Scholarships

NOK 15,000 Grant: University of Agder Master’s Scholarship 2027

Faseeh Sultan

July 7, 2026
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NOK 15,000 Grant: University of Agder Master’s Scholarship 2027 — Apply by 1 October

Norway is not a country that tends to appear on most scholarship lists for international students — and that makes this one worth knowing about. The University of Agder (UiA) in Kristiansand is quietly offering five master’s research grants of NOK 15,000 each to students writing their thesis during the 2026–2027 academic year. The grant is available across all academic disciplines — not just gender studies or social sciences — as long as your research meaningfully engages with themes of equality, diversity, or inclusion.

The application deadline is 1 October 2026, and the process is refreshingly simple: a short written application, a three-page project outline, and proof of your UiA enrollment. No complex portals, no lengthy bureaucracy. If you are already enrolled at UiA and your thesis touches on any dimension of equality, this grant is worth thirty minutes of your time right now.

Detail	Information
University	University of Agder (UiA)
Country	Norway 🇳🇴
Grant Type	Master’s Thesis Research Grant
Grant Amount	NOK 15,000 per recipient (approx. €1,300)
Number of Grants	5 (one reserved for gender & sexual diversity research)
Degree Level	Master’s (thesis-based)
Academic Year	2026–2027
Application Deadline	1 October 2026
Open To	Students enrolled in any master’s programme at UiA
Apply Via	Email: Senterforlikestilling@uia.no
Official Link	UiA Centre for Gender and Equality — Grant

🎓 About the University of Agder and This Opportunity

The University of Agder was established as a university in 2007 and is one of Norway’s younger but steadily growing public universities, with campuses in Kristiansand and Grimstad. It serves around 13,000 students and is particularly well-regarded in technology, engineering, business, and health sciences. Despite its size, UiA has six designated priority research centres and participates in Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes — making it a genuinely research-active institution with international ambitions.

The Centre for Gender and Equality at UiA is a regional expertise centre on equality, diversity, and inclusion. It works closely with public bodies, private sector organisations, and civil society across the Agder region. The Centre awards these master’s research grants every academic year to students who choose to embed equality perspectives into their thesis work — regardless of which department or faculty they belong to.

What makes this grant distinct is its genuinely cross-disciplinary scope. Most research grants tied to equality or diversity are limited to social sciences, law, or humanities. The UiA Centre explicitly invites applications from students in engineering, business, health, technology, education, and any other field — as long as equality functions as a meaningful analytical lens in the research. One of the five grants is specifically reserved for research on gender and sexual diversity, making the competition slightly wider for the remaining four.

🎓 What the Grant Covers — and What It Does Not

This grant is a targeted research support award, not a tuition scholarship or living stipend. It is important to understand what you are receiving so your expectations are accurate.

What the grant includes:

NOK 15,000 in direct financial support (approximately €1,300 / USD 1,200 at current rates — verify the exchange rate at the time of payment)
Payment is split into two phases: half paid when your thesis formally begins with a confirmed supervisor, and half paid upon successful thesis submission
Access to dedicated writing seminars held in 2027, giving you structured academic dialogue, peer feedback, and access to Centre staff
Opportunity to present your completed thesis at a Centre seminar or contribute to their website, building your professional research profile in the equality and diversity space

What the grant does not cover:

Tuition fees or enrollment costs
Accommodation or housing costs in Norway
Travel expenses
Living costs or monthly subsistence
Insurance

For context, living costs in Kristiansand run approximately NOK 10,000–12,000 per month. The grant is not a living wage — it is a meaningful top-up to support your thesis-specific research expenses, such as interview costs, materials, software, or conference attendance.

🎓 Equality Themes — What the Centre Considers

The Centre for Gender and Equality uses a deliberately broad interpretation of equality in assessing applications. Your thesis does not need to be exclusively or even primarily about equality — it simply needs to incorporate equality as a key analytical perspective in the research.

Themes the Centre recognizes include:

Gender — gender roles, gender pay gap, gender representation in leadership, gender in education or healthcare
Ethnicity and race — migration, integration, minority representation, ethnic discrimination
Religion — religious discrimination, intersections of faith with public life or employment
Sexual orientation and gender identity — LGBTQ+ rights, inclusion, healthcare access (the one reserved grant focuses here)
Disability — accessibility, labour market inclusion, educational accommodation
Age — age discrimination, intergenerational workplace dynamics
Pregnancy and parental leave — workplace equity, caregiving responsibilities, maternal/paternal leave policy
Intersectionality — multiple overlapping identities and their combined effects on experience

The Centre can also assist successful grant recipients in identifying relevant academic sources and materials related to their specific equality theme, which is a genuinely useful support for students new to this literature.

