The Department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo is Norway's leading Department when it comes to research in geosciences.
The Department has so far been awarded three Norwegian Centres of Excellence (SFF), has participated as partner in two Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME), and is a partner in a Centre of Excellence in Education (SFU). Since 2003, we have had a total of eight ERC research projects. The externally funded research at the department contributes approximately half of the Department's finances, with funding mainly from the Research Council of Norway (NFR) and the EU, but also from industry and public institutions.
Research at the Department of Geosciences embraces a wide range of studies, from the interior of the Earth to its surface processes, and via its climate and environment to the study of other planets. Our data collection is based on field work including an extensive drone laboratory, with an impressive suite of experimental and analytical laboratories and advanced facilities for numerical modelling and remote analysis. The research projects are all part of extensive international collaboration.
Organisation of the research
The Department of Geosciences is organised into six sections, each bringing together the academic staff within a different geoscience discipline. But much of our research also takes place across these section boundaries in more or less formal research groups and projects, and through extensive collaboration in the centres.
Research centres and commitments
Several of the groups/ projects/ centres at the Department demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of our research, and also our commitments. We currently house or participate in several centres, initiatives and collaborations at the University of Oslo, all working closely with international research communities. We would like to highlight these research environments/projects/centres:
Centre of Excellence (SFF)
- Centre for Planetary Habitability – PHAB (starts in 2023-...)
- The Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics – CEED (2013-23)
Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME)
Large national projects and Top Research (NFR)
- Terrestrial ecosystem–climate interactions of our EMERALD planet – EMERALD
- Volcanic Eruptions and their Impacts on Climate, Environment, and Viking Society in 500–1250 CE (VIKINGS)
- Biogeochemical processes governing boreal C cycling – BioGov
- The Nansen Legacy / Arven etter Nansen
Strategic research initiatives
- Land-ATmosphere Interactions in Cold Environments – LATICE
- Interface Dynamics in Geophysical Flows – EarthFlows
Interdisciplinary centres at the MN-faculty
- Centre for Biogeochemistry in the Anthropocene – CBA
- Centre for Studies of the Physics of the Earth – NJORD
Centres of Excellence in Education (SFU)
Other collaborations, previous collaborations and centres
- Oslo Centre for Interdisciplinary Environmental and Social Research – CIENS
- Research Centre for Arctic Petroleum Exploration – ARCEx (2014-22)
- Subsurface CO2 Storage – SUCCESS, FME (2010-18)
- Stability and Variations of Arctic Land Ice – SVALI, Toppforskningsinitiativ (2011-16)
- International Centre for Geohazards – ICG, SFF-centre (2003-12)
- Physics of Geological Processes – PGP, SFF-centre (2002-12)
ERC funded research and projects (ERC)
ERC Advanced Grants:
- Break-Through Rocks – BREAK (2022...)
- Disequilibrium metamorphism of stressed lithosphere – DIME (2018-22)
- Global Glacier Mass Continuity – ICEMASS (2013-19)
- Beyond Plate Tectonics (2011-16)
ERC Consolidator Grants:
- STate-dEPendent Cloud feedbacks: enHANcing understanding and assessing Global Effects (STEP-CHANGE)
- Untangling Ediacaran Paleomagnetism to Contextualize Immense Global Change (EPIC)
ERC Starting Grants:
Infrastructure and laboratories
To support research and education, the Department has research laboratories and other infrastructure. The institute houses several national laboratory initiatives, currently these are: