The purpose of the teams is to foster activities that:

• Strengthen NTNU’s research and innovation activities within a specific topic.
• Create meeting points for scientific discussions, sharing research results and experiences, methodologies and ideas for new projects and research.
• Establish and strengthen research collaborations with external stakeholders from private and public sector. 
• Create common ground for - and coordinate - proposals for external funding for projects and centers, especially towards calls from EU and the Research Council of Norway.
• Increase the visibility, relevance, and impact of NTNU’s research.

NTNU Health and Life Science will contribute with:

• Funding support (up to 200.000 over 2 years) for team activities such as:
  • Workshops
  • Seminars
  • Research visits and hosting guest researchers
  • Communication activities
  • Developing research ideas, establishing consortia, and proposal writing
• Visibility through the webpage, newsletters, and breakfast meetings of NTNU Health and Life Science 
• Priority for additional network-related funding
• Support/advice on network activities and facilitation of collaborations, if relevant

What is an interdisciplinary team?

An interdisciplinary team consists of:
Required:

• A leader group consisting of 3 participants from NTNU, representing different scientific disciplines and at least 2 different faculties/VM.
• The team leader needs to be employed in a permanent academic position at NTNU.

Optional, but encouraged:

• Other scientific participants from NTNU, representing relevant disciplines and competences for the topic. It is especially encouraged to include young researchers (PhDs and postdocs).
• Participants from private or public sector (for example industry, non-governmental organizations, hospitals, NAV, and municipalities, not including other research institutions), that represent problem owners (stakeholders) and research collaborators. 

Scientific topics

The team should fall under one or more of the three focus areas of NTNU Health and Life Science. Below, you will find information about our focus areas and examples of topics for our new interdisciplinary teams.

One Health

Understanding how the interdependence between humans, animals, plants, microbes, and their shared environment affects the health of living organisms. More information about One Health. Topic examples:

• Health consequences of climate change
• Bioremediation
• Microbiota in health and disease
• Nature and health
• Development and production of biopharmaceuticals
• Antimicrobial resistance, new antibiotics and vaccines
• Safe and sustainable food systems

Healthy Life Spans

Understanding causes of “lifestyle” diseases, how to prevent them, and what promotes healthy lives. More information about Healthy Life Spans. Topic examples:

• Health promotion in children and adolescents
• Health promoting communities
• Arts, culture and health
• Dementia
• Obesity

Value-based Health Services

Understanding how health systems and -services can be designed and managed to improve quality of care and give value to the patient and the society, with an efficient use of resources. More information about Value-base Health Services. Topic examples:

• AI in healthcare
• Learning healthcare-systems
• Robots in healthcare
• Prioritization and equitable use of resources
• Collaboration and organization
• Value of formal and informal healthcare
• Health literacy

What is required of the teams?

• The team must appoint a leader and a management group responsible for facilitating and coordinating activities.
• The team must outline a plan for activities (including matching budget) for 2027 and 2028, that clearly contributes to building a functional interdisciplinary team.
• The team should have a plan for engaging Bachelor-, Master-, PhD-students, and postdocs in the team’s research.
• Within one year, the team must present a plan (roadmap) for attracting external funding.
• Within two years, the team must have applied for external funding equivalent to at least two PhD positions.
• The team must submit a short, annual report.
• The team must contribute to relevant activities organized by NTNU Health and Life Science.

Evaluation of the teams will take place after 2 years and if successful, the teams may receive funding for another 2-year period.

Application evaluation

When evaluating the applications, we will consider how the application responds to the requirements, contributes to the purpose of the interdisciplinary teams, and its relevance to the focus areas. The selection of new teams will also be assessed based on the overall portfolio of existing and new teams. The applications will be evaluated by the NTNU Health and Life Science leader team, and the final prioritization will be decided by the strategic council of NTNU Health and Life Science.

Team start date:
1st of January 2027

Application form and more information about the application:

Apply here

Application deadline:
15th of October 2026, at 23:59