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Fast Track Initiative (FTI)

Focused, short-term research activities with the aim of achieving concise results

When to apply?

The call goes out every autumn, and deadline for submission is usually December 1. Calls for FTI will be announced by email to BCCR members in due time before the deadline.

Why apply?

The Fast Track Initiative support pilot studies, proposals, synergy works and other intitiatives. We have several large projects today that started out as a fast track initiative. 

Who can apply?

Researchers and postdoctors affiliated with the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, resident in Bergen. 

PhD students are not eligible. 

Limits to application: Maximum 500k NOK.

How to apply:

For inquiries, please contact Ragnhild Stolt-Nielsen

Submit your proposal via this form:

Bjerknes Fast Track Initiative application 2026

Criteria - revised 2025

  • Must target at least one of Bjerknes strategic research areas
  • Scientific excellence
  • Feasibility
  • Must enhance Bjerknes collaboration
  • Must have clearly identifiable outcome
  • Must be completed within 1 year of the grant´s commencement
  • Proposals should not exceed 500 words (equivalent of one A4 page) including a description of the activity, objective(s), budget, timeline and outcome(s). If salaries are applied for, the person shall be identified and an estimate of the salary costs must be given. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the figures applies for are correct. 

Examples of eligible activities

Note that this list is not exhaustive:

  • Exploratory research including laboratory work, for new, cross-cutting research relevant to Bjerknes
  • Value-added research emerging out of existing initiatives but not covered by said initiatives

  • Preparation of synthesis/ integration research articles or large research proposals

     

Non-eligible activities or expenses:

  • Running costs such as travels, conference fees, publication costs, sea pay etc.
  • Salaries of non-Bjerknes personnel
  • PhD students, or a recently graduated MSc-student (i.e. to complete a manuscript for publication)
  • Research visits to Bergen. These should be applied for through the Bjerknes Visiting Fellow program

Announcement

Results will be announced two weeks after deadline. 

All applications will be listed, both approved and not approved. 

The applications will be evaluated by the Bjerknes Research theme leaders and leader group representatives from the partnerinstituions.

All applications are individually ranked.

Use of funds & Reporting:

Funds allocated to FTI must be used within the year for which the application applies. As a rule, unused funds cannot be carried over to subsequent years.

A brief report (maximum 2 pages) outlining the project results must be submitted to post@bjerknes.uib.no

FAST TRACK INITIATIVE (FTIs) 2026

This year, we issued a once-in-a-decade major call for FTIs totaling NOK 5 million. This reflects the fact that we are finalizing our four-year strategic projects in December 2025 and will not launch new strategic projects until the last quarter of 2026. As a result, we had additional funding available to support blue-sky, strategic, and collaborative research at Bjerknes.

The response was strong, with 34 applications submitted (see the full list of applications here). Each application was individually ranked by members of the Bjerknes Leader Group, and we met on Wednesday this week to complete the final ranking. 

We are very pleased to announce that the following 10 projects were funded (listed alphabetically by the PI’s last name):

  • PI Inge Althuizen (NORCE) with Sonya Geange (UiB). Flammability Responses of vegetation to Intensified Drought (FRIED). (Carbon)

 

  • PI Guillaume Boutin (NERSC) and Co-PI: Dr. Sigrid Passano Hellan (NORCE). StarWavE: Starting a Wave model Emulator. (Polar)

 

  • PI Heather Cannaby (IMR) with Silvana Gonzalez Yanet (IMR), Helene Langehaug (NERSC), Nadine Goris (NORCE), Solfrid Sætre Hjøllo (IMR). The cascading impacts of marine heatwaves - a modelling study utilizing Norkyst-NORWECOM.E2E. (Carbon)

 

  • PI Damien Couespel (NORCE) with Andreas Klocker (NORCE), Friederike Fröb (UiB), Antonio Bonaducce (NERSC). Strengthening BCCR's expertise in marine biogeochemical modelling at kilometer-scale. (Carbon)

 

  • PI Elin Darelius (UiB) with Kristin Richter (NORCE), Svein Østerhus (NORCE) Antonio Bonaduce (NERSC), Analiza Fernandez (UiB): Detecting overflows from Space. (Polar)

 

