Decision on revised guidelines for research centres within KI
The Committee for Research has reviewed the guidelines for KI‑governed research centres and decided on a simplified process for their establishment, evaluation and discontinuation. The decision means, among other things, that responsibility for centres established at the university will be moved closer to the departments.
The guidelines, which enter into force on 16 January 2026, replace previous steering documents in which the Committee for Research (KF) was responsible for the application process and the assessment of new centres. Under the new provisions, all centres must have a designated host department, and the application process will no longer be administered centrally at KI. Instead, KF sets out the overall framework and criteria, while the departments assume primary responsibility for preparing, quality‑assuring and following up the activities.
“With the new guidelines, the division of responsibilities becomes clearer. The departments receive a greater mandate to organise and follow up their research centres, while KI centrally ensures a common structure through overarching criteria,” says Marie Arsenian-Henriksson, academic vice-president for research and chair of KF.
Host department required
A KI‑governed centre is defined as a time‑limited research activity organised at a department and led by an appointed director. The requirement for a host department existed previously but is now one of three formal criteria for establishing a centre. The guidelines also clarify that follow‑up will take place within the departments’ regular quality assurance processes, while KF may request supplementary information when needed. Processes for applications, budgets or steering group work are no longer regulated centrally but managed locally, supported by recommendations provided in an appendix to the guidelines.
The work to develop the new guidelines was preceded by an investigation conducted by KI’s Internal Audit at the request of the University Board (konsistoriet). The guidelines do not cover centres established by KI’s President or those created through funding from a national research funder. Such centres are instead regulated by the funder’s requirements or the conditions that applied at the time of establishment.