A new study shows that children born with only one artery in their umbilical cord have a slightly increased risk of certain developmental disorders later in life. However, for the vast majority of children, this does not appear to affect development.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an international research communication competition that challenges PhD candidates to present their research in just three minutes, using a single static slide, to a general audience. The competition was originally developed at the University of Queensland in 2008 and has since grown into an international event, with competitions organised by networks such as the Coimbra Group and SANORD. UiB invites PhD candidates from all disciplines to participate in our internal 3MT competition. The winner will represent UiB in the international finals of the Coimbra Group and SANORD.
Publishing at K2
When the UiB Rector visited K2 last week, she asked about our publication strategy. K2’s strategy is quite simple: We publish open access as much as possible, and when we have strong and very interesting data, we try to publish in so called Level 2 journals. These are the top 20% highest-ranked journals within their field, and the list is updated annually by the National Publication Committee (NPU) and HK-dir. In 2024, 18% of K2’s 422 publications were in Level 2 journals. This is also the average for the Faculty of Medicine. For K2, it should be an objective to exceed 20% in Level 2 publications in order to demonstrate the overall quality of our research. Unfortunately, many Level 2 journals are still not fully open access. We can help promote fully open access Level 2 journals by publishing in them and having publication fees covered by UiB’s
Based on the number of publications, levels, and international collaboration, publication points are calculated. Until 2024, these were used to adjust funding for research institutions in Norway. This is no longer done, but the metric may still be a useful indicator to monitor, considering how well we manage under increasingly tight budget constraints. In the health trusts, publication points will continue to influence funding.
For this statistic to be accurate, it is important that affiliations are written correctly in submitted manuscripts from K2. AI tools often mistranslate this. The correct affiliation, where K2 is the employer or has otherwise contributed to participation in a study, is:
Finally, the K2 leadership congratulates Lars Herfindal, Professor of Pharmacology and the new Head of the Centre for Pharmacy, on receiving the prestigious Olav Thon Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching.
The Education Committee announces funding each year for quality development in education. In 2025, NOK 2,100,000 was announced, which academic units could apply for (referred to as “Incentive Funds for the Development of Educational Quality”).
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Friday waffle with Wafflepitch at Eitri: Calum Leitch and Irini Ktoridou-Valen: "Repurposing Medicines for Blood Cancer: ValQ and the Bjørgvin Therapeutics Group."
Friday, January 30, 2026
13:00 14:00
Location: Eitri, Haukelandsbakken 31, 5021 Bergen
We are fortunate to have a publication fund at UiB that covers article processing charges for fully open access journals. Unfortunately, some individuals have exploited this to mass produce weak articles published in open access journals with poor peer review.
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Main supervisors of PhD candidates who defended their thesis in 2025 may receive compensation from Helse Vest if the candidate has either carried out at least 50% of the work at a health enterprise or received funding from there. To be considered, the main supervisor must register the doctoral degree by 26 February 2026.
In 2024, UiB launched an ERC Starting Grant Development Programme. This programme will continue in 2026, and a new round is being initiated for researchers planning to apply for the ERC Starting Grant call in autumn 2026. The programme supports ERC Starting Grant applicants through three phases: concept development, project development, and proposal writing. Two seminars are planned (March and April), as well as a writing seminar in June. K2 will send a list of interested candidates to the faculty by 18 February. Those interested are asked to contact kurt.hanevik@uib.no.
Wednesday, January 21, was a milestone for collaboration within surgical and internal medicine disciplines in the regional study model Vestlandslegen at UiB.
Kristian Smeland Ytre-Hauge has been selected as one of four top researchers in Norway to receive funding to build a world-leading research environment in proton therapy.
In connection with the reorganization of the research fellow spaces on the 8th floor of the Laboratory Building, we currently have a large number of chairs, desks and drawer units left over.
To arrange a pick-up or for more information, please contact:
Ingri Lunde – Ingri.lunde@uib.no
Irene Hjelmaas – Irene.hjelmaas@uib.no
The furniture looks like this:
The University of Bergen is once again present at Arctic Frontiers in Tromsø – an international meeting place that brings together researchers, business, politicians and representatives from local and indigenous populations to discuss developments in the Arctic region. This year's conference includes a foreign policy summit with the foreign ministers of Norway, the EU and Greenland, in addition to a number of scientific sessions and side events.
UiB is one of two universities that is a senior partner in Arctic Frontiers, and will participate in 2026 with several academic presentations, panel discussions and events that demonstrate the breadth of the university's Arctic-related research.
