Research projects at AHKR
The Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion has a vibrant reseach environment. Many of the researchers are involved in larger research projects, eighter as leaders or participants.
Main content
Here you will find research projects with external funding, managed by researchers at the department.
The Research Council of Norway (NFR)
The Research Council works to promote research and innovation of high quality and relevance and to generate knowledge in priority areas to enable Norway to deal with key challenges to society and the business sector.
Projects funded by NFR:
SapienCE: Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour| Christopher Henshilwood | Centre of Excellence (SFF)
- Project Manager: Professor in Archaeology Christopher Henshilwood
- Project title: SAPIENCE – Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour
- International researchers from a variety of disciplines are researching how modern man originated and evolved 100,000 to 50,000 years ago.
- Project period: 2017–2027
- See project page
The SFF scheme gives Norway’s best researchers the opportunity to organise their research activities in centres that seek to achieve ambitious scientific objectives through collaboration and with long-term basic funding. The research conducted at the centres must be innovative and have major potential to generate ground-breaking results that advance the international research frontier.
Mprint@EAST_AFRICA: Islamic Manuscript, Print and Practice: Textual adaptations in coastal East Africa, c. 1880-2020| Anne Bang | Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal
- Project Manager: Professor of History, Anne Katrine Bang
- Project title: Mprint@EAST_AFRICA. Islamic Manuscript, Print and Practice: Textual adaptations in coastal East Africa, c. 1880-2020
- The project is designed to explore one central hypothesis: Reforms in Islamic textual tradition and ritual practice during the 19thand 20th centuries took place within existing authority structures and led to a series of adaptations rather than breaks from tradition.
- Project period: 2021–2025
- See project page
Funding is intended to support scientific renewal and development in research that can help to advance the international research front. This call is therefore targeted towards researchers who have demonstrated the ability to conduct research of high scientific quality. Grant proposals will be accepted for projects within all disciplines and research areas.
QUEERDOM: Ordinary lives and marginal intimacies in rural regions. Contrasting cultural histories of queer domesticities in Norway, ca 1842–1972| Tone Hellesund | Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal
- Project Manager: Professor in Cultural Studies, Tone Hellesund
- Project title: Ordinary lives and marginal intimacies in rural regions. Contrasting cultural histories of queer domesticities in Norway, ca 1842–1972.
- The project will investigate how queer women and men lived and organized their everyday lives across a complex domestic terrain in ways that unsettles customary understandings of private life and family organization in modern Norway (1842-1972).
- Project period: 2021–2025
- See project page
Funding is intended to support scientific renewal and development in research that can help to advance the international research front. This call is therefore targeted towards researchers who have demonstrated the ability to conduct research of high scientific quality. Grant proposals will be accepted for projects within all disciplines and research areas.
SAMLA: National Infrastructure for Cultural History and Tradition Archives| Kyrre Kverndokk | INFRASTRUCTURE
- Project Manager: Professor in Cultural Studies, Kyrre Kverndokk
- Project title: SAMLA: National Infrastructure for Cultural History and Tradition Archives
- SAMLA will digitize and make accessible the archival material of three Norwegian tradition archives. These archives contain a rich source material that will be made accessible at the web page samla.no as a joint digital archive.
- Project period: 2020–2024
- See project page
The National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure seeks to build up relevant, up-to-date infrastructure that is accessible to the Norwegian research community and trade and industry. New infrastructure contributes to research and innovation at the international forefront in areas of importance for Norwegian society.
GOVMAT: The Governmateriality of Indigenous Religions| Bjørn Ola Tafjord | Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal
- Project Manager: Professor in the Study of Religions, Bjørn Ola Tafjord
- Project title: The Governmateriality of Indigenous Religions (GOVMAT)
- This project researches how instances of indigeneity and religion materialise and participate in the governing of historical and contemporary events.
- Funded by the Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO) from 2020 to 2025.
- For more information, see the project homepage.
FRIPRO funding is intended to support scientific renewal and advance the international research front. It is given to researchers who have demonstrated the ability to conduct research of high scientific quality. The programme funds projects within all disciplines and research areas.
European Research Council (ERC)
European Framework Programme (Horizon 2020)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) provide grants for all stages of researchers' careers - be they doctoral candidates or highly experienced researchers - and encourage transnational, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility.
Projects funded by MSCA:
RADHEART: Radical Habits of the Heart: Emotions, Embodiment, and Strong, Individual Commitment in Ancient Radical Religion | Laura Feldt | Consolidator Grant
- Principal Investigator: Associate Professor in the Study of Religion, Laura Feldt
- Project title: Radical Habits of the Heart: Emotions, Embodiment, and Strong, Individual Commitment in Ancient Radical Religion (RADHEART)
- The project will examine the breadth and depth of commitment in radical religion in a more fundamental way to understand its persistence.
- Funded by ERC Consolidator Grant in the period 2025–2030
- For more information, see the project homepage.
Other Projects
Trond Mohn Stiftelse (TMS)
Trond Mohn Foundation gives grants towards research and research supporting activities at the University of Bergen (UiB) and Haukeland University Hospital (HUS) , and other Norwegian research institutions who cooperate with institutions in Bergen. The foundation also gives grants to support translational research at UiB and HUS.
Projects funded by TMS:
Eirik Hovden | How does Islamic law change? | Starting Grant
- Project Manager: Postdoctoral fellow Eirik Hovden
- Project title: How does Islamic law Change? Canonization and Codification of Islamic Legal Texts (CanCode)
- The project will study processes of change in islamic legal texts by starting with two terms, or concepts: "Canonization" and "Codification".
