Updates from The Research Council of Norway
Funding for the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator (CTA)

The Research Council of Norway has awarded a grant up to NOK 58M to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator (CTA). The aim of the initiative is to support and speed up the collaborative efforts in research, development and supply of effective COVID-19 treatments.
The grant is managed by Wellcome Trust and will be used to support COVID-19 research in low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMIC), giving priority to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Learn more about the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator (CTA)
Seminar series: “COVID-19: Research in the wake of pandemic – Seminar series to exchange knowledge and foster collaboration”

In 2020, the Research Council of Norway announced three emergency call for proposals related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of these calls was to contribute to the COVID-19 outbreak response. As a result, researchers supported by our funding, are now investigating how to better understand and limit the COVID-19 pandemic by improving patient treatment, public health response, stimulating innovation, studying economic and labor market related consequences, and contributing to a more efficient response both to this pandemic and possible future outbreaks.
This collaborative initiative between the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Cancer Society and Trond Mohn Foundation, has resulted in funding for a total amount of NOK 190M. The Norwegian Cancer Society is contributing with NOK 8M for cancer-related projects and Trond Mohn Foundation is supporting six of the projects with NOK 30M. The three emergency calls have awarded funding to 48 projects in total, with the financial contribution of several ministries.
The Research Council, the Norwegian Cancer Society and Trond Mohn Foundation have organized a series of seminars in 2020-2022. We hope to contribute to an academic COVID-19 community by sharing best practices, encouraging the communication of research results between project leaders and the public, lowering the threshold for interdisciplinary cooperation, and facilitating dialogue with the relevant authorities.
Three seminars were held in 2021 and three more are planned for 2022:
- Seminar 1: December 17, 2020 “Public health response and social countermeasures”
- Seminar 2: March 24, 2021 “Insight in medical research and economic consequences”
- Seminar 3: September 29, 2021 “Individual and societal needs during a pandemic: lessons learned?”
- Seminar 4: January 18, 2022 “Pandemic management: adaption and resilience in response to an outbreak”
- Seminar 5: March 31, 2022
- Seminar 6: September 8, 2022