Democratic governance in a turbulent age programme NORFACE launched

The NORFACE Network has launched its 6th joint transnational research programme with the topic ‘Democratic governance in a turbulent age’. Deadline for submitting Outline Proposals is February 19, 2019. Researchers from the social sciences are invited to apply for funding on behalf of an international consortium, comprised of researchers from three or more countries that participate in this NORFACE Call for Proposals. NWO participates on behalf of The Netherlands with a budget of € 1.2 million.

There is no maximum to the amount that can be requested per project or per Dutch partner. The total budget from all 21 participating agencies from 19 countries is € 17.6 million. Besides The Netherlands, these countries are Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The duration of a project is up to 36 consecutive months, with a minimum of 24 months. Each research partner may request funding in accordance with the national or regional eligibility rules applicable to them.

Democratic politics and governance in Europe are facing turbulent times. With this major joint transnational research programme, NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) offers a timely investigation of the precise nature of the turbulence, but also how European states can negotiate it and develop strategies to enhance the quality of democratic politics and governance. This programme has three major objectives:

• To develop innovative and excellent research proposals addressing important challenges to democratic governance and politics;
• To produce added value through the development of European cross-national research collaborations exploring the impacts of variations in social, economic, cultural and political contexts on changes in how democracies work;
• To identify promising forms of policy innovation and institutional design and explore the conditions for their application in different jurisdictions. 

Deadline for submitting a full proposal is September 10, 2019.