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NORFACE Research Programme “Re-emergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe?” Programme Specification 31 January 2006 2 1. BACKGROUND The NORFACE ERA-NET1 brings together funding agencies in 12 countries, in a five-year European Union-supported effort to build a transnational collaborative framework within which national resources can be pooled to commission and deliver world-class social science on a continental scale. The work plan for NORFACE specifically includes the launching of two joint research programmes, a Pilot Research Programme on a specified theme in 2006, and a large-scale Transnational Research Programme in 2008. The NORFACE Partner Agencies are: Denmark: Danish Social Science Research Council (DSSRC) Estonia: Estonian Science Foundation (EstSF) Finland: Academy of Finland (AKA) Germany: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Iceland: Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNÍS) Ireland: Irish Research Council for the Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS) Netherlands: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Norway: Research Council of Norway (RCN) Portugal: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Slovenia: Slovenian Research Agency Sweden: Swedish Research Council (VR) United Kingdom: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) The NORFACE Research Programme introduces a pathbreaking new approach to European social science research: a transnational programme of collaborative research on a theme of importance to Europe, commissioned and managed by NORFACE. The NORFACE Research Programme will fund up to ten transnational projects, the maximum sum available per project is 500.000 €. The preparation of the Research Programme began with consultations of all Partner Agencies and their networks within research communities on the possible themes of the Programme. The theme proposals were considered by the NORFACE Network Board, the body responsible for high level decision making for the network with participation from each of the Partner Agencies. Based on a decision taken by the NORFACE Network Board on 29th November 2005, the NORFACE network launches the Research Programme on “Reemergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe?” 1 NORFACE stands for: New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe. NORFACE receives core funding under the European Union‟s ERA-NET scheme. ERA-NET is a mechanism introduced in the EU‟s Sixth Framework Programme to support collaborative working among national research agencies and programmes in furtherance of the goal of establishing a European Research Area. For more information see http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.cfm?p=9_eranet 3 2. RATIONALE FOR THE PROGRAMME The NORFACE Research Programme on the Re-emergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe? – a topic open to empirical enquiry rather than assumed – offers excellent scope for collaborations between scholars to investigate new and interesting research questions. With respect to religion and the social sciences, Europe faces a situation where research needs to be conducted in a relatively short period of time in order to catch up to the realities it is experiencing as a continent. It should be pointed out that although research into the role of religion in contemporary Europe has been undervalued for some time, for that very reason future research in this area should prove to be both innovative and exciting. The field is wide open and is likely to attract both established scholars who come to realize a missing dimension in their work as well as younger scholars who see an opportunity to participate in unexplored fields. There is every reason to believe that religion, which was a key theme for the emerging social sciences in the 19th and 20th Centuries, will once again take prominence as Europe faces unprecedented issues of religious pluralism, church-state relations, and cross-national integration. Religion and social science have a long and intertwined history. The three intellectual titans of modern social theory, Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, all made religion central to their inquiries. Of the three, Marx was the most dismissive, relegating religion to the realm of false consciousness, in which workers were blinded by ideology from realizing their true interests. But for Weber and Durkheim, no understanding of society was possible in the absence of an understanding of religion. Some of Weber‟s most important concepts, such as his idea of a vocation, stem directly from his interest in religion and history. Fascinated by the role of the symbolic in social life, Durkheim saw in religion the collective conscience fully at work; although Durkheim himself came from a Jewish background, the school of symbolic anthropology he helped found was shaped by Catholics such as E. Evans-Pritchard, Mary Douglas, and Victor Turner, all of whom drew parallels between the liturgical features of their faith and the role of ritual in reaffirming the social order. Despite these origins, social scientists throughout the last half of the twentieth century increasingly paid less attention to religion. There were at least two major reasons for this. First, social scientists developed general agreement around the so-called secularization thesis: modern society, following Weber, emphasized the