Adopted by the Department Board on 5 December 2024

Introduction

The annual plan is the Department of Political Science's (ISV) central governing document for implementing the department's strategy. The annual plan expresses the overall priorities of the department board. . It aims to reflect the ambitions and priorities laid down in the Department of Political Science’s strategy and to specify concrete measures to achieve the strategic goals.

The annual plan provides guidelines for the decisions made by the Department’s management and acts as a framework for the Department’s activities internally and externally.

The annual plan is a three-year, rolling plan: it is revised annually. The Department of Political Science’s strategy and annual plan are based on the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Strategy 2030 and the University of Oslo’s Strategy 2030.

The annual plan comprises five parts:
1. Research
2. Education
3. Public relations and dissemination
4. Organization, working environment and staff
5. C-REX

Part 1: Research

To achieve the objectives laid down in the strategic plan, the Department will mainly concentrate on frameworks and resources. Both the consideration of volume and quality suggest that research must be based on the initiative and insight of the researchers themselves. The focus in the strategic plan is on excellent research in various areas of the field, as well as research infrastructure, open science, and research ethics. For the protection of research time, see also the section of the annual plan on organization, personnel, and finances. 

Measures

Breadth and quality of research

• Implement a separate arrangement for operating funds for the department's thematic research groups. 
• Evaluate the seminars currently on offer at the Department and strengthen the leadership of the Tuesday Seminar.
• Formalize guidelines for inviting guest researchers.
• Set aside funds for continued professional development for permanent academic staff (e.g. methodology courses).
• Stimulate research mobility among PhD research fellows through funding for internationalization.
• Establish the opportunity to apply for additional operating funds for conference travel and publishing as needed. Continue the Småforsk scheme for as long as the budget allows, adjusted for other measures.
• Review the use of research assistant positions, PhD research fellow positions and post-doctoral positions funded through the basic funding in terms of the balance between broad recruitment and strengthening applications to the European Research Council and the Research Council of Norway.
• Develop one or more applications for establishing a Norwegian Centre of Excellence (SFF).

Research infrastructure, open research and research ethics

• Formalize the local structure for work on research ethics and data protection.
• Assess the most appropriate organization for and training in protection of personal data and data management.
• Encourage academic staff to take the University of Oslo’s course in research integrity for academic employees.
• Identify the academic staff’s needs in respect of research infrastructure in relevant decision-making processes.

Responsible: Head of Research

Part 2: Education

The strategic plan emphasizes the goal of excellent teaching in various areas of the discipline at different levels, closeness to research, the relevance of studies for work outside academia, learning of specialized language and terms, internationalization, study environment, recruitment, preventing non-completion of studies and promoting successful completion, and continuing and further education.

Measures

Excellence in teaching

• Encourage the use of relevant student-active learning methods, including digital solutions.
• Review all BA courses with a view to including more research practice and greater use of methodological knowledge and skills.
• Use the ISV Forum to promote sharing of experiences from teaching and best practices.
• Take advantage of opportunities afforded by the Circle U collaboration, especially in connection with student exchanges and use of guest lecturers.
• Work systematically to raise the level of knowledge and increase awareness of the challenges and opportunities entailed by the use of AI tools by employees and students alike, in collaboration with the students.

Training in academic language and internationalization

• Assess the development of competency goals related to academic language and terminology for all our programmes of study.

