The Norwegian Research School for Research and Development of Municipal Health and Care.

The National Research School for Research and Development of Municipal Health and Care, MUNI-HEALTH-CARE, was established in response to the need to build research competence directed towards the municipal health and care services. A main objective has been to strengthen research education and increase research and innovation in the community health and care services and increase the collaboration between small and fragmented research groups. Educating the next generation of researchers in this field is crucial to meet the knowledge needs and achieve the policy objectives of increased efficiency, quality and innovation in the community health care sector. To achieve this end, the research school has been organized according to a cohort model, in which the PhD candidates have belonged to a class and have followed each other through two years of academic activities. The program has consisted of three so-called “autumn gatherings” consisting of mandatory PhD courses, as well as eight online doctoral seminars that have built on and expanded upon both substantial and methodological topics from the courses. In addition, the research school has offered a range of elective courses addressing diverse research issues related to the community health and care services. The research school has also developed a peer mentoring program for supervisors in collaboration with the Department of Education (UiO), to contribute to PhD-supervision competence. In summary, the core activities of the research school have aimed at strengthening research education by offering relevant PhD courses and seminars to PhD candidates with their research scope in the field of municipal health services, as well as supporting networking and research collaboration across institutions and research groups. The research school has been organized as a consortium with 7 partner institutions. These are University of Oslo (host institution), UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Nord University, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Gjøvik, Oslo Metropolitan University, and University of Bergen. The partners are institutions that have a relevant PhD program and/or have a special responsibility to support and conduct research in the field of community health care services. In addition, both Oslo University Hospital (OUS) and Federation of Disability Organisations (FFO) have contributed as clinical partner and user organization, respectively. The added value of the national research school lies in bringing together PhD-students, supervisors and research groups from well-established research-intensive institutions with smaller, and not yet fully established research groups with significant potential to develop into strong research groups. We believe the success of MUNI-HEALTH-CARE lies in the strong and close collaboration between the partner institutions through highly competent and dedicated senior researchers, as well as a well-functioning administrative support. In the midterm evaluation from 2020, the evaluation committee expressed the following: "This is an excellent and well-driven research school" (Midterm evaluation, NFR 2020, p. 50). The evaluation report can be read in its entirety on the NFR website: RESEARCH SCHOOLS - National research schools (forskningsradet.no).

Virkninger og effekter av forskerskolen på kort og lengre sikt 1) For kandidatene Forskerskolen har gitt stipendiatene kunnskap, ferdigheter og kompetanse de ikke har fått i sine egne forskningsmiljøer gjennom å tilby et større tilfang av relevante ph.d.-kurs og seminarer, samt støtte til internasjonale opphold. Det faglige programmet til forskerskolen er svært positivt evaluert av stipendiatene. Det har gitt stipendiatene et større fagmiljø og et nettverk der alle har delt interessen for å forske på problemstillinger innenfor en kommunal kontekst. Møtet med andre stipendiater i samme situasjon som dem selv har blitt fremhevet som svært viktig. Forskerskolen har ledet til faglig samarbeid også etter fullført forskerskoleprogram for flere av stipendiatene. Det samme gjelder for flere av veilederne. 2) For utdanningene Forskerskolen har bidratt til erfaringsutveksling som har gitt ny innsikt i ph.d.-utdanningen på tvers av de ulike institusjonene. Dette har reist både praktiske og prinsipielle spørsmål. En viktig innsikt som flere av veilederne har fremhevet er at gjentagende problemer i stipendiatenes fremdrift og ph.d.-prosess ikke nødvendigvis kan tilskrives utfordringer knyttet til den enkelte stipendiat eller til samarbeidet mellom stipendiater og veiledere, men er knyttet til strukturelle forhold som må adresseres på systemnivå i organisasjonene. 3) For arbeidsliv og samfunn Forskerskolen har understøttet kunnskapsutvikling for de kommunale helse- og omsorgstjenestene gjennom stipendiatprosjektene og gjennom kvalitetsheving og kompetanse-bygging blant fremtidige forskere slik at disse har relevant og solid kvalifisering for å fortsette en forskerkarriere rettet mot kommunal sektor. Gjennom de 109 stipendiatene som har fullført forskerskolen har vi også bidratt med viktig kapasitetsbygging til en sektor som er i startgropen med tanke på praksisnær forskning.

This project aims at building a National Research School directed towards the Municipal Health and Care sector. There is a great need for building research capacity within the municipal health and care services and facilitate research collaboration accross the specialist and municipal sectors. The application is supported by a number of strong and upcoming multiprofessional research groups accross Norway. The National Research School builds on well established national and international research networks. The added value of the National Research School is to bring together research groups from well-established, research intensive institutions with smaller, less established research groups with significant potential for developing into strong research groups. A major goal of the Research School is to bring together and strengthen both the education, research and innovation activities related to municipal health and care. Educationg the new generations of researchers into this field will be essential in order to meet knowledge needs as well as addressing the significant polical goals in terms of improving quality care in this sector. PhD students and supervisors from all relevant institutions and research groups are invited into the National Research School. However, as partners we have included only institutions that either have doctoral programs, research groups with potential to contribute in the school's activities or have a particular responsibility for facilitating and conducting reserch into municipal health and care.