- Project period: 2020–2024
- See project page
The TMS Starting Grant is the foundation's "flagship", a recruitment program that has helped recruit outstanding researchers from around the world to the University of Bergen since 2005.
Completed projects
Here is a selection of completed projects led by researchers at AHKR.
Tomas Glomb | ASCNET | European fellowship
- Project Manager: Postdoctoral fellow in History of Religion, Tomas Glomb
- Prosject title: ASCNET – Favorable Conditions of the Spread of the Cult of Asclepius across the Transportation Network of the Roman Mediterranean: A Quantitative Evaluation
- The main research question of the ASCNET project is how the Roman army and infectious diseases such as the Antonine or Cyprian plague could have contributed to the popularity of the cult of Asclepius.
- Supervisor: Professor of History, Eivind Heldaas Seland
- Project period: 2021–2023
- See project page
European Fellowships are open to researchers moving within Europe, as well as those coming in from other parts of the world. Last between two and three years.
Francesca Mazzilli | RENE | European fellowship
- Project Manager: Postdoctoral fellow in Archaeology, Francesca Mazzilli
- Project title: RENE – Regional Religious Networks in the Roman Empire
- RENE investigates the diffusion of religious traditions and architectural style in rural and urban cult sites in relation to the regional mobility of elite and interactions between rural and urban communities in the Hauran and in Lusitania through social network analysis and spatial analysis.
- Supervisor: Professor of History, Eivind Heldaas Seland
- Project period: 2020–2022
- See project page
European Fellowships are open to researchers moving within Europe, as well as those coming in from other parts of the world. Last between two and three years.
Marie von der Lippe | School of Opportunities | SAMKUL
- Project Manager: Marie von der Lippe
- Project title: School of Opportunities. Democratic understanding and prevention of group-based prejudices
- In order to develop the school as an opportunity arena for democratic understanding and prevention of group-based hatred and prejudices, this project aims to provide new knowledge about the common mechanisms behind the different prejudices in schools today and how these have been addressed in earlier times.
- Project period: 2018–2021
- See project page
The Programme for Cultural Conditions Underlying Social Change (SAMKUL) provides funding for research on cultural prerequisites for societal development and societal challenges. The programme’s objective is to expand the knowledge base and better equip society to address major societal challenges.
Sofie Laurine Albris | ARCNAMES | European fellowship
- Project Manager: Postdoctoral fellow in Archaeology, Sofie Laurine Albris
- Project title: ARCNAMES – Individuals, social identities and archetypes – the oldest Scandinavian personal names in an archaeological light
- The project sets out to investigate the oldest Scandinavian personal names from an archaeological perspective.
- Supervisor: Professor of Archaeology, Randi Barndon
- Project period: 2019–2021
- See project page
European Fellowships are open to researchers moving within Europe, as well as those coming in from other parts of the world. Last between two and three years.
Kyrre Kverndokk | The future is now | Researcher Project
- Project Manager: Professor in Cultural Studies, Kyrre Kverndokk
- Project title: The Future is Now: Temporality and Exemplarity in Climate Change Discourses
- This project will examine understandings of multiple temporalities in climate change discourses within vernacular culture, media culture and climate research.
- Project period: 2017–2021
- See project page
The KLIMAFORSK programme provides funding for research on societal transformation in response to climate change. Research activities are to enhance basic understanding of natural variability and human influence on the climate system, the impacts of climate change on nature and society, climate change adaptation, and instruments and measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Marianne Bøe | Religious Law and Everyday Life | FRIHUMASAM
- Project Manager: Marianne Bøe
- Project title: Religious Law and Everyday Life: Shifting Practices of Mahr (Islamic Dower) in Legal Pluralistic Norway
- This research project examines what kind of religious and legal developments are taking place in contemporary Norway.
- Project period: 2015–2020
- See project page
Researcher Project for Young Talents is intended to give talented young researchers under the age of 40 in all disciplines and research areas the opportunity to pursue their own research ideas and lead a research project. This call is targeted towards researchers in the early stages of their careers, 2–7 years after defence of an approved doctorate, who have demonstrated the potential to conduct research of high scientific quality.
István Keul | Dwelling and Crossing | SAMKUL
- Project Manager: István Keul
- Project title: Dwelling and Crossing: The socio-cultural dynamics of religious spaces in Mumbai
- The project studies the significance of religion in the daily life of India’s global metropolis Mumbai, a city with a number of religious spaces shared by different religions.
- Project period: 2014–2018
- Se mer på prosjektsiden
The Programme for Cultural Conditions Underlying Social Change (SAMKUL) provides funding for research on cultural prerequisites for societal development and societal challenges. The programme’s objective is to expand the knowledge base and better equip society to address major societal challenges.
Eivind Heldaas Seland | NeRoNe | SAMKUL
- Project Manager: Eivind Heldaas Seland
- Project title: Networks in the Roman Near East
- The project investigates the resilient everyday ties, such as trade, religion and power, connecting people within and across fluctuating imperial borders in the Near East in the Roman Period.
- Project period: 2013–2016
- See project page
The Programme for Cultural Conditions Underlying Social Change (SAMKUL) provides funding for research on cultural prerequisites for societal development and societal challenges. The programme’s objective is to expand the knowledge base and better equip society to address major societal challenges.
Other research
In addition to externally funded projects led by researchers at the department, the researchers participate in a number of other research projects. The projects vary in size, some are linked to the individual researcher, others are part of a larger consortium, nationally or internationally.