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New research on societal security to focus on global trends

News A green Nordic region Societal security
Nordic societal security in light of the emerging global and regional trends is the title of the call for proposals which drew 28 proposals. The plan is to fund up to four projects from a total budget of NOK 44 million.
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Societal security is a hot topic in the Nordic countries, and during its annual summit meeting in October the Nordic Council adopted a societal security strategy. That is one reason NordForsk is strengthening research on societal security, with an overall budget of roughly NOK 160 million for activities in this area.

NordForsk Senior Adviser Lone Jessen, who is responsible for the Nordic Societal Security Programme, says: “We received a sizeable number of proposals under our recent call, and these are now being evaluated by experts in the field. We expect the final decision on the projects to be granted funding to be taken in the spring of 2020.”

The Nordic Societal Security Programme is a collaboration between the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNÍS), the Academy of Finland, the Ministry of the Interior in Finland, the Danish Emergency Management Agency, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom and NordForsk.

The focus of the research projects
The focus of the call for proposals is on global trends in societal security, and research projects must incorporate at least one of the following three areas:

  • The relationship between climate change and efforts to reduce vulnerabilities and build capacities for societal security in the Nordic region.
  • The ramifications of technological advancements in society and the benefits and challenges this entails for the transboundary working field of societal security.
  • Consequences for national and international governance of societal security in relation to the future needs of the Nordic nations.

Background for the programme
The Nordic Societal Security Programme was launched by NordForsk in 2013 and receives support from all the Nordic countries as well as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. There are nine ongoing research projects dealing with topics ranging from cyberattacks to terrorism and natural disasters.

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