Call for proposals for The Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS)
The Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS) invites proposals for funding covering a series of Nordic exploratory workshops. The aim of the grant is to promote research collaboration and support the development of new research areas and programmes within the humanities and social sciences in Nordic countries.
The budget allocated for the call is approximately MNOK 14 for a period of 2 years (2023-2024). The grant amount is a minimum of NOK 290 000 and a maximum of 430 000 for a period of 2 years.
From 1 January 2022, the NOS-HS Secretariat and the administration of funded projects were transferred from the Academy of Finland to NordForsk. The allocations of NOS-HS are subject to the availability of appropriate funds in the budget for NOS-HS.
Focus of the call
The primary objective of the call is to support the development of new researcher- and curiosity-driven research areas and programmes within the humanities and social sciences in the Nordic countries. The proposed series of workshops must have a strong focus on research and novel research areas and already established and ongoing activities will not be supported. If the network that applies for funding already exists, the proposal must contain novel elements, including breaking new ground and new participants. Funding is not intended to cover plain conferences or postgraduate training courses. There must be strong elements of active discussion and contribution of all participants.
The secondary objective of the call is to encourage the inclusion of junior scholars and actors from outside academia in Nordic social sciences and humanities networks. It is also considered an advantage in the evaluation if a series of workshops aims at preparing ambitious research proposals for Nordic or international research programmes. However, this should not be the only purpose of the workshop series.
Eligibility requirement for grant applications
You must check that you fulfil all the requirements below to be eligible to apply for the grant. Proposals that do not fulfil the eligibility requirements are rejected from further processing.
- The project leader must be employed by the project owner during the grant period.
- The project owner must be a Nordic university or research institute, a Nordic higher education institution, or some other Nordic public organisation. The project owner must commit to administrating the funding. The commitment from the project owner is verified by a letter of commitment, which is a requirement for eligibility.
- The project leader must hold a PhD or professorship and is responsible for applying, using the funding, and reporting.
- The proposal must include at least two partners in addition to the project leader. The co-applicants (project collaborators, principal workshop organisers or applicants with special responsibilities) must hold a PhD or professorship. Each proposal must have partners representing at least three institutions in at least three different Nordic countries. Nordic countries are defined here as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. The maximum number of co-applicants is five. The roles and responsibilities of all applicants should be described in the proposal.
- The proposal and all appendices must be submitted in English.
- Participants invited to the workshops or keynote speakers or other participants with a special role may come from other countries, but the emphasis should be on Nordic institutions.
Scientific review of applications and criteria
All proposals are assessed by review panels composed of prominent researchers. There are two general evaluation panels: one with a broad focus on social sciences, and another with a broad focus on humanities. While the NOS-HS secretariat is located at the NordForsk, the NOS-HS follows the conflict of interest policy of NordForsk. The panels will review proposals and prioritise them in their proposed decision to NOS-HS.
Reflecting on the call objectives, the following criteria are used in the review of proposals:
- Scientific quality
- Nordic added value
- Quality of explorative workshops
- Outcomes of the workshops
Please note that NordForsk may make changes to the call text until six weeks before the deadline. Any such changes will be stated clearly.