Despite geopolitical unrest and challenging times, UiO’s researchers were highly successful over the past year. The country’s oldest university is consolidating its position as a leading research university in Norway and Europe.
UiO doubled the number of FRIPRO allocations
Basic and pioneering research is crucial for future innovation and the development of knowledge. The Research Council’s funding scheme for this type of research, FRIPRO, is highly prioritised among UiO’s researchers, as reflected in the results.
A total of 46 allocations went to UiO in 2025 – twice as many as last year’s 23 and constituting over 40 per cent of all FRIPRO allocations to Norwegian applicants.
As experience has shown, UiO does very well in the competition for research centres. UiO has submitted as many as 55 out of 176 applications to the Research Council’s first phase of the sixth round in this funding scheme. At present, UiO hosts 10 of the country’s 19 ongoing Centres of Excellence (SFF).
ERC: UiO number two in the Nordic region
The EU framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe, is extremely important for UiO’s researchers. This applies in particular to the programme for basic research, the European Research Council (ERC), which receives as many as 31 per cent of UiO’s applications.
In 2025, UiO was awarded 13 ERC projects, putting UiO at a total of 46 projects in Horizon Europe. The fields of social sciences and humanities account for 60 per cent of these projects, while the medical and natural sciences each account for just under 20 per cent.
At the end of 2025, UiO ranked second in the Nordic region, measured both in allocations and number of projects, surpassed only by the University of Copenhagen, with Lund University in third place.
NTNU and the University of Bergen come in ninth and tenth, respectively, with 19 projects each.
Internationally outstanding research environments that win on quality
The research environments themselves have also been evaluated by the Research Council’s internationally composed panels, for example medicine (2025), mathematics and ICT (2025), natural sciences (2024), biosciences (2024), law (2021), social sciences (2018), educational sciences (2018) and the humanities (2017).
The evaluations show that UiO has some of the strongest research environments in Norway within these fields. Several receive the highest grade, which means that the research is considered internationally outstanding.
Impressed, but not surprised
– This is quite simply impressive, but far from surprising, says Ragnhild Hennum, Rector of the University of Oslo.
Hennum highlights the value that comes from all researchers at UiO being able to spend half of their time on research.
– Researchers and academic environments across UiO have over time produced research of very high quality, depth and breadth. Going forward, we will continue to reinforce and cultivate this, because a strong, leading university within long-term, basic and pioneering research is important both for Norway and for science, says Hennum.
More successes also in thematic initiatives
UiO secures substantial funding within basic-research-related programmes at the Research Council, but also in thematic ones. At the same time, there is more to be gained from innovation projects and calls involving collaboration with the business sector.
After a period of decline in applications to FRIPRO and thematic calls, the trend is now pointing in the right direction. The success rate is higher than ever, around 35% compared with under 20% previously.
Several of the applications that UiO submitted in 2025 have not yet been evaluated. The end result is expected to be on a par with the peak years of the early 2020s.
An increase in thematic applications to Horizon Europe
Two thirds of UiO’s allocations from Horizon Europe come within basic research (Pillar I). At the same time, more thematic research (Pillar II) is important for many environments, and is a central part of UiO’s action plan for Horizon Europe.
In 2025, 70 per cent more applications were submitted to Pillar II compared with the average for the first three years of Horizon Europe. UiO has projects in all the clusters in Pillar II, and there is an increase in the number of collaborative projects led by the university.
The success rate is somewhat lower than before, but still good, even though it is below the Norwegian average of 24 per cent. There is potential for UiO to secure additional funding.
UiO awarded two of six new AI centres and two of four new quantum centres
In 2025, under the thematic centre schemes, UiO secured funding for the Centre for the Use of Norwegian as an Academic Language. Within the thematic area “Enabling Technologies”, UiO is coordinator for two of six new national centres for artificial intelligence, namely TRUST and MishMash, and partner in the remaining four.
In addition, UiO will host one of four new national centres for quantum research and be a partner in another centre together with SINTEF.
– We are very pleased about the new centres. It is also great to see that the government is now committing to quantum technology, after a long period of intensive work by very many people. This will be extremely important both for Norway and for UiO, says Hennum.
Read more about this in UiO’s Annual Report 2025, which was approved by the University Board on 10 March 2026 (Norwegian only)