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Institusjonsforankret strategisk prosjekt (t.o.m. 2018)

Noen av oss tåler stressende livshendelser godt. Andre derimot utvikler vedvarende fysiske og psykiske plager som følger av stress. Hvor godt vi håndterer stress avhenger av et komplekst samspill mellom miljøfaktorer, sosiale forhold, biologisk sårbarhet og indre motstandskraft. Forskning på stressreaksjonene til dyr og pasientgrupper som til vanlig lever under mye stress viser at en gruppe signalstoffer i kroppen som aktiverer det samme hjernesystemet som cannabis – endocannabinoidene – kan begrense styrken på stressreaksjoner og bidra til at man raskere kommer seg til hektene. I dette prosjektet skal vi undersøke hvordan mestring av stress på kort og lang sikt henger sammen med nivåer av endocannabinoider i kroppen for å forstå hvorfor noen personer er mer motstandsdyktige mot stress enn andre. I den ene studien følger vi pasienter som skal gjennomgå en stressende, men veldig vanlig, situasjon: kirurgi. Her måler vi pasientenes opplevelse av stress, samt mentale og fysiske helse, fra tiden før til to år etter operasjonen og undersøker hvordan dette henger sammen med nivåene deres av endocannabinoider og andre stresshormoner. I den andre studien bruker vi data fra et eksperiment hvor deltakerne har blitt utsatt for psykososialt stress til å undersøke om endocannabinoidnivået deres påvirker hvordan de reagerer på stress, og om stresset i seg selv kan påvirke kroppens produksjon av endocannabinoider. Til syvende og sist er målet med studien å vurdere hvorvidt målinger av endocannabinoidnivåer kan brukes til å forebygge helseplager og til å evaluere behovet for økt oppfølging etter alvorlig stressende påkjenninger i livet.

In the face of major life stressors, some individuals cope well whereas others develop ill health and long-term adverse outcomes. Predicting who needs additional support in response to major life stressors is essential for targeted prevention and more efficient allocation of resources. The endocannabinoid system is emerging as a promising target for understanding vulnerability and resilience to stress. This system appears to buffer stress in two ways: by limiting the magnitude of the stress response, and by facilitating recovery after a stressful event. While the early findings are intriguing, they mainly stem from studies in rodents and small clinical groups with high stress burden. What role endocannabinoids have more globally for human resilience, health and well-being remains elusive. 

In this project we address this gap by leveraging comprehensive experimental and clinical data on two potent stress models: psychosocial stress and surgery. Drawing on these unique datasets, which combine experimental control with ecological validity, we will decipher how endocannabinoid levels influence people’s stress response and recovery across minutes, days, weeks and years. The project represents a novel directional shift for endocannabinoid research and will (i) determine the value of endocannabinoid levels as a biomarker to predict outcomes after surgery, (ii) quantify sex differences, (iii) assess endocannabinoid interplay with opioid analgesics, sex hormones and other stress markers (iv) spearhead open and reproducible science practices in endocannabinoid research, and (v) make this fine-grained and novel data available through an interactive web application. 

This project represents an ambitious effort to understand endocannabinoids’ role in stress resilience and will determine the value of endocannabinoids as a predictive biomarker and potential target for individualized treatment.

Deciphering endocannabinoid stress buffering in humans: 
Mechanistic and clinical investigations

Prosjektet «Wheelchair Activity Monitoring» (WHAM) sikter både på å øke fysisk aktivitet blant rullestolbrukere, og på å bidra til bredere mål om mangfold og inkludering av personer med nedsatt mobilitet, ved å fremme større tilgjengelighet og deltakelse gjennom innovativ teknologi og forskning.

Rullestolbrukere er tre til fem ganger mindre aktive enn den generelle befolkningen, noe som øker risikoen for å utvikle forebyggbare sykdommer. Selv om det finnes retningslinjer for fysisk aktivitet som er tilpasset rullestolbrukere, trenger vi fortsatt effektive måter å implementere disse på samt nøyaktig teknologi for å spore mulige endringer i fysisk aktivitet. WHAM har som mål å bidra til økt fysisk aktivitet blant rullestolbrukere ved å lage digitale verktøy for å monitorere og gi tilbakemelding på rullestolbrukerens aktivitet. WHAM består av tre faser: to år ved University of British Columbia (UBC), som inkluderer et samarbeid med eksperter innen atferdsendrings-intervensjoner for rullestolbrukere; ett år ved Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU) og et halvt år ved Maastricht Instruments - de to siste fasene er viet til å utvikle de digitale teknologiene. 

WHAMs mål er:
1)	Å teste effekten av et treningsprogram på fysisk aktivitetsnivå og fitness blant rullestolbrukere,
2)	Å utvikle nøyaktige algoritmer for monitorering av fysisk aktivitet blant rullestolbrukere,
3)	Å lage et system som både monitorerer og gir tilbakemelding på fysisk aktivitet blant rullestolbrukere.

Wheelchair users (WCU) are three to five times more inactive than the general population, leading to a high risk of developing preventable secondary conditions. Although physical activity (PA) guidelines have been specifically developed for WCU, we lack systematic approaches to implement them in practice, as well as valid algorithms to monitor PA change in WCU through sensor-based solutions. Accordingly, the overall scientific aim of the WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM) is to advance PA research and practice in WCU by developing valid digital markers for monitoring of and providing feedback on PA, paving the way for implementation and intervention. I will accomplish this through combining the complementary research fields of 1) behavioral intervention studies focusing on increasing PA in WCU (core competence University of British Columbia, UBC; outgoing phase) and 2) sensor-based PA monitoring (core competence Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU; returning phase – consolidated by non-academic placement at Maastricht Instruments, which develop research prototypes including PA monitors). WHAM’s scientific aim is achieved through three objectives: 1) Measure the effect of a pragmatic exercise intervention trial on self-reported physical activity levels and cardio-respiratory fitness, 2) Develop valid algorithms for tracking PA markers in WCU, and 3) Co-create
a framework that outlines how PA can be conjointly monitored and provided feedback on in WCU. This fellowship will enable me to become established as an internationally recognized researcher in the field of “physical activity and disability”, while bringing together ongoing national disjointed research activities in this field. Altogether, my overall ambition is to contribute to reducing inequalities in daily-life participation among WCU compared to the rest of the population.

Topfinancing - WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM)

Effektene av fysisk og seksuell vold på ofre og deres familier kan være ødeleggende og vedvarende, med potensielt langvarige konsekvenser for fysisk og mental helse, utdanning, sysselsetting og bruk av velferdstjenester. Mens strafferettssystemet anses som en viktig del av offerets gjenopprettingsprosess, er det begrenset empirisk forskning på hvorvidt strafferettslige prosesser hjelper og/eller hindrer bedring langs disse ulike dimensjonene. I dette prosjektet vil vi adressere dette kunnskapshullet ved å bruke en kombinasjon av kvantitative og kvalitative forskningsmetoder. I de kvantitative analysene vil vi bruke administrative registerdata som dekker hele befolkningen sammen med kvasi-eksperimentelle metoder for å kunne trekke kausale slutninger. Vi vil også benytte maskinlæringsteknikker for prediksjon. De kvalitative analysene vil supplere de kvantitative analysene ved å gi kontekst til et komplekst felt av saker og ofre og ved å identifisere potensielle mekanismer mellom strafferettslige prosesser og utfall for ofrene. Samlet vil disse metodene gi en mer robust, representativ og nyansert forståelse av hvordan kontakt med strafferettssystemet påvirker offeret på tvers av flere viktige livsområder både på kort og lang sikt. Prosjektet ledes av Folkehelseinstituttet (FHI) med Frischsenteret og Universitetet i Oslo som partnere. Prosjektet har et rådgivende utvalg med medlemmer fra Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress (NKVTS), ETH Zurich, Universitetet i Oslo, Frischsenteret, Universitetet i Bergen, og OsloMet. Det er også tilknyttet en brukergruppe bestående av personer og organisasjoner som er i kontakt med ofre for vold og overgrep.