relative disenchantment of the world, and as a result, brought with it secular ways of life and thought. Religion, from this point of view, would inevitably become less important as science, rationality, role differentiation, and urbanism became more important. Closely related to the secularization thesis was the powerful idea that social science could be modelled on the natural sciences. Significant numbers of post World War II social scientists concludes that the requirements of objectivity precluded intense examination of a subject as filled with value judgments as religion. Had the secularization thesis proved true, this tendency to avoid religion might have made sense but, over time, significant gaps in the thesis were revealed. After all, the United States, with its commitment to capitalism and economic expansion, underwent a religious revival. However, the US is not exceptional in this regard. While Europe has not experienced the revival of evangelical Christianity, contemporary European developments cannot be understood without an appreciation of religion, including the Polish revolution against Communism, the question of values and what role they will play in the European Union, and the long history of different religions brought to Europe by immigrants and their children. Nevertheless, religion remains a more powerful force than social scientists anticipated in the immediate post World War II world. The recent world events give further momentum to new approaches to the study of religion which should once again assume a prominent place in contemporary social science. 4 3. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME Advantages of a NORFACE effort: The countries represented in NORFACE offer particular advantages for the kind of research agenda suggested below. The network contains countries that have been primarily Protestant (the Nordic countries) as well as those (Portugal and Ireland) with strong Catholic traditions thereby capturing the varieties of Christianity in Europe. Two of the countries (The Netherlands and Germany) have large Protestant and Catholic populations within their borders. NORFACE contains both societies that have retained their established churches as well as those that have disestablished them. There are two countries that were part of the Socialist bloc (Estonia and Slovenia). Some are members in the EU while others (Norway and Iceland) have stayed out. Nearly all of them have experienced some degree of immigration from non-Christian majority societies. Additionally the NORFACE countries have a long history of different patterns of migration between each other. They are, in that sense, representative of the European experience as a whole. The Programme intends to play a major role in capacity building. There are some important research centres on religion located in NORFACE countries. The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has recently supported a major programme on the future of religion in the 21 st century. Mention should also be made of the theological faculties of major European universities that do extensive work in the social science of religion. World-class scholars are associated with all of these groups and initiatives. It is envisaged that established European scholars of religion will participate in the programme. That said, it is anticipated that a new generation of scholars will flock in to the study of religion as it seeks to answer new research questions of contemporary significance to Europe and, indeed, the world. The NORFACE Programme can assist in concentrating the energies of groups of scholars and in providing an innovative framework for new approaches to the study of social science and religion in contemporary Europe. Collaboration between the scholars in these countries will be especially helpful in the area of religion and society because of the interesting prospects it holds for comparative and multidisciplinary research. The Programme also provides an active platform for the exchange and dissemination of the research findings. The Programme hopes to attract both established and younger scholars working together, to encourage new collaborations and to enhance the capacities for European research – developing new theoretical ideas and employing a variety of methodological approaches – in the field. The scientific objectives: The NORFACE Research Programme shall have the following general scientific objectives: To support excellent research in NORFACE partner countries. To promote and support cooperation between researchers from NORFACE partner countries, especially researchers early in their careers. To coordinate scattered capacities funded through the NORFACE Partner Agencies in a chosen field of research. To build on an area where the NORFACE countries working together have an opportunity to contribute to the development of the social sciences globally. To increase the visibility of European social science research on a specified theme. 5 4. RESEARCH THEMES 4.1. Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Religion Scholars of religion have endless debates about the phenomenon itself; because religion involves such a broad category of human existence, any definition that applies in one place may not apply in another, with resulting boundary wars over what is properly religious and what is not. Keeping all this in mind, it is nonetheless possible, especially if the focus is generally on the three monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, to say that religion involves the beliefs and practices of those who are moved by a conviction that there exists a Supreme Being who guides the affairs of human beings based on ethical commandments that have behind them the authority of an omnipotent deity. The social science of religion, it follows, deals with the analysis of those beliefs and practices. An economist who looks at consumer purchasing is not studying religion, but one who focuses on the costs and benefits of church attendance is. A political scientist who studies governance in labour unions is not, but one who focuses on how denominations reach decisions about public policy issues is. All the social sciences have a major role to play in understanding religion. Of course, anthropologists and sociologists have long studied religious beliefs and practices as noted in the rationale for the programme. Sociologists of religion have built upon and extended earlier research into such topics as the social, economic, and ethnic correlations of religious affiliation; the role played by gender in religious behaviour; the relationship between religion and moral conduct, such as voluntarism; and the extent of church attendance. Political scientists have shown that religious affiliation is linked to voting behaviour and, more importantly, religion plays an important role in understanding what people become active in civic life more generally. Above and beyond this work, however, a number of relatively new approaches have begun to flourish that hold particular promise for an understanding of religion in modern societies which can be incorporated into the programme of research. For example Rational choice theory, with its intellectual origins in economics, has led some economists to treat religion as a subject worthy of their discipline‟s assumptions and approaches. Religious faith is frequently viewed as irrational in nature. Can rational choice theory be applied also to the study of this so called irrational or non-rational behaviour? Rational choice theory has addressed questions at both the macro and micro level, often with considerable insight. Why are three of the world‟s major religions – Islam, Judaism, and Christianity – monotheistic? The answer, some have argued, has as much to do with sociology as with theology; belief in one God promoted social unity which in turned helped societies survive against external challenges. Why do conservative religions grow? In a market-driven society, they offer a niche – strong belief – that distinguishes them, so to speak, from other products on the market. Religion may deal with the sacred, rational choice theorists argue, but it is a form of human behaviour not unlike any other form of human behaviour. Relying more on ethnographic methods than statistical data, anthropologists and increasingly sociologists have begun to focus on the Study of lived religion, in terms of how people actually experience it in the course of their everyday lives. The picture painted by students of lived religion of what actually happens in conservative churches is quite different than the assumptions made by proponents of rational choice theory. Rather than attracting a certain type of member with strong views on homosexuality, gender roles and so forth, conservative religion is attractive, not because its teachings are strict but because the promise of being “born again” holds out hope of personal empowerment. It is the therapeutic, not the doctrinal, features of evangelicalism that draw in new members, especially in the mega-churches that deemphasize doctrine and insist on a warm and caring environment. Far from being a strict reaction against the permissiveness associated with the 1960s, conservative churches from the 1960s have many of the features of the counterculture, including small groups, an emphasis on personal recovery, and a widespread culture of nonjudgmentalism. The insights of lived religion, in short, are needed to round out and humanize the conclusions of rational choice theory. Another recent innovation in the study of religion grows out of the Changing dynamics of religious belief. If religion is becoming more important in the public life of Western liberal democracies, its impact on public 6 policy is likely to take new forms that require new subjects of study. For example, the presence of Islam in predominantly Christian countries poses a challenge to public policy. Does it require a rethinking of the question of secular self-understanding in European societies? To what degree is European public life Christian, despite laicization in France or the decline of the Church of England in Great Britain? Does secularism discriminate against religion in general or for example Islam, the history of which does not include support for separation of church and state, in particular? Can the rights of racial and ethnic minorities in Europe be treated adequately without also dealing with the religious rights of those who belong to minority faiths? Political scientists, of course, would have much to offer on the study of religion and public policy. Other areas of academic inquiry are also relevant here. There is, for one thing, a long tradition in the psychology of religion that may provide insights into contemporary social reality. For psychologists concerned with forms of human behaviour that have a social dimension, there are many relevant questions