The past decades have witnessed a significant increase in human migration for a variety of reasons worldwide. Both previous migration and the recent large influx of refugees to Europe have had significant economic, socio-political and cultural impacts on the Nordic region and in other European countries. European societies have been impacted to varying degrees as a result of forced and voluntary migration, but they all share similar opportunities and challenges in terms of integration and settlement, access to labour markets, health services, housing and education to name some examples.
Objectives
NordForsk has issued two calls for migration and integration research, one as a collaborative effort with UKRI (ESRC) and one with national research council in Estonia and Lithuania. The aims of the initiative are to stimulate the knowledge communities in the Nordic countries,the United Kingdom and the Baltics to cooperate in order to enhance opportunities and address challenges of migration and integration and to fund excellent research with impact within and beyond academia.
Research collaboration and knowledge-sharing across borders can create new insights that build upon and further extend knowledge to better equip actors both within and outside of academia to address the challenges of increased migration and to capitalise on the opportunities that this brings.
Background
In 2015 and the beginning of 2016, the Nordic Council of Ministers developed ideas for an initiative on research collaboration on migration and integration. Parallel to this, NordForsk convened a group of researchers to discuss potential Nordic added value for this topic.
In June 2016 the Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned NordForsk to draw up a report on ongoing migration and integration research in the Nordic countries, to identify knowledge gaps and Nordic added value and provide recommendations regarding new initiatives. The report was presented to the NordForsk Board at its meeting in March 2017, and the Board decided to launch a Nordic Research Programme on Integration and Migration in collaboration with national funding partners from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
The Joint Nordic-UK Research initiative on Migration and Integration was established based on the conviction that collaboration between researchers in the Nordic countries and the UK can create outcomes and impact of greater value for the countries involved than could be achieved through national activities alone. Examples of such added value could be building critical mass, networking, sharing data, infrastructures and resources, and enhancing scientific excellence as well as creating impact and contributing to research-based policy making.
As a result of the Joint Nordic-UK Research initiative, NordForsk funded seven research projects of high international quality. The projects have representation from all the funding countries involved in the call and the call was very successful in terms of stimulating collaboration between researchers based in the United Kingdom and the Nordics.
In February 2024 NordForsk launched a new call for migration and integration research in collaboration with national funding partners from Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and Lithuania, as well as NordForsk: Nordic-Baltic initiative for migration and integration research.
Funding
The total budget of the Joint Nordic-UK initiative was approximately NOK 88 million for the period 2018-2023, and funded 7 Nordic or Nordic-UK research projects.
The total budget of the Nordic-Baltic initiative is approximately NOK 64 million for the period 2025-2028 and is expected to fund up to 6 Nordic or Nordic-Baltic research projects.
Committee
Nordic-UK call:
Gunnlaug Daugstad, Head of Department, Research Council of Norway, Norway, Chair
Johan Söderlind, Senior Research Officer, Forte, Sweden
Tor Lunde Larsen, Special advisor, Research Council of Norway
Mary Day, Economic and Social Research Council, Part of UK Research and Innovation, United Kingdom
Helena Vänskä, Senior Science Advisor, Academy of Finland, Finland
Sigrún Ólafsdóttir, Senior Adviser, Icelandic Centre for Research - Rannís, Iceland
Patricia Yocie Hierofani, Senior Research Officer, Swedish Research Council, Sweden
Anna-Maria Mosekilde, Nordic Council of Ministers (Observer)
Nordic-Baltic call:
Gunnlaug Daugstad, Head of Department, Research Council of Norway, Norway, Chair
Johan Söderlind, Senior Research Officer, Forte, Sweden
Tor Lunde Larsen, Special advisor, Research Council of Norway
Katrin Kello, Senior Adviser, Estonian Research Council
Laura Kostelnickiene, International Programme Coordinator, Research Council of Lithuania
Anna-Maria Mosekilde, Nordic Council of Ministers (Observer)
Funding partners