Victims of sexual and physical violence is one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. The criminal justice system (CJS) serves a critical role in providing assistance to victims of these crimes, enabling them to seek justice, protection, compensation, and closure. Yet, knowledge about whether the CJS helps or harms these victims is extremely limited. This project aims to remedy this by providing a comprehensive understanding of the role of the CJS in supporting and providing restoration for victims of physical and sexual violence in Norway. We will utilize a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods across disciplines to study outcomes across multiple important life domains, both in the short and long run. For the quantitative analyses we will use exceptionally rich longitudinal administrative register data with full population coverage combined with state-of-the-art quasi-experimental methods for credible causal inference and predictive machine learning techniques. The qualitative analysis will be based on narrative interviews with victims, providing context and insights into how interactions with the CJS shape life stories. The results will yield a robust and nuanced understanding of how the different stages of the CJS impacts victims. This is particularly urgent given how the current emphasis on legal responses to assaults has caused a sense of obligation and civic duty for especially women to report incidents, while the chances of legal closure remain small. In addition to advancing the methods for quasi-experimental designs and machine learning within quantitative criminology, this project will provide valuable insights for policymakers, stakeholders, and practitioners working in the field of victim support and rehabilitation and may inform current legal reform efforts aimed at addressing these issues.

Helpful or harmful: The effects of criminal justice system contact on victims of sexual and physical violence

Global natur- og miljøforvaltning er en av vår tids mest sentralt og vanskellige mål. Mange av utfordringene skyldes motsetningene mellom vår fragmenterte politiske verden og økosystemer som ikke forholder seg til landegrenser eller politiske skillelinjer.
Ulike biologiske samfunn (biomer) som ligger i én stat, kan ikke løsrives fra et større økosystem. Derfor er flere «lokale» naturområder blitt del av den globale miljøforvaltningen.
Prosjektet RESOLVING skal se på politiske løsninger for en naturforvaltning som både er:
(i) lokal: som del av en stats territorium og hjem til ulike befolkningsgrupper
(ii) global: som kritiske deler av planetens økosystem
Hva betyr denne forvaltningen på flere nivåer for staters suverenitet?
Vi vet allerede mye om utfordringene nasjonalt oppdelt myndighet utgjør for effektiv forvaltning av jordens økosystemer. Vi vet derimot langt mindre om hvordan forsøkene på å styre jordens komplekse og grenseløse økosystemer faktisk kan endre selve systemet som forsinker den globale forvaltningen: statlig suverenitet.
RESOLVING vil prøve å forstå denne dynamikken ved å undersøke gruppene som faktisk utøver internasjonal naturforvaltning på vegne av eller parallelt med statene. Prosjektet vil her se nærmere på styringen av to områder som er viktige for hele verden: Amazonas-regnskogen og Guineabukta.
RESOLVING undersøker hvordan tiltak for å ta vare på disse områdene – laget på både internasjonalt, nasjonalt og lokalt nivå – fungerer sammen. Hvilke aktører får mer makt? Hvem blir inkludert i beslutningsprosessene og hvem blir utelatt?

The RESOLVING project asks: How does global governance of nature transform the exercise of sovereign power? Scientific evidence of the environment as a complex system of planetary dimensions has elevated several natural resources as objects of global governance. Primary forests and maritime biomes particularly capture global attention because of their systemic relevance for our planetary ecosystem. Still, international politics operates within a framework locating authority over nature indivisibly into territorially discrete and independent states. This project investigates the implications for sovereignty stemming from the construction of nature as a global governance object. We build on existing conceptualizations of sovereignty as a combination of de jure sovereign authority and bundles of de facto sovereign competence. In the case of nature, while permanent sovereignty over natural resources is an immutable property of state authority, a wider range of actors can be involved in defining the ways in which these resources are governed or even in governing them. RESOLVING will focus on two parcels of local nature especially entangled in global governance: the Amazon rainforest and the Gulf of Guinea. The project will investigate how networks of actors work across levels of governance to produce sovereign competence and exert sovereign power over nature in these regions. Sovereign power is the capacity to achieve de facto sovereign competence, here identified as the capacity to define and implement the rules of human–nature interaction. We look at multilevel governance from three angles: the global, the state, and the local. The comparative analysis of those networks across levels, regions, and regimes complexes will allow for identifying the mechanisms driving the rebundling of sovereign power with or away from the state, and a better understanding of the consequences of that process.

Rebundling sovereignty over local nature in global governance

Tørkeperioder kan gjøre bakken hardere og frastøte seg vann, dette fører til økt fare for flom og jorderosjon hvis det skulle komme styrtregn. Sammenfallende hendelser hvor en tørkeperiode ender i styrtregn kan derfor forårsake større skader på infrastruktur og avlinger enn enkelthendelser med kun tørke eller styrtregn. Global oppvarming har forårsaket at både tørkeperioder og styrtregn intensiveres og skjer oftere, som også kan føre til at sammenfallende hendelser med tørke etterfulgt av styrtregn også kan intensiveres og skje oftere. 
Selv om det er funnet en økning i tørkeperioder og ekstremnedbør med global oppvarming også i klimamodellene, er det også en stor spredning mellom modellene på hvor mye og i hvilke områder som opplever mer tørke og nedbør. Prosjektet vil undersøke faktiske historiske hendelser hvor tørkeperioder endte i styrtregn i værobservasjoner og værmodelldata for å finne passende indekser som kan brukes til å analysere hvordan de forekommer i klimamodellene. Modeller på finere skala gjør en bedre jobb med å modellere nedbør, prosjektet vil derfor bruke finskala høytoppløselige klimamodeller og globale klimamodeller for å se hvordan tørkeperioder avsluttet med styrtregn forekommer i disse. De modellene som gjør det godt opp mot observasjoner vil bli identifisert.  Videre vil prosjektet studere endringene i hyppighet og intensitet av sammenfallende hendelser med tørke og styrtregn med global oppvarming.
En av grunnene man vet til hvorfor det er stor usikkerhet knyttet til hvordan klimamodellene gjenskaper nedbørsmønstre er hvordan fordamping varierer over skog- og andre arealer. I prosjektet vil vi se på effekten av avskoging og økt skogbruk i globale modeller, og gjøre egne beregninger over mindre areal på finskala for å for å se hvordan fordamping blir påvirket. Resultatene av prosjektet er viktig får å unngå eller minimere skadene slike sammenfallende med tørke etterfulgt av styrtregn kan forårsake.

Global warming intensifies drought and extreme precipitation. Compound events with droughts ending in intensified precipitation - DRIP can cause large damages but are extremely understudied. This project aims to estimate the change in frequency and intensity of DRIP events with global warming due to changes in the water-cycle. We will identify actual historical compound DRIP events and find indices that are suitable to identify these events in model data. As global climate models show a large spread in precipitation for both historical and the different future climate projections, there is expected to be a spread in model projections of DRIP events as well. We will constrain this spread by identifying global climate models that do a good statistical representation of historical DRIP events and by analyzing large ensembles to evaluate the natural variability. As higher resolution modelling shows a better representation of the water cycle, the project will analyze regional downscaled global models in identified regions of interest.  We will also perform in-house regional simulations of identified global models down to convection permitting scale to study the change in DRIP events with model resolution. The project will also target a highlighted uncertainty connected to the water-cycle by exploring how evapotranspiration and the occurrence of DRIP events found in climate models respond to land use change. For this analysis we will extend the regional downscaling to include sensitivity studies which contain deforestation and forestation. Results gained from DRIP will make a large contribution to the knowledge needed on future mitigation measures due to the increase in compound events.

