BALANSE+ is the Research Council of Norway’s initiative on gender balance and diversity in Norwegian research for the period 2023-2028. BALANSE+ builds on and expands the Council’s previous BALANSE programme, which focused on achieving gender balance in senior academic positions and research leadership. While gender balance remains a central priority, the new programme addresses all stages of the research career. In addition, the strategic equality agenda has been broadened to encompass multiple dimensions of diversity.
The BALANSE+ initiative aims to promote equal opportunities to participate in society’s knowledge production and to strengthen diversity of perspectives within research. BALANSE+ funds intervention projects in Norwegian research environments. Together, these projects form the BalanseHub network.
The BalanseHub Resource Centre has two main mandates:
- To coordinate and lead the BalanseHub network. Its core activity is the organisation of network meetings for the intervention projects four times a year, providing members with opportunities to exchange experiences and gain relevant knowledge from one another.
- To contribute knowledge and analysis on diversity, gender balance, and inclusion in Norwegian research. This is achieved through qualitative follow-up research on the network’s implementation processes, drawing on data from network meetings and interviews, as well as quantitative analyses of statistics on diversity and gender balance in Norwegian research.
The Resource Centre also has an important dissemination role and will communicate its activities and findings widely through academic forums and public-facing channels.
The Centre’s long-term ambition is to develop a nuanced framework for institutional work on social inclusion in academia.
The BalanseHub Competence Centre is operated by NIFU (Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education), the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), and Statistics Norway (SSB).
More information about the project and the BalanseHub network can be found on the project website, hosted by the lead institute in the Resource Centre, NIFU, by following this link.