they may seek to answer from their disciplinary perspective. For example, does religious faith correlate with a disposition toward altruism? Do religious convictions reinforce in-group dynamics or reinforce the collective conscience? For all the differences between religions, are all religious believers united by common psychological characteristics? Do human beings have a „religious gene‟? Does religion contribute to what social psychologists identify as a propensity toward justice? As an academic discipline, psychology cannot be ignored and its concerns should also be linked with those of the other social sciences. In addition, the study of education could contribute to an understanding of religion as a social force. For example, does education play an important role in the transmission of beliefs and practices from one generation to the next? The study of education could answer important questions of this kind. Law and history also have important contributions to make to European research in this area. Religion in Europe cannot be understood without examining the influence of established laws on religious practice and belief. In what ways does an established church create patterns of discrimination between religions? What not always visible benefits flow to religions that have an establishment in law? European societies tend to be rule-bound and highly regulated in the economic sphere; what are the consequences of these tendencies in the religious sphere? Having experts in religious law, especially comparative religious law, would add significantly to the development of a social science of religion in Europe. The same is true of history. Whatever their current affinities with secularization, all the European countries were at one time deeply religious. What is the legacy of these historical traditions even in so-called secular societies? Do different Catholic and Protestant histories have important legacies today? In what ways did the development of modern science or the emergence of liberalism influence religion differently in different countries? Historians can ask and answer questions like these in ways that can make a significant contribution to social science research. It is apparent that many different disciplines across the social sciences can contribute both separately and together to a Programme of research on Religion as a Social Force in Europe. 4.2. The European Context All these approaches offer considerable promise in challenging old assumptions which may be incorrect and in need of much deeper investigation. Many of the assumptions frequently made about religion in Europe may now be incorrect and in need of much deeper investigation. We need to know a considerable amount more about whether European societies are quite as secular as it is often assumed. Statistics about church attendance may not offer the correct answer to this question for people may be alienated from the church without necessarily being alienated from religion. In addition, people tend to be selective in the way they interact with religious institutions; they may not go to church on Sunday, but they still marry in churches and are buried in them. Finally, the growing presence of non-Christians in Europe suggests that European Christians frequently do not understand how Christian they are; they do not notice that school holidays have a religious basis or that the state continues to fund religious education, phenomena that non-Christians are more likely to notice. 7 A comparative perspective is vital to the study of religion, especially in Europe, where there are so many different varieties of religious expression on the continent. Europe has some societies that are overwhelmingly Protestant, some overwhelmingly Catholic, and some a combination of both. In addition, the presence of Jews and Muslims varies from one country to another while the UK also has significant numbers of Hindus and Sikhs. Europe, in short, is not only religiously diverse; it is diverse in its approach to religion. It constitutes a veritable social laboratory of comparative questions for social science research. That laboratory can be very helpful in looking beyond official statements from religious and political authorities to obtain a more nuanced sense of what is happening “on the ground.” To take one important example, many official religious organizations insist on the importance of inter-religious tolerance in the face of religious diversity. But such appeals will mean little unless ordinary people themselves are tolerant of people whose faith is different from their own. Are the populations of some European countries more tolerant of Islam than others? Why? These kinds of questions can only be effectively addressed by examining real people in the context of real life. A further issue is the role that religion may play in furthering divisions by social class in contemporary European society. Given, for example, the fact that so many immigrants to Europe come from Islamic backgrounds, one must ask whether their religion helps them to organize themselves in solidarisitic fashion to achieve higher levels of social mobility or stands in the way of integration into European society and in that sense contributes to continued stratification? There is an emerging literature on entrepreneurialism among recent immigrants to Europe, and one of the conclusions that emerge from this research is that there is less immigrant entrepreneurialism in Europe than in the United States. Since immigrants to both Europe and the U. S. generally come from countries with the same religious background, this suggests that religion per se is not a factor in determining immigrant success, but far more research needs to be conducted to explore this issue. European social science has been excellent dealing with matters of class and stratification but this research has not engaged with religion. The latter subject needs to be brought into correspondence with the former. The Programme will play an important role in the analysis of existing data infrastructures for research on religion in its many forms. Part of the problem facing European scholars is that data sources tend to be weak or in some cases non-existent. The British census (www.statistics.gov.uk) for example, did not start asking about religion until 2001 and the French census (INEED) is prohibited by law from doing so, which means that there exists data on religious observance in France, but that it is impossible to correlate this data with specific religions. Only recently have European scholars begun to cross-tabulate data about religion with data about income and economic activity. For this kind of work to continue, far more data will have to be analysed. Survey data is more plentiful than census data, but it too is remarkably underutilised. The Eurobarometer poll (http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion) now includes information about religion. The data is often weakened by insufficient sample size, as well as by too many empty cells. There are also major problems of representativeness, since telephone surveys are not a good way to reach immigrants, many of whom are hesitant to talk on the phone in a second language. Nevertheless, there are other important data sets, such as the European Social Survey (www.europeansocialsurvey.org) and the World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org), which do not have these limitations. They could be subject to further analysis. Of course, data collection is not just about quantitative data since census and survey research have their limits. Qualitative methods, from the study of confessional groups to ethnographic observations, are very useful to the study of religion. Such techniques have their drawbacks but the type of data they produce is required to push forward an understanding of religion as a social force in Europe. 4.3. Research Questions for the NORFACE Programme The following cluster of questions is meant to be illustrative of the kinds of research that could promote greater social scientific and public understanding of religion. These questions are not exclusive in any way, applicants are encouraged to put forward other research questions to frame their research. 1. What role has religion played in the shaping of the national identity of European societies and of Europe itself? To what degree and in what ways are the cultures of European society shaped by their religious 8 traditions and values? Does Europe have a „hidden Christianity‟ which lingers in seemingly secular societies? Are there differences between predominantly Catholic and predominantly Protestant societies with respect to the extent of social welfare policies, private charitable giving, and the health of civil society more generally? 2. What are the origins and implications of non-Christian religions in contemporary Europe? Under which conditions will adherents for example to Islam who do not live in Muslim majority societies adopt or adapt European socio-cultural norms and values? Alternatively, will they become even more alienated from European norms and values, and even more insistent on strong versions of Islam? How will other religions react to the Islamic challenge? Will they welcome the presence of Muslims and unite with them against the perceived danger of secularism? Will they join with secularists to turn against Muslims because they are not Christian? Does the existence of an established church make a difference? 3. Is religion in Europe increasingly achieved rather than ascribed? What role does individual choice play in the shaping of religious identity? Do social divisions continue to influence religious beliefs and practices? Is there a considerable amount of religious “switching” as people look for a religion that fulfils their needs or is religion still inherited from parents and grandparents? What implications follow depending on whether religion is chosen by people or chosen for them? Are younger people “more” or “less” religious than their parents? To what degree are they familiar with the religious traditions to which they adhere? Are they likely to marry people of the same faith? What plans do they have for the religion of their children? 4. Do significant differences exist between people who identify themselves as religious and those who do not with respect to voting behaviour, political participation, community involvement, alienation from society, or any one or other important political and sociological variables? What are the views of the religious and non-religious, for example, to attitudes towards immigration? Are defenders of the social and cultural movements of the 1960s now more likely to be xenophobic than traditional defenders of Christianity? Have differences between religious and non-religious people pretty much disappeared? Are religious values more likely to lead people to support or question existing structures of authority? 