DRIP - DRought ending in Intensified Precipitation

Hovedmålet med kreftbehandling er å eliminere kreftceller og dette er tradisjonelt oppnådd ved kirurgi, bruk av giftige medikamenter (cellegift) og stråling. En ny og betydningsfull tilnærming til kreftbehandling kalt immunterapi, har derimot fått mye oppmerksomhet det siste tiåret; Her forsøker leger og forskere å utnytte immunsystemet vårt for å målrettet  ødelegge kreftceller. En nøkkelaktør i denne banebrytende tilnærmingen er en gruppe «drapsmenn» i immunsystemet kjent som cytotoxiske T-lymfocytter (CTL-er). Disse cellene har en bemerkelsesverdig evne til å oppdage kreftceller ved å gjenkjenne unormale molekyler på overflaten av kreftcellene - molekyler som friske celler ikke har. Når CTL-er gjenkjenner kreftcellene ødelegger de dem ved å frigjøre giftige molekyler som initierer kreftcellenes selvdestruksjon. 
 
Selv om betydelige innsats har blitt dedikert til å forstå hvordan CTL-er aktiveres og hvordan de gjenkjenner kreftceller, vet vi mindre om de påfølgende hendelsene inne i kreftcellene som fører til deres død. Fra før vet vi at CTL-er kan initiere to forskjellige typer celledød i kreft: den første, kalt apoptose, er en stille og ordnet prosess der kreftcellene krymper og brytes opp uten å varsle immunsystemet; den andre, kalt pyroptose, er en mer dramatisk prosess som involverer dannelse av åpninger i cellemembranen, noe som fører til at cellene svulmer opp og sprekker. Under denne cellebristen blir innholdet inne i cellene frigitt i omgivelsene, og dette kan fungere som 'faretegn' som kan stimulere en sterkere immunrespons mot kreftcellene. Betydningen av denne cellebristen for å forsterke anti-tumorresponsene vil bli undersøkt i dette prosjektet. 
 
Videre er vi fascinert av muligheten for å avdekke ytterligere, ennå ukjente, former for celledød indusert av CTL-er. Utforsking av disse dødsrelaterte prosessene i kreftcellene kan potensielt øke effektiviteten av immunterapi og bidra betydelig i den pågående kampen mot kreft.

The primary goal of most cancer therapies is to induce cancer cell death. Immunotherapy relies on the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes such as natural killer cells (NKs) and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to achieve this. While a significant amount of research in immunotherapy focuses on the events within cytotoxic lymphocytes or at the interface between cytotoxic lymphocytes and cancer cells, less is known about the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate cancer cell death, particularly in the case of CTL-mediated death.
CTLs are known to induce two types of cell death in cancer: non-inflammatory apoptosis and proinflammatory pyroptosis. Pyroptotic cancer cells release proinflammatory signals that attract immune cells to the tumor site, thereby enhancing the anti-tumor response. Cell lysis is a common outcome of pyroptotic cell death. It is unclear whether lysis can be decoupled from pyroptosis in cancer cells and whether the proinflammatory properties of pyroptotic cancer cell death depend on lysis. Moreover, it remains unknown whether CTLs can induce other forms of cell death in cancer, apart from apoptosis and pyroptosis.
Studying the mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death is challenging because CTLs selectively target cells expressing specific antigens. However, given the critical role of CTLs in immunotherapy, it is essential to deepen our understanding of CTL-induced cancer cell death.
This project aims to develop novel methodologies to investigate the death mechanisms that are initiated by CTLs. In addition, we will identify new pathways and mediators involved in CTL-induced cancer cell death. Furthermore, we will assess the contribution of proinflammatory cell death and lysis in promoting anti-tumor responses in vivo. Overall, this research will improve our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death and potentially reveal novel targets to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

T-cell-mediated proinflammatory cell death and lysis in cancer

En av de vanligste, men minst studerte, utfordringene med å bli eldre er problemer med å kommunisere. Mange eldre sliter spesielt med pragmatiske ferdigheter, som å forstå undertekst, eller tilpasse det de sier til personen de snakker med. 

La oss si at en lege må gi en alvorlig beskjed til en pasient. For å gjøre det litt lettere å takle, bruker legen vagere språk, som "kanskje" i stedet for "sannsynligvis". Mens yngre voksne ofte tar hensyn til høflighetsstrategier i måten de tolker det som blir sagt på, har eldre ofte vanskelig for å forstå når noen snakker indirekte. Mange eldre voksne har vanskelig for å forstå ikke-bokstavelig språk og kan misforstå alvorlighetsgraden av diagnosen. Dette kan påvirke beslutningen deres om behandling, noe som kan føre til utilsiktede konsekvenser. 

Siden god kommunikasjon er viktig både i viktige medisinske samtaler og i hverdagen, er det viktig at vi finner ut hva som gjør at eldre kan ha vansker med å forstå og bli forstått. RESILIENCE skal hjelpe til med denne utfordringen ved å samle data om praktiske, kognitive og språklige ferdigheter hos voksne i alderen 18-90 år over tid. Dette vil gi oss en stor mengde data om pragmatiske, kognitive og språk ferdigheter og gjøre det tilgjengelig for forskning. Med denne dataen som grunnlag har vi følgende mål: 

• Forstå hvordan praktiske evner endrer seg generelt gjennom voksenlivet. 
• Finne ut hvilke mekanismer som påvirker pragmatiske evner på forskjellige tidspunkter i livet.
 • Utvikle en teoretisk modell som forklarer hvordan pragmatiske ferdigheter endrer seg med alderen.
 • Lage algoritmer som kan forutsi hvordan pragmatiske evner vil utvikle seg for enkeltpersoner i årene som kommer. 
• Utvikle og teste et verktøy som kan måle pragmatisk helse (både pragmatiske ferdigheter og deres underliggende mekanismer), noe som kan åpne  for å iverksette tiltak. 

Dette vil gi oss muligheten til å forstå bedre hvordan folk kan utvikle pragmatisk resiliens gjennom livsløpet.

A cornerstone of human communication is our reliance on pragmatic skills to guide linguistic interactions (e.g., reasoning about others' mental states to bridge the gap between what is said and intended in conversation). However these skills are highly sensitive to age-related decline, leading to miscommunication and uninformed decision making in the older adult population. This raises an important question, one which has puzzled linguistics and psychologists for decades: if pragmatic competence is fundamental to communication, why do individuals vary so much in this capacity? 

Traditionally, psychologists have approached pragmatic competence from a cognitive angle, reasoning that individual differences in executive functions (i.e., the cognitive skills associated with goal-directed actions) are what underlie effective pragmatic behavior. In a similar vein, language scientists have taken a linguistic approach, reasoning that one’s language background (e.g., the frequency with which individuals shift between languages) shapes pragmatic skills by enhancing sensitivity to the communicative context. This focus on either cognitive or linguistic influences has resulted in two expansive yet disparate areas of research.

RESILIENCE will unite these disciplines to pursue a longstanding debate on what underlies pragmatic resilience and decline using a large-scale, interdisciplinary and longitudinal approach. By gathering data on adults' (ages 18-90) pragmatic, cognitive and language skills over multiple time points, we will develop a comprehensive theoretical model that explains how cognitive and linguistic systems interact to shape pragmatic competence as we age, and create algorithms that predict the trajectory of an individual’s pragmatic abilities in upcoming years. Based on these results we will design a multidimensional tool that detects the earliest signs of pragmatic deficits, leading to future interventions, allowing us to uncover the paths to pragmatic resilience.