Projects focused on the Agder region will be given priority in the selection process. This does not mean your research must be exclusively about Agder, but if your study has a local relevance angle — analyzing a regional employer, a local school system, a Kristiansand municipality policy, or any data from the Agder region — that is a real competitive advantage.

🎓 Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility conditions for this grant are intentionally simple and inclusive:

You must be enrolled in a master’s degree programme at the University of Agder at the time of application
You must be planning to submit your master’s thesis during the 2026–2027 academic year
Your research project must meaningfully integrate equality, diversity, or inclusion as an analytical perspective — equality does not have to be the primary research question
You must be able to attend at least one of two writing seminars offered in 2027
After thesis completion, you must be willing to share your work with the Centre — either through a seminar presentation or a published interview on the Centre’s website
No nationality restriction — international students enrolled at UiA are eligible
No minimum GPA or academic performance threshold is stated — selection is based on project quality and topical relevance

🎓 Who Should Apply / Who Shouldn’t

✅ Strong candidates for this grant:

UiA master’s students in any discipline whose thesis already includes equality, diversity, inclusion, or discrimination as a research lens
Students researching social issues in Norway, Scandinavian workplaces, public sector equality policy, or minority communities in Agder specifically
Researchers working on gender and sexual diversity topics — one grant is explicitly reserved for this focus area
Students who would benefit from structured writing support and access to a professional equality research network during their thesis year

❌ This grant may not suit you if:

You are not currently enrolled in a master’s programme at UiA — this is an internal award, not an open international competition
Your thesis has no credible connection to equality, diversity, or inclusion — a forced or superficial connection is unlikely to score well in peer assessment
You are not planning to submit your thesis in the 2026–2027 academic year
You cannot commit to at least one writing seminar in 2027 and sharing your research with the Centre after completion

🎓 Available Fields of Study — All Disciplines Welcome

Unlike many research grants, this award is open to master’s students across every faculty and department at UiA. The Centre has specifically stated that equality perspectives can connect with and enrich research across all academic disciplines. Here are examples of how different fields might integrate equality into a thesis:

Engineering and Technology — gender diversity in STEM, accessibility in digital systems, inclusive design, disability and technology use, age-inclusive human-computer interaction

Business and Economics — gender pay gap analysis, ethnic diversity in corporate leadership, family-friendly workplace policies, intersectionality in consumer behaviour

Health Sciences — ethnic minority health outcomes, gendered experiences of chronic illness, LGBTQ+ healthcare access, disability and rehabilitation equity

Education — inclusive schooling policies, gender in early childhood education, ethnic minority student outcomes, accessibility in higher education

Law and Political Science — anti-discrimination legislation, intersectional legal theory, immigration law and minority rights

Humanities and Social Sciences — historical gender analysis, religious minority narratives, intersectionality in media representation, migration and cultural identity

If your thesis field is not listed above, apply anyway — the Centre evaluates all disciplines.

🎓 Required Documents

Submit everything directly to Senterforlikestilling@uia.no as a single PDF or a clearly labelled email with attachments:

Short personal application introducing yourself, your master’s programme, your thesis topic, and your motivation for choosing it
Explanation of the equality connection — how your thesis topic is relevant to equality and how you integrate this perspective into your research
Project outline (maximum 3 pages) covering: research question(s), theoretical framework, chosen methodology, and a progress/timeline plan
Confirmation of admission to a master’s programme at UiA — a screenshot from Studentweb is sufficient
Thesis supervisor’s name — this can be submitted later if not yet confirmed at application time

That is the complete list. There is no application fee, no reference letters required, and no publication record needed.

🎓 Step-by-Step Application Process

Confirm your eligibility — you must be currently enrolled in a master’s programme at UiA and planning to submit your thesis in 2026–2027.
Identify your equality angle — review the themes listed above and articulate clearly how equality functions as an analytical lens in your specific thesis. This is the most important part of your application.
Write your personal application — keep it concise and genuine. Introduce yourself, your programme, your thesis topic, and your motivation. The Centre wants to understand why this topic matters to you and to society.
Draft your 3-page project outline — cover your research question, the theory you are drawing on, your methodology, and a realistic project timeline. Quality and clarity matter more than length.
Collect your UiA enrollment confirmation — a screenshot from Studentweb confirming your admission to your master’s programme is sufficient.
Send your complete application by email to Senterforlikestilling@uia.no before 1 October 2026.
If selected — you will receive the first half of the grant (NOK 7,500) once your thesis formally begins with a confirmed supervisor. The remaining NOK 7,500 is paid upon successful thesis submission.
Attend at least one writing seminar in 2027 and plan for a short presentation or interview about your completed research for the Centre’s website.

