On Whose Terms? Policymakers’ Reflections: Major Challenges and Future Goals Jesper W. Simonsen, Executive director NFU Conference 2014 – Tromsø 1.-2.10.2014 Presenting the NORGLOBAL II Programme Outline  The Role of The Research Council of Norway  Development Research in Norway  The NorGlobal II Programme  On Whose Terms?  An interesting illustration The Roles of The Research Council of Norway • Adviser • to government, institutions etc. • research policy, themes, structure • Financing for added value • • programmes, projects, centres, scholarships, infrastructure basic research, thematic programmes, support private RTD • Meeting places • Internationalization www.forskningsradet.no/lysaker The Council distributes about 30 % of public expenditures on R&D in Norway Public funding of R&D in Norway 50% Ministry of Education and Research The Research Council Other Ministries Higher education sector Institutes Industry Funding from all the ministries (2014) Health Administration Foreign affairs Environment Agriculture Petroleum and energy 362 329 371 269 1830 Education and research 478 779 1312 1908 Trade, industry and fisheries Totalt 8048 mill. kr. (inkl. adm) Education and research Cross-sectoral Why development research? Knowledge, competence and capacity in Norway  to design the Norwegian development assistance to get maximum positive impact (and to avoid damages)  to design the global initiatives and foreign policy to get maximum positive impact (and to avoid damages)  to design other policies optimally taking the principle of coherence into account.  In other words: To use the tax-payers money efficiently  (Drawing on the best knowledge production globally) Capacity building in the South as a part of the development cooperation. A knowledgeable Norwegian population. Development research in Norway  Historically  not poorly funded  a small share to long term competence building  a small share allocated through national competitions  HE-institutions committed  Ministry of research committed  Research Council funding  increasing  periods of consolidation and of fragmentation  2014: Globvac + NorGlobal + country spec. + open arenas NORGLOBAL 2009-2014  Poverty and Peace (PovPeace)  CGIAR-fellowship  Women and gender in development  Globalisation of the environmental- energy and climate research (Globmek)  Research on Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and Population Dynamics (Econpop)  Western Balkan Countries development research  Tax havens, capital flows and development (TaxCapDev)  Humanitarian policy (HUMPOL)  Effect of aid  Democracy and Governance in Malawi  (NORGLOBAL/INDNOR) NORGLOBAL-2 time line Winter 2013/14 Summarizing experiences Dialogue (research community) Program development group Summer 2014 Consultation MFA/NORAD (strategy processes) Sept. 2014 The CEEN Report October 2014 Divisional board: Programme committee – Program plan basis Winter 2014/15 First call (hopefully) April 2015 Program plan Sept. 2015 First projects running NORGLOBAL-2 recommendations (1) Programme combining long perspectives and topical priorities  Long perspectives on building strong research groups/sector on prioritized long term thematic areas within the field through  a variety of instruments: Traditional projects, scholarships, mobility grants, centres, infrastructure, international cofinancing, incentives for international funding  based on a concrete analysis of the needs in the specific area.  Flexibility for profiling more topical priorities without jeopardizing the long term building of solid foundation for research of high quality. NORGLOBAL-2 recommendations (2)  One consolidated programme with solid funding for 8-10 years  Knowledge and competence to understand and meet the global development challenges, focussing on reduction of extreme poverty  Broad thematic areas – researcher initiated projects (+ innovation projects?)  Support research in cooperation with countries in the South and the best research groups in the North.  Meeting place for researchers, policy makers and other users On Whose Terms?  Who should make the priorities?  Whose perspectives are most useful to formulate and analyse the problem?  Useful for whom?  Who should be involved to make the studies successful – given their objectives?  In terms of knowledge  In terms of change  What rights have people to be involved when they are studied?  What are the roles of the policymakers, of the academic institutions and of the scientist? What kind of research? High quality Interesting Valuable Low quality Waste Low relevance Damaging High relevance Thank you for your attention