Uncovering the paths to pragmatic resilience

Ny forskning fra Europa og USA peker på at bedrifter bidrar til økende lønnsforskjeller– selv innenfor smalt definerte jobber eller industrier, som økonomifag eller treforedling. Til tross for stor interesse og økende tilgjengelighet av administrative data, vet vi overraskende lite om hvordan– og hvorfor bedriftene påvirker lønnsulikhet. Det viktigste hinderet har vært at variasjon i foretaks lønns- og personalpraksis (heretter kalt HR) har vist seg vanskelig å måle for et representativt utvalg av bedrifter.

I dette prosjektet løser vi måleproblemet ved å utvikle en ny forskningsinfrastruktur. Vår datainnsamlingsmetode muliggjør måling av HR og personalpolitikk på bedriftsnivå og kobling til inntekts- og arbeidertakerforhold. 

Denne kombinasjonen tilrettelegger for ny kunnskap om bedrifters interne arbeidsmarkeder og betydningen av HR og personalpolitikk for lønnsulikhet i arbeidsmarkedet.  

Vi starter med å utforske hva HR gjør i det eksterne arbeidsmarkedet. Her vil vi prøve å forstå hvordan bruk av rekrutteringsmetode avhenger av arbeideres utdanningsnivå, f.eks. master eller grunnskole, om man ansetter fra andre arbeidsgivere eller fra arbeidsledighet, og hvordan dette virker på ulikhet. I prosjektets hoveddel vil vi undersøke hvordan bedrifter organiserer sine interne arbeidsmarkeder, som for eksempel innebærer hvordan ulike jobber er rangert i et jobbhierarki, teams, hvordan ansatte navigerer karrieremuligheter i bedriften, oppnår forfremmelse og lønnsvekst, og hvordan ansatte verdsetter de interne mulighetene i forhold til muligheter i andre bedrifter. I siste del av prosjektet vil vi undersøke betydningen av informasjon om muligheter for arbeidere og hvorvidt forskjeller i lønn også reflekterer gap i kunnskap om muligheter. 

Samlet sett vil prosjektet bidra til økt forståelse av hvordan moderne arbeidsmarkeder fungerer og hva offentlig og bedriftspolitikk kan gjøre for å håndtere utfordringer knyttet til økende lønnsulikhet.

Firms’ human resource policies play an important role in shaping individual workers’ careers and overall inequality. The key challenge with identifying the role that firms play in shaping workers’ careers is that existing worker-firm datasets, such as Norwegian register data, do not include information on what goes on inside of firms. For instance, these data do not include information on how firms advertise or fill vacant positions, how workers learn about these positions, or how firms organize their internal hierarchies. This project aims to advance our understanding of the determinants of HR policies and the consequences of these policies for individual careers and for labor market inequality. In order to do so, the researchers will establish a research infrastructure that combines the strength of the Norwegian administrative data with recent advancements in survey design. 

The research infrastructure will allow them to open the "black box" of firms’ HR policies and make three distinct contributions. In the first project, they will use the infrastructure to develop and validate new survey instruments for measuring firms’ internal HR policies. This will allow them to describe determinants of firm recruitment policies, how practices differ across firms and workers, and whether different recruitment strategies reinforce existing labor market inequalities. In the second project, they will explore workers’ search across and within firms and examine the value workers attach to internal labor markets. This will leverage experiments embedded in the worker survey, as well as recent techniques to measure the organizational structure of firms. The third project will estimate the value that workers place on information about the outside labor market. In doing so, it contributes to an ongoing academic and policy discussion about the role of information in the labor market.

Firming Up Careers: Human Resource Policies and Inequality

Wheelchair users (WCU) are three to five times more inactive than the general population, leading to a high risk of developing preventable secondary conditions. Although physical activity (PA) guidelines have been specifically developed for WCU, we lack systematic approaches to implement them in practice, as well as valid algorithms to monitor PA change in WCU through sensor-based solutions. Accordingly, the overall scientific aim of the WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM) is to advance PA research and practice in WCU by developing valid digital markers for monitoring of and providing feedback on PA, paving the way for implementation and intervention. I will accomplish this through combining the complementary research fields of 1) behavioural intervention studies focusing on increasing PA in WCU (core competence University of British Columbia, UBC; outgoing phase) and 2) sensor-based PA monitoring (core competence Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU; returning phase – consolidated by non-academic placement at Maastricht Instruments, which develop research prototypes including PA monitors). WHAM’s scientific aim is achieved through three objectives: 1) Measure the effect of a pragmatic exercise intervention trial on self-reported physical activity levels and cardio-respiratory fitness, 2) Develop valid algorithms for tracking PA markers in WCU, and 3) Co-create a framework that outlines how PA can be conjointly monitored and provided feedback on in WCU. This fellowship will enable me to become established as an internationally recognized researcher in the field of “physical activity and disability”, while bringing together ongoing national disjointed research activities in this field. Altogether, my overall ambition is to contribute to reducing inequalities in daily-life participation among WCU compared to the rest of the population.

WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM)

The goal of the Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms (BECAME) project is to examine the functional neuroplastic mechanisms underlying mitigatory effects of bilingual experience on age-related cognitive decline. While evidence is available for structural brain changes supporting bilingualism-induced effects on cognitive aging (CA), functional mechanisms underlying such effects are not yet well understood. BECAME aims to fill this gap by investigating the trajectory of bilingualism-induced functional neuroplasticity across the adult lifespan (ages 18-85), crucially adopting an individual differences approach related to measurable degree of bilingual engagement. Importantly, although such benefits are thought to be rooted early in the lifespan, evidence for the timeframe and conditions of their early emergence is scarce. The choice of including the whole adult lifespan allows us to investigate these mechanisms and their emergence more directly from a lifespan perspective. I combine behavioral testing with brain recordings via electroencephalography (EEG). EEG is widely used in cognitive neuroscience to assess brain activity and the degree of communication between brain regions (functional connectivity) in response to stimuli and at rest. Combining behavioral and EEG modalities will allow me to test bilingualism’s effect on functional connectivity, as well as its consequences for functional efficiency, the minimum required neural activation to successfully perform a task. This will enable a detailed, evidence-based account of the protective effects observed in older-aged bilinguals, and how they are built from earlier life stages. By illuminating the relationship between multilingualism and resulting neurocognitive adaptations, BECAME will enable to capitalize on it as a health initiative, with manifold societal implications and the potential to be translated into actionable policies exploiting multilingualism to ameliorate effects of CA.

Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms

Midlene fra TRANSPORT-Transport 2025 fordelt på år

Midlene fra TRANSPORT-Transport 2025 fordelt på fylker

Midlene fra TRANSPORT-Transport 2025 fordelt på fagområde

Senior Research Scientist

2 personer har deltatt på informasjonsmøte i Oslo og 1 person har deltatt på brokerageevent i Brussel.

ERA-NET Servicelogistikk

The aim of the Strategic Institute Programme (SIP) is to further develop SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture as a national and international research institute within the field of fisheries technology. The programme will emphasize the development of energy e fficient fishing vessels, increased work place safety, working conditions, and higher competitiveness in general. Also, the dynamics of technological development have some aggregated effects on the fleets' ability to become more sustainable, which will be  the focus in extensive catch capacity analyses. SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture has the ambition to develop and adapt systems engineering as a methodological approach to enhance the technological perspective in sustainable fisheries management, and to i ncrease sustainability in the general design of fishing vessels. The programme can be summarized in the following main objectives:
-	Improve present tools for development of more energy efficient design and operation of fishing vessels, with main emphasis  on machinery and propulsion systems. 
-	Develop improvements in working operations, in the ergonomic work situations of the fishermen onboard, in the overall safety of the fishing vessels, and in deck arrangements. 
-	Analyze the technological adaptation s and the effect on the catch capacity and management regime.
-	Develop and adapt systems engineering as methodology for technological fisheries research and fishing vessel design.
-	Two doctorate studies are planned for the programme.
-	Publication of ar ticles in international journals and other relevant fora.

Future catch platform for the Norwegian fishing fleet

Agriculture in Norway is traditionally based on a high level of national support and payments. Policy changes, especially if the state support has to be reduced considerably, can lead to substantial changes regarding land use, the multi functionality of a griculture, cultural landscape qualities, as well as rural businesses. A new WTO-agreement will probably make it necessary to document the effects of 'green box' measurements. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to show and document the connections betw een agricultural production (primary products) and cultural landscape qualities (public benefits and ecosystem services i.e. secondary products) as well as the financial results. 

On this background the main objective of this strategic programme is to ge nerate knowledge that can contribute to improve a more sustainable livestock production and maintenance of important cultural landscape qualities. The programme will gain competence and develop tools to analyse the production of cultural landscape qualiti es from grassland based livestock production systems. Based on modules the programme aims to develop a model visualizing the linkage between different production systems, public benefits and ecosystem services (including knowledge on environmental load) a nd farm profitability. The results will give indications on payment rates which are necessary to achieve desired land use regarding cultural landscape qualities.

A second main objective of the programme is the capacity building and consolidation in Biofo rsk of research linked to holistic approaches to complex problems in agriculture. The programme will involve researchers from several institutes, also abroad, representing different disciplines, methods, traditions and experience. NILF will participate as  a major partner. The interdisciplinary cooperation will strengthen the programme process and the scientific network of Bioforsk.

Designing sustainable livestock production systems delivering cultural landscapes with public goods and ecosystem services

The salmon farming industry demands optimal production through-out the entire life-cycle. This demand is currently not realized due to seasonal environmental changes that dramatically influences on feed intake, lipid accumulation, and growth rate during t he sea stage. To improve the predictability and cost-efficiency of salmon farming, there is a need to compose dynamic diets that are optimized according to the major seasonal changes.
 	In OptiProd, this will be pursued by developing a new and integrated understanding of how growth in salmon relates to the physiological state of the fish, how this interacts with seasonal and climatic conditions, and how this may be manipulated by diet composition and strategic supplements to optimize the performance by th e fish. In particular, we will characterize physiological and underlying biochemical responses to feed supplements such as bioactive fatty acids and nitrogenous components in order to boost and regulate the metabolism of salmon in advance of or during cri tical periods of the production cycle. In addition to traditional nutrional research tools, we will implement new technology within functional genomics and metabolomics to provide detailed information of the metabolic status in salmon and molecular mechan isms involved in season dependent growth regulation. The main experiments will be conducted in sea by using 0+ and 1+ smolts, whereas smaller feeding experiments as well as cell culture studies will be performed to complement our knowledge. 
OptiProd is a  strategic important project that will integrate research experience from production biology, nutrition, and biotechnology in a novel multidisciplinary approach to reduce the severe problem with seasonal dependent growth stagnation in the salmon industry.  This will be pursued by feed optimalization and by increasing the global understanding of the mechanisms affecting growth and well-being of salmon during the seawater phase.

Dynamic and integrated production biology of farmed salmon in sea

Cultural activities and heritage, rural tourism and small-scale food production (CULTOURFOOD) are three fragmented sectors or industries with many actors and little coordination. In spite of increasing economic and social importance and political awarenes s, those industries have separate sector authorities, business service and R&D institutions. Cultural leisure activities and tourism experience uneven growth in many areas, and it appears to be a large and undeveloped market potential for knowledge-based rural development.  The Centre for Rural Research is the only R&D institution in Norway with competence in all the three sectors concerned: culture activities and heritage, local food production and tourism, travel and leisure. In initiating this strategi c programme CULTOURFOOD (2007-2010), CRR would like to propose the development of a holistic knowledge-base which will define, describe and analyse this new sector, as well as produce basic knowledge on how to strengthen the cooperation and integration of  the CULTOURFOOD-economies. The sub-projects will focus on describing state of the art regarding size and socio-economic structure of culturally-grounded tourism and food production, investigate the discourse on rurality and authenticity, scrutinise the t ourist host - tourist dialectic, and put focus on coordination, collaboration, networks and innovation in the field of culturally-grounded tourism and local food. Through case studies, surveys and statistical analyses the programme aim for identifying key  factors for successful rural and regional development based on rural culture, tourism and local food. The results will be disseminated internationally and nationally through publications, presentations on conferences and seminars, and presented in media.  Dissemination to the scientific community and to national business actors, organisations, authorities etc will be given equal priority.

Culturally grounded tourism and local food in rural development

Each year strawberry- and raspberry producers experience serious economical losses due to fungal or oomycete diseases. In this project we will address two such diseases, strawberry crown rot (Phytophthora cactorum) and raspberry root rot (Phytophthora fra gariae var. rubi). An efficient control measure is the use of resistant cultivars. Raspberry and strawberry cultivars vary in resistance but most commercial cultivars are susceptible to these two diseases. We will identify genetic markers linked to crown rot resistance in strawberry and Phytophthora root rot in raspberry. The mapping populations will be progenies from a cross between a susceptible and a highly resistant strawberry cultivar e.g. Senga Sengana, and a corresponding cross between resistant As ker and susceptible Glen Moy raspberry cultivars. From closely linked markers, assays for MAS will be developed. Plant resistance (R) proteins recognise pathogen effectors, so-called avirulence (AVR) proteins. This recognition often triggers signal transd uction cascades leading to rapid defence mobilisation. Most known R genes encode proteins with a nucleotide-binding site. We will study the diversity of such genes in raspberry and octoploid and diploid strawberry. R gene analogues will be sequenced and c haracterized, and possible co-segregation with markers linked to disease resistance will be studied. In addition we will isolate and characterize genes from P. cactorum encoding effector proteins, including Avr genes. Isolation of the effector genes will allow the plant-pathogen gene-for-gene interaction to be studied in detail. The basic knowledge generated and genes and genetic markers identified in this project will be of international importance and might provide tools for the development of new resis tant cultivars or more effective control measures for disease management.

Phytophthora diseases in Rosaceae: Plant resistance and plant-pathogen interactions

Fungal decay of wood products is a global problem that has been traditionally combated with chemical preservatives. There is currently a great demand for alternatives to contemporary chemical preservatives due to their toxicity to the environment, and the  current Strategic Institute Program (SIP) is focused on alternative wood protection systems that do not pose any environmental hazards. Similarly fungal decay in living forest trees, particularly decay caused by Heterobasidion annosum in conifers, result s in considerable economic losses. The goal of the present proposal is to gain knowledge about the defence mechanisms utilized by decay fungi when challenged with alternative wood protection systems and natural host defence compounds. This goal will be pu rsued by sequencing of cDNA libraries and transcript profiling of candidate genes of decay fungi under these stress situations. The knowledge thus gained will contribute to a better understanding of the sequence of events that take place in wood colonizat ion and decay. This will allow further modification in the application of new wood protection systems in order to increase the protection provided by them. Similarly, an understanding of how decay fungi such as H. annosum detoxify natural host defence com pounds in living trees will likely facilitate the establishment of breeding programs targeted against decay fungi. The study involves also innovative elements due to the chemical complexity of woody substrates. In addition to the publications produced, we  predict that the products of the study, modified nucleic acid isolation protocols, expressed sequence tags of major decay fungi, and quantitative real-time PCR assays for monitoring fungal growth rates and transcript levels will provide a spin-off platfo rm that will facilitate future research on wood decay and associated fungi. Since decay of wood products and living forest trees is a major problem, the resources to conduct the study are well justified.

Functional genomics of wood degradation: strategies used by decay fungi against wood protection systems and natural host defence compounds

Return of organic wastes to soils is a step towards more closed nutrient cycles, greater sustainability and reduced environmental loads. Because of the enormously variation of availability of plant nutrient as nitrogen and phosphorus between different org anic waste types, there is a great demand for increased knowledge about the potential nitrogen fertilization effects and plant availability of P. In this research programme special emphasis will be made on phosphorus in different organic waste types. The studies will include effects of different treatments on P sorption and availability, and potential for leaching and loss to water bodies. Studies on influence of organic waste of different origin on selected soil quality indicators will also be performed.  The results from experimental studies will be used for resource assessment of nitrogen and phosphorus recycling. The outcome of the research programme will be relevant for producers and users of organic waste, and may lead differentiated recommendations for use of organic waste and suggestions for revision of regulations for such use.

Recycling organic waste - effects on soil quality, plant nutrient supply and environmental impact

The goal of the National Veterinary Institute (NVI) is deliver decision support of good quality for decisions made within the area of animal health and welfare and food safety. According to the political signals and the needs seen, the NVI will intensify the work on preparedness related to all items for which it is responsible; diagnostics, disease knowledge, epidemiology and risk assessments.  
To develop knowledge and competence for improvement of the preparedness and as a basis for the decision support  to be given within the area fromearth and fjord to table.
The projects incorporated are entitled 
1             The importance of the bacteria in the Mycobacterium avium complex for    human      and animal health in Norway.
2	How can the risk for introd uction of Campylobacter in broiler flocks be reduced?
3 	Penicillium-toxins in food and feed 
4	Characterising the inflammation response in cod
Four PhD's and some part-time reaserchers will be resposible for the  research activity. Project will be orient ed towards preparedness in various areas of which NVI is responsible

Improving preparedness through research

Lysozymes are antibacterial enzymes generally acknowledged to play an important role in the innate immune system found in all animals. Recent findings on invertebrate lysozymes as well as on bacterial inhibitors of lysozymes have shed new light on why ver tebrate lysozymes show some restriction in their antibacterial repertoire. Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and the Gram-positive bacteria Streptococcus pyrogenes produce their respective proteins that bind and subsequently inhibit the acti on of certain lysozymes. Inactivation or removal of the genes for these inhibitors has been shown to produce bacteria more susceptible to lysozyme killing or with less ability of colonization in the infected host. 
We propose to suppress the lysozyme inhi bitors by introducing molecules which bind to the inhibitor(s) and thereby reduce or totally block the lysozyme-inhibiting capacities produced by bacteria. Although never previously described, such suppressors are believed to be present in the chemical li brary of the nature, and we intend to search for suppressors in the marine environment, i.e. in invertebrates. In parallel, the known 3-D molecular structure of a complex between lysozyme and a lysozyme inhibitor will form the basis for structure-modellin g and chemical synthesis of additional putative suppressors of lysozyme inhibitors. 
The final aim is to offer a set of molecules adapted to a novel concept of controlling bacterial growth and infection.

Lysozyme inhibitors; novel drug targets in bacteria

The present project aim to develop in vitro techniques which will refine and replace in vivo animal experiments.  Following the establishment of genomic and proteomic tools for investigating model organisms, we now have the opportunity to utilise these te chniques for developing novel cell culture systems applicable to a variety of  species, including fish,  in nutritional, epidemiological, ecotoxicological, metabolic and functional genomic studies.

Specificly, this project will generate knowledge on how the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua and Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, are affected by potential dietary stressors (toxicants, undesirables and supplements) by assesing the in vitro responses of important toxicological tissues via gene expression techniques, fo r the elucidation of gene expression biomarkers. Suitable primary culture systems of hepatocytes and intestinal cells will be developed. 

For assessment of developmental stressors, the project will use zebrafish and cod embryonic stem (ES) cells as devel opmental and toxicological models. Once marker genes have been identified for model stressors, cultures can be screened for teratogenic effects of emerging pollutants such as brominated flame retardants and pharmaceutical products of increasing concern in  aquatic environments. Knowledge of cell differentiation markers and signal transduction pathways will be of importance for creating differentiation-inducing protocols directing ES cells into specific tissues, thus extending the number of in vitro methods  for nutrigenomics and toxicogenomics studies in future. 

The development of a GC, LCMS(n) method for analysing polyunsaturated fatty acids and eicosanoids in cells (particularly those of the immune system) in combination with exploration of genomic tech niques will be a powerful tool. This should enable determination of the complex interplay between dietary factors and physiology, and will  be applicable to both fish and mammalian research

Integrating in vitro cellular models and genomic techniques for investigating the impacts of diets.

The Norwegian aquaculture is facing challenges in limited areas available for aquaculture and an efficient utilization of the carrying capacity is crucial. This necessitates combining different forms of aquaculture, and the first step in doing so is to es timate the carrying capacity for each cultivation form. This project will provide methods to determine carrying capacity for finfish farming, shellfish culture and sea ranching of lobster; all of which have huge potentials in Norwegian aquaculture. Finfis h farming may have substantial impact of the benthic fauna, but the effects on the trophic relations and the marine food web are not known. The project will provide methods for tracing fluxes and pathways of organic matter into the marine food web and sug gest threshold levels for acceptable impact. Farming and sea ranching of suspension feeding shellfish is a growing industry in Norway and a substantial increase in biomass are expected. We will develop and couple existing numerical models and thereby prov ide scientific knowledge, competence and modelling capacity that can beet the demands on assessments of carrying capacity of bivalve suspension feeders. Sea ranching is an extensive form of aquaculture and has through the Act and licenses given become a c ommencing industry. The juvenile density n the release area is a limiting factor for the carrying capacity in sea-ranching lobster, and the project will provide knowledge of the optimum stocking density.

Carrying capacity in Norwegian aquaculture

Management and use of biomass from non-traditional forest operations has today a low priority, partly because the work is expensive and partly because a rational and economic exploitation, for example for bioenergy, is not facilitated. The result is regen eration, while the challenge should be local exploitation for energy purposes. This main goal is to utilize the biomass and maintain the landscape in a sustainable way. The landscape includes  regeneration forest (preservation of cultivated landscape, roa ds and projected roads, infield/edges of cultivated land/tree care/garden refuse), immature forest and final harvesting.
The project has two sub-projects, and in each sub-project a PhD student will be employed.
1.	Competitive biofuel deliveries from culti vated landscapes and late clearing/early thinning
2.	Biomass from regenerating forest/immature forest as chips and raw material for pellet production

(1) Professor Rolf Björnheden at The University of Växjö will be scientific advisor in sub-project 1 and   Dr. Juha Nurmi at The Finnish Forest Research Institute will be scientific advisor in sub-project 2. In addition the project will have a consultative group.

Biofuel from regeneration forest, immature and final harvesting

The greatest welfare challenges for sheep during grazing are tick-borne fever (TBF), blow-flies, alveld and predators. Production losses on tick infested pastures are substantial, and it is expected that more than 300 000 lambs/sheep are affected by TBF. In sustainable farming, particularly organic farming, the focus on solving these challenges should be on preventive measures. The dependence on drugs implies a risk for developing resistance. It is therefore of general interest to use preventive methods. However, few efficient preventive measures against tick infection and TBF are available. Thus, there is a need for alternative strategies. The focus of the project will be on:
Indirect losses
The indirect loss caused by TBF is impaired welfare, growth rat e, meat quality and income. National data will provide information on weight, slaughter quality and losses of animals on tick infested pastures and will be used to identify and quantify indirect losses. Increased knowledge about the extent of indirect los ses to ticks will increase awareness and motivation for implementing preventive measures.
Turn out time on pasture and immunity
Lambs on tick infested pasture and sheep brought to tick infested pasture for the first time are at highest risk. Animals will develop immunity after the first infection. The effect of exposing lambs to tick infection at a very early life stage will be tested in an experiment carried out at five farms involving 300 lambs. The hypothesis is that lambs infected early will handle th e disease better and will not become seriously ill.
Disease resistance
There is indication of individual variance in susceptibility against TBF in sheep. Many factors may cause variation in resistance to ticks and TBF between individuals. Exploiting a pos sible genetic variance between breeds and individuals within breed in such resistance will be done by a controlled challenge test and by analysing data on sheep from ram circles in tick infested areas.

Improved welfare in sheep production -
Preventive measures, disease resistance and robustness related to tick-borne fever in sheep

Phosphorus (P) in marine feed ingredients provide natural high P content in commercial fish feed, but is poorly available to fish in the crystal structure with calcium (Ca) known as hydroxyapatite in fish bones. Pilot studies have shown that it is possibl e to improve the digestibility of phosphorus (P) in fish bone 2-3 fold by technological treatments (Aksnes, 2002). Activation of immobilized nutrients from fish bone represents a novel method to improve the utilisation of available marine feed resources a lready indicated to be industrially relevant and with potential large economical value. The most important raw material available for fish meal production in Norway are small size industrial fish such as blue whiting and fishery offal from the fish indust ry, both providing natural high P content. Based on alternative technological processing conditions of the bone fraction from such raw materials, the following project will aim to develop improved marine feed ingredients with high P digestibility and with  predictable impacts on growth, health and welfare of intensive farmed fish. Dietary impacts of the new marine feed ingredients on digestion, absorption, tissue retention and excretion of variable P forms and solubility will be studied in Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout, and guidelines for improved and adequate nutritionally Ca: P-balanced feeds will be provided to the aquaculture industry. Efforts to improve the efficiency of P utilisation from marine feed resources and provide diets that just meet the  P requirements of fish will decrease the effluent of P to the environment and ease the aquaculture industries needs to follow the new water frame directive forwarded from the EU (Dir. 2000/60/EC).

Improved phosphorus utilization of marine feed resources - Dietary impacts and optimal P nutrition in Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout

This research program focuses on market-based product differentiation in the seafood industry. This kind of research is much needed in an industry where most products can be characterised as commodities and where the main competitive variable is (low) pri ce. Through this program we aim to further develop Fiskeriforskning's competence regarding strategies and methods for product differentiation and market testing of seafood products - which represents central areas in Fiskeriforskning's strategies for rese arch. The research is organised around two main projects. Project 1 will focus on market testing of seafood products and project 2 will focus on differentiation strategies. Each project will produce one PhD and consist of a team of researchers to support this. The research is expected to be highly useful for the Norwegian seafood industry both in the short and long term. To make sure that the research is relevant and useful two main companies in the seafood industry is part of a "reference group" for the program.

Market-Based Product Differentiation in the Seafood Industry

Disease and meat quality are of high importance to the aquaculture producer, processor and consumer. However, both disease resistance and meat quality traits are complex to understand and measure, costly to evaluate and slow to improve using current metho ds of selective breeding. In this project we will develop new techniques, new knowledge and a new integration of expertise that will enable us to tackle the problem of selectively improving these complex traits. We will focus on Atlantic salmon, but resul ts from the project will be applicable to other aquaculture species. Simulation models will be developed to test what likely impact new techniques will have on genetic gain and to test alternative designs for selective breeding programs. The cost/benefits  associated with the use of these methods and how the IP derived from such project can be well managed and fully exploited will be determined. As disease is a worldwide problem for intensive aquaculture and as animal welfare, meat quality and price are dr iving consumer choices and preferences, the results of this project will be of major significance to aquaculture industries worldwide and, if effectively implemented, could dramatically improve the sustainability, yield and profitability of the industry.

New techniques to achieve more cost efficient selective breeding for improved consumer acceptance of aquaculture products

Seafood consumers are concerned about animal welfare and recent white papers states that Norway should take a leading position to ensure acceptable animal welfare standards as basis of an sustainable and ethical aquatic production. Institute of Marine Res earch (IMR), Bergen has a leading role in advising the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs on fish welfare issuses and has responded by making fish welfare one of 3 focus areas for future aquaculture reserach. However, fish welfare researc h is a new  dicipline, and both research methods, infrastructure and basic knowlegde needs to be further developed to improve scientific risk analysis and advise on management strategies in this field. The current SIP proposal will complement and strenhgt en current research by increasing IMRs physiological and behavioural toolbox relevant for welfare assessment and include welfare questions related to fish capture.
This will include:
·Develop existing physiological and behavioural models to study performa nce and welfare of fish in complex environments 
·Develop experimental facilities tailored to address challenges about basic stress physiology, capacity for aerobic respiration and buoyancy control of target species in fisheries and aquaculture 
·Explore the association between physiological stress response and cognitive interpretation of stressors
·Use these facilities and basic knowledge to address questions related to swimming endurance, exhaustion and forced decompression during fish capture and welfa re consequences for fish escaping the fishing gear or left to recover in net cages (CBA) 
·Test model-generated hypotheses about the performance, stress response and welfare of conditioned or unconditioned hatchery reared fish in time varying environmenta l regimes and effects of new feed sources  in controlled tank studies.
·Develop operational protocols for assessment of welfare and responsible handling and farming of cod

Physiological and behavioural indicators for fish welfare assessment in aquaculture and fish capture

The aquaculture industry is diversifying and several species are produced. In Norway, salmon is the economically most important species, but several species are coming up. Combining species belonging to different trophic levels as fish, seaweed and mussel s may benefits of growing together. The feed investments are better utilised and the activity improves the environmental image of culturing fish because wastes are reduced. Benefits are for example: 
* A reduction of overall costs for maintenance, infrast ructure and logistics
* Less economical dependency on marked development as for monocultures
* Enhanced production of lower trophic level species like macroalgae and mussels when they are cultured together with fish
* Higher value of production per unit o f feed invested, because the number of harvested species are increased
* Reduced environmental impacts from feed wastes and excretion products from the salmon cage culture (environmental friendly)
	 
The research work of the Program will be organized in 4  interactive projects:
1. 3D-ecological numerical model tools for assessments of location feasibility and interaction between components in open sea integrated aquaculture
2. Technology and production strategy for integrated open seawater aquaculture
3. D emonstration of biological and environmental effects of integrated aquaculture
4. International network and co-operation

Integrated open seawater aquaculture, technology for sustainable culture of high productive areas

To create an economically robust business environement, the Norwegian fish processing industry should optimize the cost efficiency in production through automation and at the same time focus on utilization of the demand potential which is present in the m arket for fresh products. The involved research groups will in this project further develop competence and wider technology together with industry to enable this. In the project there will be education of one Ph.D. candidate specialized in engineering des ign methodology to transform technology development into increased automation. 

