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NORFACE Research Programme
“Re-emergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe?”
Programme Specification
31 January 2006
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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:
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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?”
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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:
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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,
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o
o
o
o
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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
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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
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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