5. What role will religion play either in facilitating or in hindering the progress of the European Union? Will the fact that different European countries have different religions stand in the way of greater unification? Or will the fact that they generally share Christian values help in that regard? Is there a relationship between a country‟s unwillingness to join a larger European community due to its religious traditions and history? What role will non-Christian countries play in Europe‟s future? For example, is Turkey a challenge to Europe because so many of its citizens are Muslim, while at the same time it represents a model for Europe because of its commitment to secularism in public life? 6. Will there be (or has there been) a religious revival in Europe comparable to the one in the US? Do increasing numbers of Europeans describe themselves as “spiritual” rather than “religious?” What do these terms mean to them? Has there been an increase in unusual or non-traditional religions, such as New Age adherents, Wiccans or Scientologists? Is the fault line between Roman Catholicism and the various Orthodox churches still relevant for Europe? Do societies with different majority religions have varied paths of development and conceptions of citizenship? It is anticipated that these and other research questions will shape an exciting programme of research generating new theoretical ideas and using varied methodological techniques for an understanding of religion as a social force in Europe. 9 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESEARCH PROGRAMME Applications to the NORFACE Research Programme will be processed in two stages. In the first stage, project Outline Proposals are invited with a deadline of 31 March 2006. Eligibility The competition is open to researchers based at recognised universities and research institutions in the NORFACE partner countries2, who have the interest and competence to undertake social science research within the specified theme. (In case of doubt, each partner agency can advise on whether it recognises an institution.) Each application must include researchers based in three or more different NORFACE partner countries. Project team The Principal Investigator will be a senior researcher in charge of running the project. S/he will be the contact point with NORFACE on behalf of all the applicants. Each Co-applicant is responsible for leading project activities at his/her own institution. Co-applicant status is not limited to researchers at any specific career stage. The Principal Investigator and Co-applicants must be based at universities or research institutes in three or more different NORFACE countries. Each project team should strive to include researchers early in their careers, including post-doctoral and PhD students, as participants in the project. NORFACE strives to promote gender equality, and encourages in particular women researchers to apply. The Outline Proposal Each project Outline Proposal must be submitted following precisely the instructions provided. Proposals received after the deadline, or failing to comply with the published requirements, will be rejected. All Outline Proposals must be completed in the English language. The maximum sum available per project is 500.000 €. The maximum project duration is 36 months. The documentation for each Outline Proposal comprises three elements: 2 The NORFACE Programme application form. Only one form per Proposal may be submitted. All Co-Applicants must liaise with the Principal Applicant to ensure that the form includes all relevant information about the project. The form seeks the following information: o The applicants and their contact details o A short, non-technical summary of the project (max. 250 words) o How the project partners will contribute to and manage the project o Plans for including early-career researchers in the project activities o The plans towards gender equality in the Project team o Indicative amounts of funding requested by each applicant. A Word or .rtf formatted document (of max. 1500 words), describing clearly and concisely the following aspects of the research proposal: o What research question does this proposal seek to answer? Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, and United Kingdom, 10 o o o o Why is this research question significant? How will it contribute to the theme of this Call? By what methods and work plans will the research question be tackled? In what ways is the project innovative? What added value will be gained by undertaking this research as a collaborative project with the proposed partners? What are the expected outcomes and impacts of the research project? How will findings be shared with interested parties? A CV for each applicant (each max. 1 page). The Principal Investigator‟s CV may cite a maximum of 5 (five) relevant publications. Each Co-applicant‟s CV may cite a maximum of 3 (three) relevant publications. The Outline Proposal form seeks only indicative funding requests but these should still be as realistic and careful as possible. Applicants invited to submit a Full Proposal will be required to provide fully accurate, detailed and justified costings at that stage. Each Applicant may request funding for personnel costs, travel & subsistence costs, consumables, projectspecific equipment, etc. in accordance with the relevant national research funding rules. Overheads and VAT, which