Gender, Excellence and Research Funding

In the last 10-15 years, the term “excellence” has become increasingly prominent as a policy instrument regarding the public funding of science across Europe. Simultaneously, more emphasis has been put on gender equality in science. The EU’s 8^th framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020, for instance, could be argued to constitute a double push for both excellence and gender equality in science. However, research conducted in Scandinavia has contested the presumption that both the consideration for excellence and gender equality in science can be maintained at the same time. This chapter discusses whether the European influence on national research policy in Norway may constitute a crash with the Nordic model, which has traditionally emphasised gender equality. This is done by collecting empiric evidence from applicant behaviour and success rates in two programmes of the Norwegian Research Council: “Centers of Excellence” and “Open project funding”.