Cost, and quality efficient and ethical handling and slaughtering og wild and farmed fish (Work package 1) are a basis for further processing, and the quality of end products . The work on this area is focused on technology development based on fish physiology and technical physics. Focused tasks are transfer of live fish from sea to process, optimize bleeding and best practice protocol for the total processing line.

The focu s in work package 2, is to develop systems for fully automated grading og whole pelagic fish and gutted salmon and automated production of fully trimmed salmon fillets. The relevant research fields that will be investigated for purpose of developing these  automated systems, are computer based vision and detection, integrated robotic systems and appropriate preparing tools.

Technology for efficient and profitable fish industry

In accordance with international conventions it is the goal of Norwegian authorities to establish a management regime of marine resources and environment supporting the ecosystem approach. This represents a tremendous challenge to resource evaluation, but  the international scientific community has not yet been able to define a common avenue towards these management goals. Most commonly an incremental pragmatic approach is chosen that improve existing single species methods. Thereby the present regime is m aintained in parallel to a development towards future goals. The expected achievement through this approach is questioned.
In this SIP we want to develop an alternative and integrated scientific approach to assess key ecosystem dynamics of importance to e xploited fish stocks and demonstrate its application in operational assessment. This brave initiative is motivated by the fact that both knowledge and new technological solution are under-utilised. An alternative approach is important both to release the potential in recent scientific achievement and to act as a corrective to present approaches.
This proposal has a clear focus on building bridges that efficiently coordinate model demands and observation capabilities more than it is a modelling or a measur ement initiative. Updated theories related to recruitment, life history, trophic interaction and ecosystem indicators are used as the basis for the development. To make the approach economically realistic, a new feedback loop between model prediction and field-sampling strategies will be developed.
The program is scheduled over a four years period and will combine expertise and knowledge across research groups at IMR through a mixture of post docs and experienced scientists. Students will be involved acco rding to needs. The program is of strategic importance to IMR as development of expertise and personnel within this field is critical for operational capabilities in future advice under the ecosystem approach.

Ecosystem dynamics and fish stocks

The Norwegian farm sector faces a number of challenges related to future adjustment.
The development of rural tourism and recreation, value-added food products oar new combinations of products and services depends on entrepreneurial activity involving far mers.

Research related to the challenges for farmers as entrepreneurs, to how support systems and organized marketing initiatives can facilitate innovation and business development, and of the potential economic impact of farm entrepreneurship on a farm,  regional and national level will be of potentially great value when agricultural policy is changed to allow market forces to have e greater influence on production.

While an increasing proportion of farmers choose to diversify, there is limited knowledg e of market development, success factors and the entrepreneurial decision-criteria. Increasing the competency of NILF as producer of knowledge and statistics related to the economic development and the effects of policy in and the agro-food sectors is the refore an important aim. The project plans to include two doctoral programmes and one or two post-doctoral researchers. The programme will strengthen the research field through building on complementary resources at NILF, Bodø Graduate School of Business and Nordlandsforskning as well as international and especially Nordic networks.


Farm entrepreneurship: the potential and challenges of farm-based new venturing

Norsk akvakultur opplever for tiden en fase med spesialisering og ekspansjon samtidig som infrastruktur og kompetanse innen bakteriologisk ekspertise i akvatisk bakteriologi i Norge er minimal for tiden. Det er grunn til å tro at bakterieinfeksjoner vil h indre utviklingen av en blomstrende marin oppdrettsnæring. Det er derfor svært viktig at institusjonene som er involvert i sjukdomskontroll i akvakulturen, sammen utvikler et nødvendig strategisk forskningsnettverk for å møte de bakterielle utfordringene på et tidlig tidspunkt i utviklingen av denne nye delen av næringen. Det er foreslått at de fire deltagende institusjonene: Veterinærinstituttet (VI), Norges veterinærhøgskole (NVH), Havforskningsinstituttet (HI) og Fiskeriforskning (FF) (fem inkludert de  to deltagende VI - laboratoriene) vil være ansvarlig for prosjekter som er fokusert på diagnostisk bakteriologi, molekylær bakteriell taksonomi, sykdomsoverføring, funksjonell genomikk og antigen ekspresjon i bakterielle patogener som alt sammen er relev ant for den gryende marine oppdrettsnæringen. Selv om enkeltinstitusjonene er finansielt ansvarlig for hvert sitt prosjekt, vil det være en svært stor grad av samarbeid mellom institusjonene. Etablering av samarbeid og forskning på tvers av fagdisiplinene  mellom de fire partnerne vil øke effektiviteten ved å redusere tid og ressurser som kreves i forskningsarbeidet og vil også redusere konkurranse og dobbeltarbeid på nasjonalt nivå.

Bakterielle utfordringer i oppdrett av marine arter

Det vil i fremtiden bli begrenset tilgang på fiskeoljer til bruk i fiskefôr. For å sikre en fremtidig vekst innen global akvakulturnæring, vil det være nødvendig å ta i bruk forskjellige fettsyreblandinger inkludert vegetabilske oljer, i fôr til fisk. For andringer i fettsyresammensetningen av fôret til oppdrettsfisk, vil påvirke fettsyresammensetningen av cellemembraner og fettdeponering i fett og muskelvev. Man vet imidlertid relativt lite om hvordan slike forandringer i fettsyresammensetningen påvirker genuttrykk og lipidhomeostase og videre påvirker aktiviteten av membranbundne enzymer, reseptorer, ionekanaler og fettdeponering. Det er ønskelig at fremtidige dietter kan øke fiskens evne til å utnytte fett fra fôret til energiproduksjon og samtidig bruk e protein fra dietten til muskelvekst, uten at dette igjen forårsaker negative effekter på fiskens helse. Hovedhensikten med dette programmet vil være å undersøke hvordan forandringer i fettsyresammensetningen (i kombinasjon med andre fettsyresammensetningen (i kombinasjon med andre næringsstoffer) påvirker uttrykk av viktige regulatoriske gener i lipidmetabolismen, spesielt i forhold til lipidopptak, akkumulering og nedbrytning av fett og muskelcelleegenskaper relatert til produktkval itet.

Establishing knowledge within functional genomic and biochemistry for optimal use of future fish feed lipid resources

Klimaendringsscenariene for Norge varsler et mer variabelt vinterklima med hyppige variasjoner mellom frost og mildvær, mer nedbør som regn, mer isdekke, mer vass-sjuk jord og mindre snødekke. Spørsmålet hvordan disse endringene vil påvirke overvintringen  av fôrgras og høsthvete, plantesjukdommer og ugras vil bli fokusert gjennom en kombinasjon av forsøk og simuleringsmodeller. Modeller vil bli utviklet ved å bruke kalibrerte data fra nøye planlagte forsøk i omfattende simuleringsstudier av effekter av forventede klimaendringer på viktige vekstparametrer. Hovedvekt vil bli lagt på å estimere graden av vinterherdighet og overvint ringsevne, på utviklingen av ugras og sjukdommer, og på behovet for plantevernstiltak i fôrgras og høsthvete. Dette vil redusere usikkerheten med hensyn til konsekvensene av vinterklimaendringer på viktige jordbruksvekster i Norge, og bidra til å utvikle tiltak for å unngå redusere faren for negative effekter av klimaendring. Prosjektet vil utfylle pågående modelleringsarbeid og bidra til å forme en plattform for en videre utvikling av dynamiske simuleringsmodeller for klimaeffekter på jordbruksvekster.

TRANSPORT-Transport 2025

ERA-NET Servicelogistikk

Awarded: NOK 15,000

Summary

Funding scheme:

TRANSPORT-Transport 2025

Funding Sources

Thematic Areas and Topics