This text is translated with the assistance of UiO GPT.
Tore Wig receives EU funding for five years for the research project "AutoKnow: Authoritarian Threats to Scientific Knowledge". The starting point for the project is the recognition that scientific knowledge is an impressive human achievement, but the societal causes are still underexplored.
– I want to find out how authoritarian regimes and leaders affect science, whether it matters for what research finds in different fields that regimes are authoritarian. Does it matter for social science in the United States if the country moves in an authoritarian direction? China produces a lot of research, but would the country have done even better if it were a democracy? Will scientific progress slow down if more countries in the world become autocratic? The project will use big data, artificial intelligence and new statistical methods to understand these things, says Wig.
He emphasizes that this research is important because an increasing share of science takes place in authoritarian countries. Among other things, the scientific "superpower," the United States, is moving in an authoritarian direction.
– China, as an established one-party dictatorship, invests heavily in research across various fields. We must understand what impact it has on our knowledge of the world that more and more countries are moving in an authoritarian direction, he says.
The ERC funding allows Tore Wig to hire two PhD candidates and two postdocs. In addition, he is collaborating with several UiO researchers from the Department of Political Science, Informatics and Statistics.
Good advisers
– What advice do you give others who are entering a grant application process?
– This is the second attempt with this project. In the first attempt I did not reach the interview and received a ban. I worked with the panel’s feedback and improved the project. It paid off, says Tore Wig.
He also wants to thank the administration at the Department of Political Science (ISV) for support in preparing the project.
– We have very good advisers for ERC application at the Department of Political Science. In addition, I want to thank good colleagues from across UiO who commented on various versions of the application, helped with interview training and much else, says Wig.
Independent and original
– This is wonderful news! Congratulations to Tore Wig, says Head of Department of Political Science, Elin Haugsgjerd Allern, about the award.
– An ERC Consolidator Grant is awarded to excellent researchers who are given the opportunity to consolidate their own ambitious research agendas. They have already shown that they are independent and original within their field. We are very pleased that Tore Wig will get the opportunity to break new ground by studying how authoritarian rule affects scientific knowledge production. The results will likely be of interest well beyond the borders of political science. The project will further strengthen our research community for regime studies, she says, and continues:
– It is an important goal for ISV to succeed with ERC applications. Such an award gives us the opportunity to build strong research groups, among other things through the recruitment of new research talents. This is in fact ISV's third ERC award in 2025. ISV will therefore next year be the host institution for no fewer than five ERC projects, as well as a key partner in a sixth. We are very pleased to have been awarded a Starting Grant, a Consolidator Grant, and an Advanced Grant from the ERC this year.
Success rate well above average
Associate Dean and Research Dean Lars Tjelta Westlye at the Faculty of Social Sciences emphasizes that the faculty leadership is very happy and proud that researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences have once again been awarded ERC funding.
– These grants are highly prestigious and demonstrate that the research at the faculty is at a top international level. ERC funding gives our researchers a unique opportunity to carry out ambitious, long-term curiosity-driven research, and it provides both the project leaders and their academic environments with visibility and recognition far beyond the country’s borders. This is very pleasing and important for the faculty, and we congratulate both the project leaders and their teams, says Westlye.
He stresses that ERC projects are considered among the most prestigious awards in Europe, and the competition for the funds is extremely fierce.
– The Faculty of Social Sciences has so far received 37 ERC projects and has a success rate that is well above average both in Norway and at the University of Oslo, and is comparable with the best institutions in Europe, says the Research Dean.
He attributes some of this success to a long-term effort to build strong and resilient research environments and to an increasingly competent and professional research administration with a strong focus on external funding.
– That our groups also research highly topical issues with great societal relevance, have access to high-quality research infrastructure, and can make use of data that are internationally unique – for example Norwegian population and health registers – are also important contributors to our researchers’ international success, Westlye emphasizes.
Will continue to nurture internationally competitive environments
He is keen that the faculty continue this positive development and be able to strengthen already strong environments so they can retain their competitive edge by thinking holistically and long term, focusing both on strengthening infrastructure for social science research, recruitment and talent development, and creating conditions for robust groups that can collaborate and make each other stronger.
– The Faculty of Social Sciences has an academic portfolio of impressive breadth and diversity. We will take care of that. Norway is a small country, and we cannot be world-leading at everything, but we should aspire to cultivate more environments that can compete internationally so that we can utilize and strengthen the full range of our expertise. It is important that we learn from the environments that are already succeeding, while also preserving the diversity that is essential for creating robust research communities capable of addressing society’s challenges in the future, says Lars Westlye Tjelta.
The ERC Consolidator Grant is worth €2 million and funds projects that run for five years. The Faculty of Social Sciences had eight applicants in this round, which had a deadline in January 2025. Four were invited to interview, and two have now been awarded funding. That corresponds to a success rate of 25% – in line with the high level the Faculty of Social Sciences has maintained for several years. The success rate for ERC at UiO overall, and in Norway, has in previous years been about 13%.