After 15 years of productive activity, Norwegian climate research will now undergo evaluation. The process is to take place during the course of 2011.
The evaluation is to provide insight into the current state of Norwegian climate research in an international context, with special emphasis on scientific quality and capacity, strategic orientation, communication and interaction between players and relevance to the challenges facing society.
The report will focus in particular on the role of the Research Council, including the role of the programme Climate Change and Its Impacts in Norway (NORKLIMA) under the Research Council's Large-scale Programme initiative.
An evaluation panel will be appointed at the beginning of 2011, comprised solely of international experts.
Assumptions about Norwegian climate research
It is a widely-held view that Norway is an international leader in many areas of climate research, such as research related to the climate system and its development, climate modelling and the role of the oceans in the climate system. It is also commonly assumed that Norwegian research groups have played a pivotal role in expanding the research frontier in climate research in the polar regions. Norway also regards itself as a leader in the use of infrastructure for the observation and monitoring of the oceans, sea ice, glaciers and the atmosphere.
It is clear that Norwegian researchers are highly profiled in international research arenas, and the quality of the grant proposals submitted to the Research Council is generally very good ' also in an international perspective. Nevertheless, there are claims that Norwegian climate research is under-funded and fragmented and that framework conditions are unreliable, lacking long-term strategies and plans.
The evaluation process will examine these and other assumptions relating to climate research in Norway. The conclusions of the international panel will provide a better basis for assessing the scientific merit of research activities and the current role of various players, as well as for determining how to organise research activities in the future. The evaluation will also provide an updated map of the international landscape of the field ' and Norway's place in it.
Promoting effective climate research
The final budget year of the NORKLIMA programme is 2013. The Research Council will make use of the period up to the conclusion of the programme to plan how to organise future climate research activities. Special weight will be given here to the new strategic guidelines from the Klima21 strategic forum and the Climate Cure 2020 report and recommendations for Norwegian climate research set out in a recently-published government report on climate change adaptation in Norway.
The Research Council will also compile a comprehensive, scientifically-based, up-to-date knowledge base about Norwegian climate research in an international perspective and society's need for knowledge about the climate in the future, both nationally and internationally. This will be achieved with the help of open processes involving research players, ministries and other users and stakeholders in the public administration and industry.
Together, these measures will lay the foundation for the Research Council's strategy and recommendations on how to further develop climate research activities most effectively in the years to come.