Recruitment, progression, and completion rates

• Continue the work to create a comprehensive plan for strengthened recruitment to all levels, including:
  • finding out how students weigh up the desire for specialization in certain topics against the need for general competencies.
  • investigating how we can attract good, paying applicants from outside the EU/EEA to the English-language study programmes.
  • exploring how we can further involve alumni in our recruitment work.
  • further developing the Open Day.
  • further developing the school visits scheme.
  • highlighting the inherent relevance of the studies to the job market and the new internship (praxis) opportunities on the program websites and in teaching.
• Complete the review of the organization and dimensioning of the study programmes offered by the Department as part of the “study portfolio process” at the University of Oslo and the mapping of our teaching capacity.
• Explore ways to increase the rate of successful completion and reduce the length of time to completion on all study programmes through a knowledge-based approach to non-completion in collaboration with relevant student councils:
  • Further develop the “political science start-up guide” and related measures at the BA level.
  • Investigate the possibilities for teaching in smaller groups in the introductory courses for students on the BA program in political science.
  • Assess the advantages and disadvantages of a standard semester organization compared to the current “block model” at the master's level with regard to students' learning outcomes and the combination of studies and paid work.
  • Explore the possibility of  a preparatory course/courses  in statistics and the statistical programming language R for new students at the master’s level with such needs.
  • Ensure that the student councils are able to carry out their work.
• Further develop measures for the inclusion of applied political science and practical experience in study programs and contact with the labor market. 
• Further develop measures that enable more students to be involved in ongoing research at the Department in their work on their master’s thesis.
• Further develop the events “Research methods and working life” at the master’s level and the “Alumni panel” for new students on bachelor’s programmes.
• Strengthen the information to students on how to succeed in taking a PhD at the University of Oslo’s Department of Political Science, at other Norwegian universities, and abroad.

Organized research training

• Review the support system for internal PhD candidates as part of the action plan that was prepared following the Working Environment Survey (ARK).
• Continue the work on strengthening dialogue with external PhD candidates and their employers.

Alumni support and continuing and further education

• Continue the development of a lasting and active alumni network and work to make the network visible for today’s students. Consider establishing an alumni council consisting of alumni, develop the newsletter in line with input and insights from statistics, and try out various types of events.
• Start up, and work to promote recruitment to, the continuing and further education course in political data science.
• Include the need for future expected increases in continuing and further education offerings in analyses of the resource and staffing situation.
• Be a driving force for the University of Oslo to develop central guidelines, support systems and tools for continuing and further education activities.

Resource utilization and planning of teaching

• Finalize and adopt a teaching planning tool based on that of the Department of Sociology and Social Geography.
• Ensure we make full use of our own teaching resources before bringing in external resources.
• Improve the information new employees receive about teaching routines, practices, and regulations at the Department.
• Improve the internal websites to make information about teaching routines easier to find.
• Start using the new role descriptions related to teaching.

Responsible: Head of Education

Part 3: Public relations and dissemination

The strategic plan stresses that the Department should be an open educational and research institution that contributes to greater use of established and new knowledge in society. The dissemination of research results should be regarded as an integral part of the research process and should normally be included in all project plans.

Measures

• Employees will be encouraged and receive help to create dissemination plans by the research and communication administration.
• The Department will facilitate participation in non-academic political science conferences and seminars, membership in public committees and expert groups, preparation of learning materials and educational resources for students, and publication in popular scientific journals and websites.
• The department shall ensure that employees who wish to communicate with the media are visible on the department’s own and the university’s websites. vEmployees who courses in writing op-ed articles and media communication will be offered such training.
• The Department’s social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn and Bluesky) will be used to provide information about new research publications and research projects, public defence of PhD theses, research awards, and academic events that are open to the public.
• The Department Management will complete the work of reporting the Department’s needs to the Faculty’s communications department, clarify roles and develop appropriate forms of collaboration with the Faculty’s communication department.

Responsible: Head of Research

Part 4: Organization, work environment and staff

The strategic plan highlights the need for organizational development within the department. Following a period of significant increase in the number of temporary employees (due to growth in external project funding), more international recruitment, and the introduction of various digital platforms in teaching, there is a need for measures to ensure clear distribution of responsibilities, good information flow, genuine participation opportunities and transparency in key decisions, effective organization of academic research and teaching activities, and improved resource management to secure actual research time, as well as the development of how teaching and research activities are organized and supported."

Regarding personnel, the plan highlights several considerations: the capacity for research and teaching across a broad range of disciplines, the balance between permanent and temporary academic positions and tasks, equality goals, as well as the emphasis on teaching qualifications during recruitment. Listed below are several important measures in this regard, including implementation of the entire action plan that was developed in response to the 2024 Working Environment Survey (ARK). .

