Call for Proposals for Baltic Research Programme in Latvia

Deadline: 19-Oct-20

The State Education Development Agency in cooperation with the Research Council of Norway and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia are pleased to open the 3rd call for proposals under European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism Baltic Research Programme in Latvia.

The main goal of the Baltic Research Programme is to enhance research-based knowledge development in the Baltic States through research cooperation between Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein and the Baltic States. During the programme period, three open calls are announced: one in Estonia one in Lithuania and one in Latvia (2020) respectively.

The Baltic Research Programme shall strengthen research cooperation with the aim of stimulating strong and sustainable collaboration, complementarity, capacity and competence-building and provide a step for future collaborative research projects on EU and regional level. An important objective of the Programme is to present regional Baltic added value and strengthen human resources in research through facilitating international relations and involving PhD students and postdoctorates in the projects.

Areas and Topics

Public health; e- health: The project in this thematic area should contribute to knowledge about disease prevention and patient-centered health care system.
- Population based studies on health behaviours (alcohol and drug use and addiction; physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and diet; and mental health) and implications for disease prevention;
- E-health and integrated care;
- Cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention, their personalized and patient-centered care.
Migration; social inclusion: The project in this thematic area should contribute to exploring migration processes and tackling challenges that arise from migration, as well as studying other challenges and topics related to social inclusion and equality. Proposals on migration are encouraged to not only explore and identify solutions for challenges which arise from immigration, but also challenges around emigration such as brain drain and depopulation. Proposals should aim to deliver policy impact via policy recommendations and other pathways.
- The study of social inclusion involves identifying patterns and trends of social inequality in a broad perspective, e.g. economic inequality, inequality of education, inequalities between geographic areas or minority and majority groups, as well as exploring causes and consequences of these patterns;
- Research proposals can investigate third country nationals [1] migration into EEA/EFTA countries, as well as inter-EEA/EFTA migration;
- Migration between the Baltic countries and Scandinavia is an area of special interest.
Cyber security; public security: The project in this thematic area should contribute towards research challenges surrounding resilient public and private infrastructure (especially critical infrastructure) and overall safety of digital life in EEA/EFTA countries especially for protecting people against malicious cyber activities.
- Proposals on cybersecurity should explore questions surrounding data protection and safety of online activity for public and private institutions and society in general;
- Proposals in public security should be focused towards research to optimize the functionality of different emergency services and the criminal justice system.
Regional economic development; employment, labour market regulations and social policy: The project in this thematic area should contribute to meet challenges in the context of urbanisation, emigration and ageing society, the economically lagging regions experience decline of their populations, low productivity growth and a strain on their social services. The use of advanced quantitative methods using a wide range of available datasets (e.g. big data) is encouraged.
- The challenges of societal and economic transformations in regions in the context of declining and ageing population and low productivity growth;
- Solutions for the provision of the availability of quality social services, scenarios of viable and fair labour market policy;
- Solutions for increasing the prosperity of regions, comparatively examining social policies, labour market policies and their effects on individuals and households.
Innovative solutions for efficient and sustainable use of resources: Research in this thematic area should contribute to issues how to tackle global issues of energy efficiency, decarbonisation and more responsible use of resources. Research proposals should focus on materials, technologies, digital solutions and socioeconomic aspects in at least one of the following sub – topics:
- Efficient urban energy systems (buildings, industry, services, transport and mobility).
- Renewable energy for local energy systems.
- Alternative fuels for transport and heating.
- The development of waste-to-resource (can refer to any kind of waste, e.g. food, materials, water – and technological solutions converting it into a new resource).
- Safe and sustainable food systems.
- Sustainable management of water and aquatic resources.

Funding Information

Overall allocation for the 2020 call: 7 541 272 EUR
Minimum grant amount per project: 300 000 EUR
Maximum grant amount per project (for applications with a partner from either Estonia or Lithuania, and at least one from Donor State partner(s)): 800 000 EUR
Maximum grant amount per project (for applications with partners from both Estonia and Lithuania, and at least one from Donor State partner(s)): 1 000 000 EUR
The eligible duration of the projects is 36 months. The projects are planned to be started 1st quarter of 2021 not before the date on which the State Education Development Agency decides to award the project grant. The date for the final eligibility of expenditure in the projects is 30 April 2024.

Eligibility Criteria

Minimum number of partners
- A mandatory criterion for the projects is the involvement of:
  - at least one project partner from at least one of the Baltic States (Estonia and/or Lithuania);
  - at least one project partner from Norway and/or Iceland and/or Liechtenstein (donor project partner).
  - a main participant of the project is a person who participates in the substantial performance of the project. The main participant of the project shall have at least the master’s degree or the respective qualification.
Eligibility criteria for Project Promoters
- The project promoter should correspond to the status of a research institution registered in the national register of Latvia.
Eligibility criteria for the principal investigator (researcher in charge):
- Must be an experienced senior researcher/ the project manager with doctoral degree of Latvia.
Please note that applicant shall ensure that Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia is followed.