Deadline: 4 April 2017
The Academy of Finland, the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO), the Research Council of Norway, the Swedish Research Council, and NordForsk are issuing this call to strengthen research cooperation by funding joint research projects in the field of education.
The objective of this call is to broadly explore the many and various research questions related to inclusive education with a focus as described below. This is a highly topical theme which calls for approaches from a variety of perspectives and educational science disciplines, and which will facilitate, encourage and require multidisciplinary research. By bringing together excellent scholars and research-oriented practitioners from the participating countries, the joint research projects will stimulate innovative research in transnational cooperation with benefits for policy and practice in the field, and promote international collaboration in the research field of inclusive education.
Research proposals should focus on inclusion in primary and pre-primary education. Pre-primary education (International Standard Classification of Education level 0 [ISCED 0]) is defined as the initial stage of organised instruction, designed primarily to introduce very young children to a school-type environment, that is, to provide a bridge between home and a school-based atmosphere. ISCED level 0 programmes should be centre or school-based, be designed to meet the educational and developmental needs of children of at least three years of age, and have staff that are adequately trained (i.e., qualified) to provide an educational programme for children (OECD, 2002, p. 372).
Funds Available
The total funding requested per proposal must be at least EUR 500 000 and must not exceed EUR 750 000 across all participating partners. The funding available for this transnational call is EUR 2.25 million and the aim is to fund a minimum of three projects, subject to quality.
Project duration
Applicants should apply for funding for 36 months, from 1 January .2018 to 31 December 2020.
Eligibility Criteria
- The scheme is open to researchers based at universities, university colleges, universities of applied sciences and research institutes in collaboration with research-oriented practitioners in educational institutions in The Netherlands and at least two subscribing Nordic countries. Researchers based at institutions located in Finland, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are eligible to apply for funding, irrespective of their nationality. Multiple universities, university colleges, universities of applied sciences and research institutes from one country can participate in the same project.
- Researchers and practitioners based outside Finland, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are invited to participate in the project as co-applicants (irrespective of nationality) at their own expense (see “Eligible costs”).
- Projects must involve collaboration between eligible researchers with adequate expertise to carry out educational research together with research-oriented practitioners within the specified theme (practitioners are part of the consortium, but for administrative reasons are not dealt with as applicants).
- Each research project must consist of three or more national research teams (of which one must be Dutch). These national teams must consist of researchers and research-oriented practitioners in each participating country. Also,
- there must be one Project Leader (main applicant) to oversee the project as a whole, and
- each national team must have an identified researcher as a Team Leader. (Please note that the project leader can also be one of the team leaders.)
- All participating universities, university colleges, universities of applied sciences and research institutes are requested to send a Letter of Commitment stating the contribution in cash or in kind from the institution, which is also to be specified in the budget in the application form (see below). The Letter of Commitment must be signed by a person authorised to take on financial commitments on behalf of the institution for the entire duration of the project.
- Individual researchers and practitioner institutions can only participate in one proposal under this call. However, universities, university colleges, universities of applied sciences and research institutes can be affiliated with more than one application.
- A balanced division of labour and budget among the national teams of relevance to the project plan is recommended.
How to Apply
Interested applicants must apply using NordForsk application portal via given website.
Note: The applicants from The Netherlands must comply with the eligibility procedures set out by NRO. Any queries regarding eligibility funding rules should be directed to NRO. The funding agencies reserve the right to reject applications in which any of the applicants fail to comply with the relevant eligibility criteria.
Eligible Countries: Finland, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden
For more information, please visit NordForsk Call for Proposals.
