The Trond Mohn Foundation and TFS signed June 16th 2023 a cooperation agreement to implement a separate UiT initiative to support high-quality research projects at UiT. The Trond Mohn Foundation sets annual financial frameworks for the UiT initiative and TFS will identify and develop research projects worthy of support within this framework. The new projects can either be pure UiT projects or UiT-led collaborative projects with Bergen. More information about the cooperation here.
The foundation aims to provide funding and support for long-term research and research-promoting activities, including research-based recruitment at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The foundation’s Advisory Committee help with quality assurance. Assessments and advice are obtained from independent professional expertise (peer review). The process will be adapted to the project and will appear in the announcements or be made clear to the relevant applicants. The foundation also supports comparable activities at other institutions in the country that are actively cooperating with UiT.
The Tromsø Research Fondation has received two donations from Trond Mohn (in 2007 and 2015) with 400 million NOK. As of 2023, the foundation has distributed 504 million NOK to UiT. TFS and UiT have in collaboration founded initiatives and projects to build competence and strengthen various academic topics at UiT.
The Tromsø Research Foundation (TFS) was created by Trond Mohn on March 28th, 2007. The foundation aims to provide funding and support for long-term research and research-promoting activities, including research-based recruitment at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The foundation also supports comparable activities at other institutions in the country that are actively cooperating with UiT.
The foundation has awarded money for the following purposes:
The foundation has had 5 announcements in the TFS Starting Grant (STG) program in the period from 2016 until 2020. This has resulted in 14 TFS STG projects.
The foundation has no employees. In February of 2016, the administration responsible for daily activities moved from their offices at UiT to a new location at Norinnova Technology Transfer AS. The administration consists of one permanent position (rented on a consultancy basis) that coordinates the work of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and the Advisory Committee.
The foundation administers funds in ways that align with the foundation’s purpose in a safe and secure manner.
TFS has a sister foundation in Bergen called Trond Mohn Foundation (TMS) – previously called Bergen Research Foundation) that has been created on the basis of the Mohn-family donations. TFS and BFS work closely together on administrative tasks and share similar priorities.