are included in the project‟s total sum, should be calculated according to national funding rules. However, the overheads in the project, including Co-applicants’ budgets, cannot exceed 20%. In case of doubt, applicants should consult their respective partner agencies who can advise on national funding rules and overheads. Evaluation and selection Applications to the NORFACE Research Programme will be processed in two stages. In the first stage, project Outline Proposals are invited with a deadline of 31 March 2006. Eligible and acceptable Outline Proposals will be reviewed by an International Panel, comprising experts nominated by each NORFACE partner. The Panel will recommend to the NORFACE Network Board a shortlist of applicants to be invited to submit Full Proposals. All applicants will receive a decision by mid-June 2006 together with feedback from the Panel. Applicants invited to submit Full Proposals may receive advice aimed at strengthening the proposal. The deadline for Full Proposals will be 30 September 2006. Each Full Proposal will be evaluated by three individual international referees. These evaluations will form the starting point for a joint review carried out by a specially appointed International Panel. The Panel will prepare a consensus review report on each Full Proposal which the applicant will receive as feedback after the final funding decisions. The Network Board will make funding decisions in December 2006 or January 2007. Funded projects should be prepared to start by 1 March 2007. For each funded project, one single award will be made to the Administering Institution. The Administering Institution will be responsible for distributing budgets to partner institutions. The International Panel will evaluate Outline Proposals according to the following criteria: 1. Quality and impact Scientific quality of the proposed project Originality and innovativeness Appropriateness to the call‟s theme and transnational nature Expected outcomes and impacts 2. Participation Range and complementarity of expertise in the project team 11 Scientific merits of the project team Participation of early-career researchers 3. Organisation Feasibility, efficiency and economy of the research plan Adequacy of financial and human resources Coordination of the programme The aim of the NORFACE Programme is to help the research projects develop into a coherent and cohesive structure through active exchange of information and cooperation. This requires programme coordination which will work closely with the projects to facilitate the achievement of its objectives. In this way it is hoped that the projects will reinforce one another and that the programme will generate new kinds of research. A Programme Coordinator will be appointed in due course. The core duties of the Coordinator will include: Promoting contacts between researchers and the exchange of information between the programme projects and the scientific community; Organising of seminars with the goal of promoting collaboration between researchers within the programme as well as initiating collaboration with other researchers; Promoting the attainment of the objectives of the programme. Submission instructions An Outline Proposal must be submitted both electronically by E-mail, and by post as a signed hardcopy. Electronic submission: The Outline Proposal documents (without signatures) must be submitted as attachments to a single E-mail to reach the NORFACE Coordination Office [ [email protected] ] not later than at 16:00 CET on 31 March 2006. AND ALSO Hardcopy submission: A hardcopy of the Outline Proposal, identical in all respects to the emailed proposal, but signed both by the Principal Investigator and by an authorised person on behalf of the administering institution, and stamped with the administering institution‟s stamp, must be despatched no later than 31 March 2006 by courier or registered post addressed to NORFACE RESEARCH PROGRAMME NORFACE Coordination Office Academy of Finland PO Box 99 00501 Helsinki Finland 12 7. SCHEDULE The Projects to the NORFACE Research Programme will be chosen according to the following schedule: 31 January 2006 Announcement of the NORFACE Research Programme and Call for Project Outline Proposals 31 March 2006 Submission deadline for the Project Outline Proposals May 2006 International Panel evaluates the Outline Proposals and makes a recommendation to the NORFACE Network Board 6-7 June 2006 Network Board selects the Outline Proposals invited to submit Full Proposals Mid-June 2006 Feedback on the Outline Proposals to all applicants 30 September 2006 Submission deadline for Full Proposals October 2006 Three individual referees evaluate each Full Proposal November 2006 Specially appointed International Panel conducts a joint review of the Full Proposals Mid-December 2006 Network Board makes the selection of projects to be included in the NORFACE Research Programme December 2006 Feedback on the Full Proposals to all applicants January–February 2007 Negotiations between the Principal Investigators and the NORFACE Coordination Office regarding the funding, reporting, etc. March 2007 The NORFACE Research Programme and the Projects begin 2011 / 2012 Programme evaluation 8. FURTHER INFORMATION If you need additional information please contact the NORFACE Coordination Office or the NORFACE contact person at your national research council. Contact details can be found on the NORFACE website at www.norface.org