Measures

Organization

• Establish a number of thematic academic groups to replace the old teaching areas, as arenas and a coordination mechanism for teaching and research activities, and to ensure that all academic staff are associated with a unit below the departmental level.
• Designate a leader for each academic group with clearly defined responsibilities and tasks, and clarify the group’s portfolio of courses.
• Clarify the relationship between the function of the academic groups and the Department’s transverse, more thematically focused research groups.
• Clarify the distribution of responsibilities and routines in respect of planning and assigning teaching tasks within and across subject areas using the new teaching planning tool.
• Develop common guidelines for the internal organization and functioning of the academic groups.
• Continue a forum for research project leaders under the direction of the Head of Research to discuss common issues.
• Adopt new role descriptions for all teaching-related leadership roles and the corresponding people in the administration.
• Start using the new teaching planning tool and establish a “database” to ensure continuous overview of the staff’s teaching qualifications.
• Prepare clear frameworks for the dimensioning of the courses on offer at the Department, in line with the actual teaching capacity.
• Assess the advantages and disadvantages of a standard semester organization compared to the “block model” at the master's level for research time and administrative development work (see also the section on students' learning outcomes and work situation). "Be a driving force for the faculty to establish tools for estimating the costs of changes in the teaching offerings. .

Working environment

• Implement the action plan that was drawn up in response to the 2024 Working Environment Survey (ARK), including measures for better onboarding of new employees.
• Clarify the delineation between the responsibilities of academic  group leaders and those of managers with personnel responsibility. 
• Consider measures to revitalize the lunch routines in the wake of the pandemic in premises where employees are spread over four floors.
• Recruit more academic employees to the committee for social activities during and outside working hours.

Staff

• Prioritize PhD research fellow and post-doctoral researcher positions in applications for external funding, but also consider whether other types of positions are more appropriate.
• Assess the arrangements for career support for post-doctoral researchers in the light of the new Regulations to the Universities and University Colleges Act (incl. the existing mentoring scheme, support in connection with applying for project funding, etc.).
• Prioritize joint research and teaching positions when advertising permanent posts.
• Use fixed-term positions for extra posts up to 20% (associate professor / adjunct professor) for teaching to ensure a buffer in the event of illness, leaves of absence and release time among permanently employed academic staff.
• Explore the possibilities for, and the pros and cons of, offering tenure track positions at the post-doctoral level (instead of or together with associate professor positions).
• Take explicit account of both the goals regarding breadth and heterogeneity in competencies and environment building when advertising permanent and temporary posts. 
• Actively encourage women to apply for academic positions.
• Ensure focus on the Department’s equality goals in meetings with all chairs of committees involved in sorting, assessment and making recommendations.
• Develop more precise, knowledge-based guidelines for recruitment and employment processes to minimize the risk of different types of biases in the selection.
• Routinely assess the effect on the gender balance at the Department when considering employing several people in academic posts at the same time.
• Offer continuing professional development courses in administration, human resources management, research management, research ethics, education management, dissemination, etc., as needs dictate.
• Create individual plans for Norwegian language training for newly hired permanent staff with non-Scandinavian backgrounds. Fund Norwegian courses for temporary employees who want to learn Norwegian.

Responsible: Head of Department

Part 5: C-REX – Centre for Research on Extremism

The Centre for Research on Extremism (C-REX) is a research centre at the Department of Political Science that conducts research into right-wing extremism, hate crimes and political violence. C-REX opened on 1 February 2016 and has a scheduled end date of 31 January 2026. C-REX aims to be a leading research environment on right-wing extremism and related topics, and to function as a hub in the development of an interdisciplinary research environment in the field in Norway. The Centre’s researchers will achieve recognition at a high international level through their publications and their contributions at international conferences. The Centre’s staff will communicate results to practitioners, the general public and academia. C-REX collaborates with other units at the University of Oslo, and with researchers and research groups at other educational and research institutions.

Measures

• Assess how the Centre’s academic profile and organization can be further developed pending a decision regarding funding to continue C-REX.
• Arrange a conference to mark the end of C-REX’s first ten-year period.
• Compile and synthesize C-REX’s academic output since its establishment.
• Compile a book that summarizes knowledge on right-wing extremism in Norway after the 22 July attack.
• Arrange a Ph.D. workshop in collaboration with VOX-Pol, an international network involved in research on violent extremism on the internet.
• Host a full-day seminar for disseminators at our partner institutions, including the 22nd July Centre.

Responsible: Director of C-REX