Target group / participant profile
The target group of the UiO Research Leadership Programme – Starting level is researchers with the following characteristics:
- A talented researcher who is in the very beginning of a career as a research leader. The researcher may recently have succeeded in attracting funding (a larger project) and thereby given the responsibility to build a research environment within his/her field, or may recently have been given responsibility as a leader of a research environment (group, larger project, centre, section, programme etc.)
- We require?all participants to be in a situation where they have something and someone to lead whilst they are taking part in RLP-Start
- All applicants must be qualified beyond PhD level (e.g. post doc, researcher with PhD, associate professor).
- It will strengthen the application if the applicant has received a highly competitive grant (e.g. ERC grant or Norwegian FRIPRO grant).
The programme has a capacity of?40 participants. A number of places (up to 15) are available for applicants from other institutions than UiO.
?
Course dates for 2026
This is an intensive development programme. Therefore, participants are expected to attend both joint events (3+2?days).?
- First joint event: 6–8 May, 2026
- Second joint event: 5–6 October, 2026
The events include overnight stays at an hotel in the greater Oslo region.
Content
The programme aims to give participants
- A basic understanding of reflective research leadership and relational aspects of research leadership
- An introduction to the development of research groups/teams/environments
- Knowledge of some tools that can support good research leadership in practice
Using a combination of experience sharing, case work and exercises, the programme will have a clear focus on the individual participant’s situation and development as a research leader. It is therefore important that each participant has a leadership role to relate to and draw experiences from in the learning activities.
Detailed programmes and learning objectives will be developed for each event.
Application process
- The individual applicants must submit their applications for RLP-Start 2026 to their own?faculty/museum/centre. More information about the process?is provided in the invitation letter.
- The application deadline?is?1 February 2026. NB: Please note that your unit may have set an earlier internal deadline.
- Due to the limited capacity of the programme, not everyone who applies may be admitted. The programme team at the University of Oslo is responsible for admission. Ensuring diversity in the participant group is an important part of the admission process.
- Admitted participants?will be notified by the middle of February 2026. Prior to the first joint event, they will also receive an invitation to an individual preparatory dialogue.?This dialogue is an important?component of the programme, both for the individual participant’s preparations and to ensure that the programme team is well acquainted?with the participants.
Course fee
- The course fee is NOK 23 000 per participant from UiO.
- For external participants the course fee is NOK 40 000 per participant.
- Invoice information must be included in the application form.
- The course fee covers board and lodging between course days. The cost of overnight stays before or after the joint events is not covered by the course fee and must be arranged separately.
Programme team
(tba)
?
?
