Frederik Frøen of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has been awarded a NOK 18 million Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The Research Council of Norway would like to see more Norwegian researchers apply for this and other types of ERC grants.

Frederik Frøen is heading the project “Harmonized Reproductive Health Registries” (hRHR Initiative), which has been granted EUR 2.2 million (roughly NOK 18 million) from the ERC. Dr Frøen will use the grant to improve health data collection in Palestine, with a view to reducing maternal and child mortality, reports the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Consolidator Grants are designed to support researchers at the stage of consolidating their own independent research team or programme. To be eligible they must have 7-12 years of research experience since completing their doctoral degree, with a scientific track record showing great leadership promise.

Anders Hanneborg, Executive Director of the Division for Science at the Research Council, believes there are many more researchers at Norwegian institutions who could win an ERC Starting Grant, Advanced Grant or Consolidator Grant.

“A lot more researchers should give priority to using their time to prepare a quality application for the ERC,” recommends Mr Hanneborg, “not least to ensure the implementation of important projects. We need to do more to show that we can hold our own in this prestigious European arena and bring in more resources for Norwegian research activities.”

Source: The Research Council of Norway