Lead institution:
University of Bergen – Norway
The Norway-Pacific Ocean-Climate Scholarship Programme (N-POC) is an ambitious partnership in research and PhD training between two geographically remote but thematically convergent institutions of research and higher education: the University of Bergen (UiB) in Norway, and the regional University of the South Pacific (USP), whose main campus is located in Fiji. N-POC is funded for 2021-2027 by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).
The programme is under full implementation, with 19 PhD candidates (10 female, 9 male) from 7 Pacific Islands countries (Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu) engaged in original research on the ocean-climate nexus in linguistics, social sciences, law, marine biology, oceanography, and more, all receiving joint supervision from both partner universities towards a bi-institutional degree PhD.
N-POC maintains active cooperation with the United Nations Missions of the Pacific Island states and Norway’s UN Mission and Embassy in Australia, and has gained high international visibility as a recognized model for university-based SIDS partnerships and a prominent example of the 2030 Agenda’s SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Start Date: 01/01/2021
End Date: 31/12/2026
Lead Contact: Edvard Hviding (edvard.hviding@uib.no)