes through the Project Owner's organisation. Experience shows that it can be time-consuming to enter into binding agreements with foreign organisations, so it is a good idea to think about this well in advance before you submit your application.

In our new application system (My page), foreign organisations applying for funding from the Research Council must be entered as a partner type "Partner abroad".

Budgeting expenses

Partners abroad that apply for funding from the Research Council must budget in the same way as other partners and enter all project expenses necessary to carry out the project.

Payroll and indirect expenses

Partners abroad must carry out simplified budgeting for employees who are part of the project. Payroll and indirect expenses must be calculated together in the following way:

• Personnel expenses, which cover agreed salaries and employee expenses, such as employer's national insurance contributions, pensions, etc., Indirect expenses must be calculated as a surcharge (overhead) of 25% of the personnel expenses.
• The hourly rate (or man-year rate/1695 hours) cannot exceed NOK 1100.

Personnel expenses and indirect expenses in project accounting

Partners abroad that receive funding from the Research Council must keep separate accounts of actual project expenses. The project accounts form the basis for financial reporting and payment claims to the Research Council. The following rules apply to the recognition of personnel and indirect expenses in the project accounts:

• Recipients of project funding from the Research Council must have a system for registering the employees' working hours in the project.
• Accrued personnel and indirect expenses (25% of personnel costs) must be entered in the project accounts on separate expenses' lines.
• If the total hourly expenses (personnel expenses + indirect expenses for an employee exceeds NOK 1100), the excess amount shall not be included in the calculation basis for disbursement of funding from the Research Council.
• An employee can charge a maximum of 1850 hours per year to projects funded by the Research Council.

Cooperation with selected countries: Money Follows Cooperation (MFC)

The Research Council has entered into collaboration agreements with some countries following a model called Money Follows Cooperation (MFC). As mentioned above, we can cover the expenses of partners abroad.

The MFC agreements ensure that this transparency goes both ways. This means that Norwegian researchers can participate and be funded by research councils in the partner country when they participate in the role of partner.

Read more about how Money Follows Cooperation works.

R&D providers abroad

If the call for proposals allows for this and a foreign organisation provides R&D services in the project, a price will be agreed between the contracting authority (Project Owner organisation and any partners) and the R&D provider on a voluntary basis. Expenses for the service must then be entered as Procurement of R&D services in the application form, and you register the foreign organisation as an R&D supplier in the application form.