In the newly launched report Arctic Research Impact, the four Nordic Centres of Excellence present the results and effects of their research. For four years, they have worked to create new knowledge about the opportunities and challenges facing the Arctic region.
Director at NordForsk Arne Flåøyen says:
“NordForsk has together with the national research funders in the Nordics financed four large Nordic Centres of Excellence on Arctic research. The number of publications, disseminations and other outcomes are impressive. The report also demonstrates that collaborations across the Nordics create great Nordic added value. And the research contributes to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals”.
Policy influence
Influence on political processes and decisions is an important indicator of impact. Therefore, we ask the projects to report on policy influence, more specifically the amount and what kind of influence.
Arctic research by geography
One of the criteria for Nordic added value in research is ‘regional mobility and networking among the Nordic countries’. A benchmark for assessing whether this succeeds is to look at the geographical location of the projects. The map shows the location and number of participants in the Arctic research programme. The bigger the circle, the more project participants. The programme has had a total of 173 participants. 150 from the Nordic region, the others from Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, Russia, Scotland, the United Kingdom and the USA.
Background for the programme
NordForsk established a NORIA-net in 2012 to assess the potential for added value in a larger-scale joint Nordic research initiative. The NORIA-net Arctic drew up a memorandum that has in turn formed the basis for a joint Nordic research programme, which Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Greenland fund through a common pot.
NordForsk decided in December 2015 to establish four Nordic Centres of Excellence in Arctic research.
Funding
The total programme budget is approximately 116 million NOK, funded by NordForsk, the Swedish Research Council, the Research Council of Norway, Academy of Finland, Danish Ministry for Higher Education and Science, the Icelandic Research Council, and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
