With 50% funding from the Trond Mohn Foundation (TMS), the University of Bergen (UiB) has allocated NOK 137 million to the Toppforsk programme up until 2021. By being able to offer top researchers particularly favourable conditions and administrative support, this collaboration puts UiB in a stronger position in the international competition for outstanding researchers.
The five Toppforsk researchers are:
- Stefan Kölsch, the Bergen fMRi Group
- Michael Fellows, Algorithms at UiB
- Valeriya Lyssenko, KG Jebsen Center for Diabetes Research
- Don Kalb, Department of Social Anthropology
- Michael Baumgartner, Department of Philosophy
The Toppforsk agreement also highlights the long-standing cooperation between the Foundation and UiB, where the Foundation provides funding for excellent young researchers who are in the process of establishing themselves and lead their own research groups. The Toppforsk programme builds on this by bringing internationally established researchers to Bergen.
Cultivating more world-leading research in Norway is one of the top priorities in the government’s long-term plan for research and higher education. A larger proportion of the public funding of institutions involved in research and higher education shall be dedicated to achieving top quality.
Download the mini magazine that presents the programme and the Toppforsk researchers
The programme in brief:
Project period: 2015-2021
UiB’s Toppforsk programme builds on the government’s wish to establish more world-leading research communities at Norwegian universities.
The Trond Mohn Foundation (TMS) has contributed NOK 68.5 million in order to ensure that the best researchers choose UiB.
An initial five-year agreement has been entered into with each of the researchers, enabling them to establish a top research team at UiB.
The total budget for the Toppforsk programme, with funding from the government and BFS, is NOK 137 million.
Creating New Treatment for Diabetes
Diabetes researcher Valeriya Lyssenko’s goal is to create new ways of treating diabetes.
Photo: Eivind Senneset. Source: UiB
Putting Algorithms Into Practice
Professor Michael Fellows is passionate about mathematics, algorithms and informatics. This passion not only led to ground-breaking research, but also to playwriting and love.
Photo: Jens Helleland Ådnanes. Source: UiB
Identifying New Class Differences
Professor Don Kalb wants to establish a research group to study the increasing differences that the new capitalism brings in China, countries in the South and in Europe.
Photo: Eivind Senneset. Source: UiB
Publications from the project Frontlines of Values
How The Brain Processes The Unpredictable
Professor Stefan Kölsch researches how we assess things and how our brains react when our assessments are wrong.
Photo: Walter Wehus. Source: UiB
SWR1, 15.04.2019 interview with professor Stefan Kölsch (in german)
MDR Kultur Good vibrations : Die heilende Kraft der Musik – popular scientific book – presentation (in german)
Philosophy of Science and Logic
Michael Baumgartner came up with the Coincidence Analysis method. Appropriately, chance played a major role in his decision to become a philosopher.
Photo: Jan Von Holleben. Source: UiB
Professor Michael Baumgartner arranged the interantional conference Causation vs. Constitution in Bergen, December 2018
