“This will be an improvement of the previous contract in that the new version better meets the need of commissioned researchers for academic freedom within the framework of a given task and the need of the commissioning institutions for a contract that is easy to use and adapted to their requirements,” said Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland when she recently presented a draft of the contract in a meeting held under the auspices of the Research Council.
Research and various types of fact-finding activities for the public sector comprise a vital foundation for decision-making in political arenas.
“It is crucial that the population continues to have confidence in knowledge-based political decisions,” said Minister Aasland. She went on to emphasise the need to incorporate the principles of transparency and autonomy in research in written contracts.
The new contract will be adapted for use with both commissioned research projects and more general types of studies and assignments.
“The main point is not whether an assignment is defined as research, a study or another type of knowledge-based report, but that the contract fulfils both the commissioning institution’s legitimate requirements and society’s need for transparency,” Minister Aasland continued.
Last autumn and winter it was revealed that certain public institutions had inappropriately attempted to influence the conclusions made in the reports from research that they had commissioned.
It also came to light that many public institutions have used a consultancy contract originally developed for IT tasks in cases when they could or should have used the current standard contract for commissioned research from the Ministry of Education and Research.
Moreover, in some cases the commissioning institutions had restricted open publication of the results. This means that figures which should be made publicly available may end up being kept confidential. It is these types of discrepancies that the new contract is designed to counteract.
“I have made it crystal clear that the new contract should comprise the standard both for the classic commissioned research project and for almost all of the activity that so far appears to have been regulated using the consultancy contract,” Minister Aasland stated.
Arvid Hallén, Director General of the Research Council, is satisfied with the draft of the new standard contract.
“The contract is a useful tool which incorporates the key considerations related to public research and fact-finding projects. It also increases awareness of this important area,” he says, and adds that a focus on clear regulation must not impede the legitimate dialogue among commissioning institutions, researchers and users that is so essential for this type of research.