Practical tip: Mention the Agder region in your project outline if there is any honest, relevant connection to your research area. Even if your main data is national or international, positioning your findings within a regional context — or acknowledging Agder as a case study — can meaningfully strengthen your application in the selection process.

🎓 Important Dates

Event	Date
Grant announced for 2026–2027	June 2026
Application deadline	1 October 2026
Writing seminars	2027 (dates to be confirmed by Centre)
First payment (thesis start)	Upon thesis start with confirmed supervisor
Second payment (completion)	Upon successful thesis submission

Bookmark this page and check back for updates — confirm seminar dates directly with the Centre at Senterforlikestilling@uia.no.

🎓 Why Apply — Why UiA and Norway

Norway consistently ranks among the world’s top countries for quality of life, gender equality, and social inclusion — and that institutional culture is reflected in how this grant operates. The University of Agder sits in Kristiansand, the largest city in southern Norway. It is a compact, student-friendly city close to the coast with a genuine sense of community and some of the cleanest air and most accessible nature in Europe.

What makes this particular grant interesting for a researcher is the support structure. The writing seminars offered in 2027 put you in a room with fellow grant recipients and Centre staff — people actively working on equality research at a professional level. For a master’s student, that kind of network and feedback is genuinely hard to find on your own. This is one of the few master’s research grants in Scandinavia that explicitly includes academic development as part of the award, not just a cash payment.

Beyond the grant itself, UiA participates in Erasmus+ and bilateral exchange agreements with over 200 partner universities worldwide, and its graduates work across Scandinavia, Europe, and internationally in public sector, NGO, and private sector roles. The Agder region has Norway’s highest gender equality research output per capita — meaning the academic community around this grant is substantive, not superficial.

🎓 FAQ

Q: Do I need to be a Norwegian citizen or EU/EEA national to apply for this grant? No. The grant is open to all students currently enrolled in a master’s programme at UiA, regardless of nationality. International students are explicitly eligible.

Q: My thesis is in engineering — can I still apply if I include a gender diversity or accessibility angle? Yes, absolutely. The Centre has specifically stated that equality does not have to be the primary theme — it needs to be a meaningful analytical perspective. A thesis on inclusive design, gender diversity in STEM workplaces, or accessibility in digital infrastructure would all be entirely appropriate.

Q: Can I apply if I have not yet confirmed my thesis supervisor? Yes. Your supervisor’s name can be submitted later. It is not required at the application stage.

Q: Is the NOK 15,000 taxed in Norway? Research grants in Norway may be subject to Norwegian income tax depending on the classification of the award and your tax residency status. Verify the exact tax treatment with UiA’s administration or the Centre directly before budgeting.

Q: What is the one reserved grant for, and do I need to apply separately for it? One of the five grants is specifically reserved for research addressing gender and sexual diversity (LGBTQ+ themes). There is no separate application — all applicants go through the same process, and the selection committee allocates this reserved position based on the most suitable application in that specific theme.

Q: What happens if I apply but my thesis is delayed and I do not submit in 2026–2027? The grant is tied to the 2026–2027 academic year. If your thesis submission shifts to a later year, contact the Centre directly to discuss whether the grant conditions can be adjusted — this is best clarified before accepting the award.

🎓 Official Sources

Grant page (official): UiA Centre for Gender and Equality — Scholarship
Centre homepage: UiA Centre for Gender and Equality
Applications and enquiries: Senterforlikestilling@uia.no
University of Agder main site: uia.no

🎓 Summary Table

Detail	Information
University	University of Agder (UiA), Kristiansand, Norway
Grant Type	Master’s Thesis Research Grant
Amount	NOK 15,000 per recipient (approx. €1,300)
Number of Awards	5 (1 reserved for gender & sexual diversity research)
Degree Level	Master’s (thesis-based)
Academic Year	2026–2027
Fields Eligible	All disciplines — equality perspective required
Open To	All nationalities enrolled in a UiA master’s programme
Application Deadline	1 October 2026
Application Method	Email to Senterforlikestilling@uia.no
Application Fee	None
IELTS Required	No (not required for this grant)
Official Link	UiA Gender Equality Grant