From September 2011 the NORFACE partnership continued in the shape of the NORFACE-II Support Action. The NORFACE-II Support Action aims at further deepening and strengthening the established trans-national co-operation. This new cooperation has been brought about with the aid of the European Union's Seventh Framework Program. The project will last until March 2013.
The new NORFACE work plan (2011-2013) consists of three work packages. The three work packages are:
- Joint Research and Related Activities and Initiatives
- Exploiting Data & Research Infrastructure in the Social Sciences
- Governance and Management of the NORFACE-SA Network, and Output, Dissemination and Impact
Description of work:
The focus in work package 1 is on the planning and development of a new joint research programme on 'Welfare State Futures'. The joint research programme will bring together multinational research teams and thus increase trans-national co-operation and reduce fragmentation in social science research.
NORFACE-SA will also explore opportunities for collaboration with emerging and developing economies (For instance China, India, Russia, Latin America and Africa), with the aim of building substantive links with these countries. A workshop for researchers and science administrators from the Emerging Science Nations will be held, in order to engage in a dialogue on the best ways to collaborate in multidisciplinary and multinational research activities.
Inter-agency cooperation is also an important aspect of this work package. Knowledge and best practices on standards for peer review in the social sciences will be shared among the NORFACE partners. Also, a best practice guide to joint programming will be developed.
Furthermore, NORFACE-SA will develop initiatives to strengthen the research strategic co-operation within Europe and expand the NORFACE co-operation to include potential partners in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe as well as outside Europe. Potential partners will be invited to join NORFACE activities, such as workshops and meetings.
Finally, the NORFACE-SA will engage in preliminary conversations with third party public funding agencies and private foundations for social science research.
Description of work:
So far, little co-ordination between the research councils has been undertaken in the area of research infrastructure in the social sciences. This work package therefore aims to develop co-ordinated strategies and approaches for the future enhancement and exploitation of the social science data and research.
First of all, a data deposition policy will be developed for all NORFACE research activities. This will ensure that data generated as a result of NORFACE activities is available for secondary analysis. Furthermore, through a workshop NORFACE-SA will bring together researchers, stakeholders en policymakers. This in order to discuss recent national and international strategic initiatives with the aim of sharing information, best practices and identifying areas for future collaboration.
All in all, by discussing national and international strategic initiatives, developing mechanisms to exploit data, and by co-ordinating a joint approach, NORFACE can make a contribution to the development of a European data infrastructure for the social sciences. This will ensure that data production, data sharing, and exploitation of administrative data is available to researchers across Europe in an easy and comparable way.
Description of work:
This work package deals with the project management issues. This way we can ensure that good governance and effective management is in place for implementing the joint research funding and related activities. The national funding agencies see the NORFACE-SA as an important platform for sharing thoughts about both national and international research collaboration and research policies, and learning from each other's best practices and experiences.
The NORFACE-SA aims to exchange knowledge with non-academic partners, policy makers and the public at large on the national, European and international level. This will further improve understanding between the scientific world and society as well as foster the dissemination and exploitation of research results.
Furthermore, NORFACE-SA aims to capture the organizational changes which have evolved as a result of Partners' exposure and participation in NORFACE. A review will assess how far best practice has been shared, what organizational learning has taken place and what other tangible and intangible activities and benefits have resulted from participation in the NORFACE Network. In this review, attention will also be paid to the impact of the NORFACE research funding on the research community and users. The knowledge gained from an evaluation and impact assessment will be used in the planning and development of future NORFACE research funding activities.
The NORFACE Pilot Research Programme 'Re-emergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe?' will also be evaluated. The objectives of the evaluation are to identify the achievements of the programme and to assess the added value of the programme when compared to national programme funding. The evaluation will provide input for further work in joint research programme activities both in NORFACE and in other ERA-NETs.