Processing of personal data

Avoid sensitive information in project titles and summaries

The Research Council shares data relating to submitted grant applications and projects allocated funding. When you submit a grant application or report to the Research Council think carefully about the information you are providing in the:

• Project title;
• Project summary in the application;
• Popular science presentation in the report form.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not disclose any sensitive data and trade secrets in these fields on the forms.

The Research Council will only share sensitive data for lawful purposes (for example, statistics, reports and research).

The Research Council’s Privacy Statement applies in all situations where the Council handles personal data.

The Research Council is required to share data in accordance with the Circular on Digitalisation. Decisions regarding data sharing are taken in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, the Public Administration Act, and the Act on Securities Trading.

How we maintain information security

The Research Council takes active steps to safeguard information security in connection with application, project and evaluation data including project and personal identification. The information security management measures implemented include the following:

• Encryption of all communication from users logged on to the system (grant applicants, those submitting reports, expert referees, etc.).
• All transactions within the Research Council’s electronic administration system are traceable and can be tracked to identifiable users.
• Implementation of the “need to know” principle: only those individuals who are directly involved in some aspect of the application processing have access to the content of grant applications.
• E-mail messages sent from the Research Council are not to contain sensitive data.
• All attachments, assessment documents, contract documents and reports are treated as confidential by the Research Council. Applicants themselves are responsible for ensuring that the project title, project summary and popular science presentation they provide in the application form does not disclose sensitive information.
• All Research Council employees have signed a declaration of confidentiality.

Questions relating to information security management may be sent to the Research Council's IT Department: post@forskningsradet.no.

Information you provide in the application

In order to process a grant application, the relevant case officers, referees and decision-making bodies must have full access to all the application documents, including the project description. Access to complete project information is only provided to those who need it.

We publish the following information about grant applications under processing:

• Project Owner (organisation/company);
• Geographical location;
• Gender of the project manager;
• Project title;
• Project period;
• Amount of funding sought (does not apply to applications to the SkatteFUNN tax incentive scheme).

This information will be published on the Research Council website. See Submitted applications.

In addition, raw data sets are made available in the National Data Catalog, which is hosted by the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi). These are accessible to the public and may be downloaded for further use by institutions and/or individuals.

Information when projects are granted funding

When a project is granted Research Council funding, the following information will be published in addition to the information already made public in connection with application processing:

• Name of the project manager;
• Project summary from the application;
• Popular science presentation from the report form.

Amount of funding sought (does not apply to applications to the SkatteFUNN tax incentive scheme).

This information is published in the Research Council’s Project Databank. 

When you submit a progress report, an updated popular science presentation and all output reported via the CRIStin Research Information System will be listed in the Project Databank as well.

If the Research Council’s grant constitutes state aid to the Project Owner or a partner, and the funding amount exceeds EUR 500 000, then information about the Research Council’s allocation to the project and a list of project partners will be entered into the Register of Public Support (Norwegian only) at the Brønnøysund Register Centre.

Information you provide in the final report about your project's Impact will be published in the Project Databank.

Access to documents

Everyone has the right to request access to documents at public entities such as the Research Council. The main rule is that case documents, journals and similar registers of an administrative agency are open to public access unless otherwise stated by legislation or appurtenant regulations.

The Research Council is required to exempt from public disclosure all information that is subject to duty of secrecy. This includes, for example, information about an individual’s personal affairs and trade secrets. In addition, the Research Council may exempt from public disclosure selected information about research ideas and research projects.

We will normally ask the applicant/Project Owner for assistance when processing a request for access to a document that may contain information that must be or may be exempted from public disclosure. It is up to the Research Council to take the final decision regarding whether to grant or refuse access to the information.