International Research Cooperation
The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has long experience with international academic cooperation. Some institutional agreements with universities outside Norway have been active for many decades. NMBU participates in international networks and consortia within a wide range of scientific disciplines.
Cooperation agreements
International research cooperation is carried out mainly at the project level by scientific staff at the faculties and within the context of institutional academic agreements between NMBU and universities outside Norway.
NMBU has formal collaboration agreements with over 100 universities and research institutions worldwide. An overview of ongoing agreements, countries and the nature of the agreement can be found here:
NMBU’s Department of Academic Affairs, particularly the Student Information Centre (SIT), coordinates student exchange and facilitation of studies at NMBU for foreign students.
International research cooperation activities
The collaboration started bilaterally in 2003. In 2011, a tripartite collaboration agreement including the University of Oslo as third partner was signed. The collaboration is called Norwegian Centennial Chair programme (NOCC). Transatlantic research teams of researchers, undergraduate and graduate students work together in projects under different themes.
A new 4-year collaboration agreement was signed in 2019 and continues until 2025. The collaboration includes a wide range of themes. Successful applications for new seed funding were announced in September 2023. NMBU participates in one new project.
Details about the collaboration are found on the NOCC website.
The collaboration started in 2016. The membership gives eight Norwegian academic institutions possibilities for collaboration with UCL-Berkeley.
The first NMBU project application from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning (ILP) was successful (Prof. Deni Ruggeri) for the 2016-2017 academic year; one for the 2017-2018 academic year at the Faculty of Biosciences (Associate Professor Nicola Barson); one for the 2019-2020 academic year at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management (Prof. Richard Bischof), and one at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences (Prof. Øystein Evensen). For the 2020-2021 academic year one project was funded for collaboration between the Faculty of Landscape and Society (Dr. Jorg Sieweke) and UCL-Berkeley. In 2022-2023, two projects received funding, both at the Faculty of Landscape and Society (Prof. Siri Eriksen and Prof. Ingrid Nyborg). The full list of recipients is found here.
NMBU has a long history of collaboration with academic institutions in developing countries. Many agreements with universities in the Global South have been in place since the 1970s and have focused on research, education and capacity building. The Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) at the Faculty of Landscape and Society has a particular focus on collaboration with partners in the Global South.
NMBU has had academic collaboration with the Hawassa University and the Mekelle University in Ethiopia since the 1980s. Phase V of the collaboration (2022-2027), funded by the Norwegian Embassy in Ethiopia, includes research collaboration, doctoral and master's education, and capacity building at the Ethiopian universities. Five PhD students will pursue their degree at NMBU, three from Hawassa University and two from Mekelle University. The overall coordination of Phase V is done by the NMBU Dept. of Research and Innovation. The academic and financial coordination is followed up at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management (MINA).
NMBU coordinates 7 projects under Norad's NORHED-II programme. The projects and their partners are found here: NORHED - II projects at NMBU.
In 2011, NMBU joined the international network Scholars at Risk (SAR). NMBU welcomed its first SAR in 2022, followed by the second in the autumn 2023. We look forward to welcoming a new SAR in 2024.
SAR promotes academic freedom and defends the human rights of scholars and their communities worldwide. In joining SAR, NMBU shows its solidarity with scholars and institutions in situations where academic freedom is restricted and research, publication, teaching and learning are repressed.
By offering temporary academic positions (as guest researchers), SAR members help scholars to escape dangerous conditions and to continue their important work. In return, scholars contribute to their host campuses through teaching, research, lectures and other activities. The Norwegian members of Scholars at Risk are coordinated under the SAR-Norway network.