  • PI Nil Irvali (GEO/UiB) with Jerry Tjiputra (NORCE) and in collaboration with: Chuncheng Guo (Danish Meteorological Institute), Yair Rosenthal (Rutgers University), Samantha Bova (San Diego State University). The impacts of AMOC decline on intermediate water ventilation and global biogeochemical cycles. (Global)

 

  • PI Lu Li (NORCE) with Stefan Sobolowski (UIB) and in collaboration with Andreas Prein (ETH Zürich), Nikolina Pan (University of Innsbruck), Kun Xie (Wuhan University), and the CORDEX-FPS CPTP team led by Deliang Chen (Tsinghua University). Advancing CORDEX-FPS “Convection-Permitting Modelling over the Third Pole” (CPTP): Contributions to the Final Decadal-Scale Simulation Phase. (Global)

 

  • PI Victoria Miles (NERSC) with Richard Davy (NERSC), Stephanie Mayer (NORCE), Marie Pontoppidan (NORCE). Urban Climate Hazards Insights: Developing a Neighborhood-Scale Story Map for Bergen. (Hazard)

Full list of applications listed by research theme: 

POLAR CLIMATE

  • Detecting overflows from Space  
    Elin Darelius, Kristin Richter, Svein Østerhus, Antonio Bonaduce, Analiza Fernandez  

     

  • ICE-AGE: Illuminating Emergent Decadal Arctic Variability Through CMIP6 Sea-Ice-Age Reconstructions 
    Richard Davy, Jakob Dörr, Heather Regan, Anton Korosov 
     
  • TintinnICE: planktonic tintinnids as a key link in marine sea ICE food webs
    Kyle Mayers, olive Muller, Saúl Rodriguez Martinez, Richard Davy
     
  • High-resolution modeling Antarctic marine cold-air outbreaks 
    Shunya Koseki, Priscilla Mooney
     
  • Arctic Sea-level Anomaly Patterns (ASAP) 
    Fabio Mangini, Antonio Bonaduce, Roshin P. Raj, Ingo Bethke, Anton Korosov
     
  • StarWavE: Starting a Wave model Emulator 
    Guillaume Boutin, Sigrid Passano Hellan, Lars Henrik Smedsrud 
     
  • Glider observations of the hydrography around Bouvetøya 
    Andreas klocker, Till Baumann, Ilker fer, Ailin Dale 
     
  • Developing a regional water-mass inversion to quantify Arctic Ocean dense-water sources and pathways 
    Ailin Brakstad, Xabier Davila, Emil Jeansson, Stefanie Semper, and Kjetil Våge 
     
  • ThinLayerSampler: Prototype for sampling of thin (1 cm) water layers at sharp salinity gradients below the sea ice 
    Oliver Muller, Kyle Mayers, Stefanie Semper

     

GLOBAL CLIMATE 

  • Emerging Climate Signals of Real-World Global Solar and Wind Deployment
    Shengping He (PI, GFI/UiB), Noel Keenlyside (GFI/UiB), Mostafa Bakhoday Paskyabi (GFI/UiB), Stephen Outten (NERSC), Sebastian Dunnett (UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK) 
     
  • A spectral atmospheric constraint for improving climate reconstructions, attribution and prediction 
    Quentin Dalaiden, François Counillon, Thomas Toniazzo, Lea Svendsen, Ingo Bethke, Noel Keenlyside 
     
  • IMPACT360 – Norwegian sector-based climate explorer 
    Asgeir Sorteberg, Stephen Outten, Stefan Sobolowski 
     
  • Explaining the Unprecedented Earth Energy Imbalance and Persistent Warmth (2023-2025) through a Novel Observation-Constrained Modeling approach 
    Lingling Suo, Ingo Bethke, Noel Keenlyside 
     
  • The impacts of AMOC decline on intermediate water ventilation and global biogeochemical cycles 
    Nil Irvali, Jerry Tjiputra in collaboration with: Chuncheng Guo (Danish Meteorological Institute), Yair Rosenthal (Rutgers University), Samantha Bova (San Diego State University) 
     
  • AI-Driven Chat Interface for Exploring Climate Predictions 
    Eurico Mesquita Noleto Filho, Stefan Sobolowski, Noel Keenlyside
     
