This ERC Advanced Grant enables innovative and groundbreaking research, and is awarded to established researchers who are among the best in their field in Europe.
Of the five grants awarded to applicants in Norway, three go to researchers at the University of Oslo (UiO).
¡°It is encouraging to see UiO researchers continue to deliver at the forefront of international science,¡± says ?se Gornitzka, Pro-Rector at the University of Oslo.
The three recipients work within the humanities and social sciences ¡ª in criminology, political science, and philosophy ¡ª all areas of particular strength at UiO.
¡°This grant is highly sought after amongst researchers, because it allows the freedom to develop innovative and important research,¡± says Gornitzka.
Each grant is worth €2.5 million over five years. The recipients are:
Scott Gates
Professor at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences
Gates will investigate how wars are waged and how internal organisation shapes the conduct of warfare. The project aims to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of warfare, with case studies including conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Nepal, Syria, Colombia, and Sudan.
- Project: Waging of War (WOW)
- Amount: €2.5 million
Read more about Gates¡¯ research
Sveinung Sandberg
Professor at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, Faculty of Law
Sandberg leads the world¡¯s first large-scale comparative study of criminal life courses. The project is based on in-depth life story interviews with 300 inmates across six countries: Norway, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Nigeria, India, and Colombia. The researchers focus on how individuals involved in crime narrate their lives, and how these narratives differ across contexts. This part of the study builds on the narrative criminology tradition, which Sandberg has helped develop.
- Project: Life-Course Trajectories to Crime Globally (CRIMEGLO)
- Amount: €2.5 million
Read more about Sandbergs?s research
Thomas Kjeller Johansen
Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas (IFIKK), Faculty of Humanities
Johansen¡¯s project explores the origins of the mathematical worldview. ¡°No one has yet investigated the Pythagoreans and Plato in depth from this perspective. This project will provide key historical insights into the Platonic view of nature that inspired Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler,¡± Johansen explains.
- Project: MatNat: The Mathematization of Nature ¨C The Origin of Mathematical Physics in Plato and Early Pythagoreanism
- Amount: €2.5 million
Read more about Johansen¡¯s research
Tough Competition in the Nordics and Europe
UiO now ranks second in the Nordic region in terms of ERC awards since the launch of the current EU framework programme in 2021. Three awards from 19 applications in this round give UiO a success rate of 21%, whilst the average amongst European applicants is 11%.
The University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University received four grants each, while Stockholm University, Lund University, and UiO each received three. Aalto University in Finland received one.
About ERC Advanced Grants
- The European Research Council (ERC) funds grpundbreaking research through competitive, long-term grants across all disciplines.
- ERC Advanced Grants target established researchers whose track records show they are leaders in their fields.
- Grants of up to €2.5 million are awarded for projects lasting up to five years.