The nomination process

The Centre for Advanced Study selects scholars using a three-step process. The process commences nearly three years before the groups begin their work at the Centre.

Each autumn, all the Norwegian universities and the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH) are invited to nominate candidates for group leader. Nominations are usually put forward by deans or heads of department, or by individual university professors (often former fellows of the Centre). The Centre has a number of contacts at the universities and NHH to ensure the process runs smoothly. The initial proposal can be fairly brief. The scientific merit of the proposal should be explained in such a way that it can be appreciated by a Board with general scientific competence, but without expertise in the special field of the proposal. In particular, the added scientific possibilities offered by a year in the CAS environment, beyond those inherent in the daily environment of the applicant, should be briefly discussed. A short CV of the potential group leader should be included, showing her experience as a leader of a scientific group effort as well as her scientific merits per se.

From among the proposals, the Board selects a number of candidates who are invited to submit more detailed descriptions of their projects, including the names of those they wish to invite to be on their team. Based on this material, the Board will look for projects for which a year at CAS can be assumed to be particularly fruitful scientifically, and selects roughly three candidates from each of the three categories. They are then invited to submit final outlines of their projects, aimed at experts in their own fields. This final application must include a list of senior members of their teams, who at this point should be contacted and must provide their CVs and letters of intent. The next step is an international peer review, where each proposal is evaluated by at least five experts. The applicants will be informed in advance on the detailed evaluation criteria, focusing on scientific quality and merit, to be used by the international experts. The Board makes its final decision early the following summer. This process gives the invited groups two years to finalise the details of the plans for their work at the Centre.