Forte sees collaboration between research and the surrounding community as an important tool to fulfil our mission. The goal of the collaboration is to enhance the quality and relevance of the research.

Many of Forte’s calls for proposals ask if, and if so how, societal actors are involved in the research project. However, collaboration does not have to have the same meaning, or even be relevant, in all research. Requirements regarding collaboration will be found in the information text of each call.

Collaboration is assessed as part of the research’s societal relevance and utilisation. The assessment of the quality of the collaboration is based on the described plan for how and in which parts of the research process the collaboration will take place but is also included in the overall assessment of the project.

Collaboration can be part of one or more parts of the research process. The more parts concerned actors are involved in, the higher the degree of collaboration. Collaboration can, for example, take place by the actors being part of an advisory group/reference group for the project or as members of the project group. However, the collaboration does not have a fixed model or set of tools and techniques. Simply involving collaboration actors in the role of study object and contributing data does not meet the requirements for collaboration in research.

In the research projects where collaboration is included, the application should contain a description of the different approaches that are being considered and the process for involving the collaboration parties in the research project.