What is INTPART?
INTPART, an abbreviation for “International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research,” is a Research Council of Norway funding program designed to enhance transnational collaboration among researchers and universities.
This particular INTPART grant is focused on environmental/sustainability topics. It is led by researchers at the University of Oslo Department of Social Anthropology (SAI), which has a long-standing commitment to environmental social science research and education. The overall goal of the project is to support and develop forms of research and teaching that explore how the qualitative social sciences and humanities can be better mobilised within interdisciplinary environmental scholarship.
Through PhD student and staff exchanges, collaborative PhD courses, and other workshops/events, this INTPART project aims to further develop environment-focused collaborations among researchers and educational programmes at the following universities: University of Oslo (Norway), University of Cape Town (South Africa), University of the Western Cape (South Africa), University of Tokyo (Japan), and University of California, Santa Cruz (USA).
The project period is from 01.11.2021–31.10.2026
For further information, see Strengthening Environmental Anthropology Research
Who is eligible?
Research staff (permanent and temporary), including PhD students, affiliated with any of the partner universities are eligible to participate.
Participation is open to scholars from any disciplinary background, but the research exchange needs to have a focus on interdisciplinary environmental research in way that either falls within, integrates insights from, or explores interfaces with the environmental social sciences and/or environmental humanities.
For what can one apply?
You can apply for a research exchange at one of the project’s partner universities, e.g. the University of Oslo (Norway), University of Cape Town (South Africa), University of the Western Cape (South Africa), University of Tokyo (Japan), and University of California, Santa Cruz (USA).
In principle, the length of stay can vary from a week to six months. However, for PhD candidates, stays must be from one month to one term/semester, as we cannot pay out stipends for periods shorter than one month. For faculty/staff, either similar length stays or shorter visits with specific research and/or institutional goals are welcome.
Participants will receive research stay abroad grants and refund of travel expenses for stays over 1 month. Please consult the research council's website for updated rates and conditions: Research Stays Abroad
Please note that while the Research Council specify a minimum of 3 months for the stay abroad, this is not a requirement for this network.
For shorter staff visits, there is no grant; instead, travel-related direct costs will be reimbursed.
In general, host institutions will provide institutional affiliation, including workspace, internet access, library access, and opportunities to participate in academic events and scholarly conversations. For longer stays, they will also provide assistance with visa-related matters. Research exchange students will not be able to earn credits from the host institution, but may be able to request credits from their home universities for coursework completed during exchanges. Host universities are not expected to offer accommodation, but many offer varying degrees of housing-related suggestions, advice, and links.
How to apply
If you are employed by UiO and want to visit one of the partner institutions
If you are a PhD candidate, first contact your supervisor to discuss how a stay abroad might fit within your research and educational programme.
All interested students and staff should then contact their university’s INTPART coordinator with a concrete proposal for exchange at one of the partner universities, including a description of the academic rationale, plans for time abroad, potential benefits, and feasibility of the exchange. For UiO, this is Knut G Nustad, who can be reached at k.g.nustad@sai.uio.no. This initial contact must happen at least 3 months, and preferably 6 months, before the proposed exchange.
If the project leaders (Knut G Nustad and Heather Swanson) determine that the student/staff member would be a suitable candidate, they will then initiate contact with the proposed host institution. Please be aware that, although host institutions are supportive of the INTPART project, they may not be able to accommodate all requests for exchange.
If you are employed by one of the partner institutions and want to visit UiO
All interested students and staff should contact their university’s INTPART coordinator with a concrete proposal for exchange at one of the partner universities, including a description of the academic rationale, plans for time abroad, potential benefits, and feasibility of the exchange. This initial contact must happen at least 6 months, before the proposed exchange. The local intpart coordinators are:
UWC: Prof Duncan Brown, djbrown@uwc.ac.za
UCT: Prof Lesley Green, lesley.green@uct.ac.za
UCSC: Prof Andrew Matthews, amathews@ucsc.edu
U Tokyo: Prof Mayumi Fukanaga, m-fukunaga@edu.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp
If the local coordinator approves the request, it will be sent on to the two PIs (Knut G Nustad and Heather Swanson) who will then determine if the student/staff member would be a suitable candidate and check availability with the proposed host department at UiO. Please be aware that, although host institutions are supportive of the INTPART project, they may not be able to accommodate all requests for exchange.
If you are employed by a partner institution and want to visit a partner institution other than UiO
All interested students and staff should contact their university’s INTPART coordinator with a concrete proposal for exchange at one of the partner universities, including a description of the academic rationale, plans for time abroad, potential
benefits, and feasibility of the exchange. This initial contact must happen at least 3 months, and preferably 6 months, before the proposed exchange. The local intpart coordinators are:
UWC: Prof Duncan Brown, djbrown@uwc.ac.za
UCT: Prof Lesley Green, lesley.green@uct.ac.za
UCSC: Prof Andrew Matthews, amathews@ucsc.edu
U Tokyo: Prof Mayumi Fukanaga, m-fukunaga@edu.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp
If the local coordinator approves the request, it will be sent on to the two PIs (Knut G Nustad and Heather Swanson) who will then assess the application and, if approved, initiate contact with the proposed host institution. Please be aware that, although host institutions are supportive of the INTPART project, they may not be able to accommodate all requests for exchange.
Project PI
Knut G. Nustad
Professor, Social Anthropology, University of Oslo
k.g.nustad@sai.uio.no
Project co-PI
Heather A. Swanson
Researcher, Social Anthropology, University of Oslo
Professor, Anthropology, Aarhus University
ikshswanson@cas.au.dk