  • Transforming Climate Model Outputs into CMIP7 Compliant Formats 
    Tyge Løseth, Ingo Bethke 
     

CLIMATE HAZARDS

  • Urban Climate Hazards Insights: Developing a Neighborhood-Scale Story Map for Bergen 
    Victoria Miles, Richard Davy, Stephanie Mayer, Marie Pontoppidan  
     
  • Fjords in a changing climate – a perspective paper in preparation, aimed for Nat. Com. 
    Bjørg Risebrobakken, Agnes Weiner, Natalya Gallo, Carin Andersson, Anne Gro Salvanes, Øystein Varpe, Elin Darelius, and Mari Myksvoll  
     
  • Invasive Benthic Foraminifera in Bergen Harbours: Detection, Distribution, and Ecological Impact 
    Carin Andersson, BBCR Team: Agnes Weiner, Kyler Meyers, Aud Larsen, Svein Olaf Dahl, Kristian Vassskog, Nele Meckler, and Ulysses Ninnemann 
     
  • Reliable usage of Netatmo rain measurements 
    Marie Pontoppidan, Stephan Kral, Joachim Reuder, Pierre-Marie Lefeuvre 
     
  • Preparing for the Unprecedented: A Norway-Wide Framework for Extreme Hydroclimate Risk 
    Etienne Dunn-Sigouin, Sigrid Passano Hellan, Lea Svendsen  
     
  • Towards a partnership model for actionable climate knowledge at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Change Research 
    Jesse Schrage, Brooke Willkerson 
     
  • Advancing CORDEX-FPS “Convection-Permitting Modelling over the Third Pole” (CPTP): Contributions to the Final Decadal-Scale Simulation Phase 
    Lu Li, Stefan Sobolowski, ETH Zürich (Andreas Prein), University of Innsbruck (Nikolina Pan), Kun Xie ( Wuhan University), and the CORDEX-FPS CPTP team (Led by Deliang Chen (Tsinghua University)) 
     
  • Climate research for the benefit of society – with a little help from our friends 
    Andreas Born, Rebekka Frøystad, Jesse Schrage, Mari Skuggedal Myksvoll, Gudrun Sylte 
     
  • Scaling hydrological predictions for hydropower and flood preparedness 
    Ole Wulff, Kamilla Wergeland, Lea Svendsen, Asgeir Sorteberg
     
  • Messages from the deep: What landers can teach us about deep-sea community sensitivity to climate change 
    Natalya Gallo, Ingunn Skjelvan, Helene Langehaug, Anne Gro Vea Salvanes, Elin Darelius, Mari Myksvoll 
     
  • Linking the HYPE hydrological model with the COMSO-iso regional weather model for Integrated Hydro-Isotope Simulations 
    Costijn Zwart, Harald Sodemann, Li Li, Laura Jasmin Dietrich, Andrea Popp (SMHI Sweden), Tricia Stadnyk (University of Calgary, Canada)

 

CARBON SYSTEM

  • Fluxible: still flexible, more accessible 
    Joseph Gaudard, Timothy Spain 
     
  • Flammability Responses of vegetation to Intensified Drought (FRIED) 
    Inge Althuizen, Sonya Geange 
     
  • Tipping dynamics of the AMOC 
    Tomas Torsvik, Friederike Fröb, Malte Jürchott, Petra Langebroek, David Chandler, Yanchun He, Jörg Schwinger, Andreas Born  
     
  • Extreme Heatwaves: A novel field-deployable methodology (ExtremeHeat) 
    Sonya Geange, Inge Althuizen 
     
  • Towards a shared platform for BCCR ocean biogeochemistry model assessment 
    Veli Çağlar Yumruktepe, Heather Anne Cannaby, Jöran Merz 
     
  • The cascading impacts of marine heatwaves - a modelling study utilizing Norkyst-NORWECOM.E2E 
    Heather Anne Cannaby, Silvana Gonzalezm Yanet, helene Langehaug, Nadine Goris, Solfrid Hjøllo 
     
  • Strengthening BCCR's expertise in marine biogeochemical modelling at kilometer-scale 
    Damien Couespel, Andreas Klocker, Friederike Fröb, Antonio Bonaducce