NORFACE New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe

NORFACEis a partnership of national research funding agencies in Europe dedicated to leading and developing opportunities for scientists in the area of social and behavioural sciences.
NORFACE plays an important part in responding to the grand societal challenges by promoting research of the highest quality, sharing best practices among research funders and especially by making international collaboration between social scientists in Europe possible. From challenges brought on by migration and inequality to preparing for the impact of an aging society, researchers in the social sciences in Europe are looking at the behaviour of individuals and groups, and the dynamics of institutions and societies within Europe to understand and address these societal challenges..

Democratic governance in a turbulent age

Party systems have crumbled or been substantially changed and so have citizen attachments to government, political parties and democratic procedures. This sixth NORFACE transnational programme on Democratic governance in a turbulent age offers a timely investigation of the precise nature of this recent turbulence, on how European states can negotiate it and develop strategies to enhance the quality of democratic politics and governance.

Researchers from the social sciences are invited to apply for funding on behalf of an international consortium.

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.