Breaking new ground in welfare research
The WSF(opens in new window) (Welfare State Futures) project has launched an international research programme on welfare states, taking into consideration a wide range of perspectives and disciplines. The initiative enables and encourages multidisciplinary research and cooperation. It offers unique opportunities for participating funding agencies through the development of common research funding instruments. NORFACE partners have previously launched Seminar Schemes in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and also joint research programmes on religion and migration. This new programme of NORFACE on The Welfare State Futures programme is now coordinating 16 national research funding agencies in social and behavioural sciences. Project actions will help facilitate and build new networks of research collaboration in the social sciences. Initial work centred on preparing the WSF call and development of an electronic tool for its implementation. Following this, project activities included managing the evaluation of and decision making in the Outline Proposal and Full Proposal stages. A total of 47 research teams were invited to submit a Full Proposal, 15 of which the NORFACE partners decided to fund. Overall funding amounts to EUR 19 million, provided by 15 NORFACE partners, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), and the European Commission. The aim of WSF is to encourage innovative thinking on welfare, and its projects will analyse the societal, economic, political and legal contexts in which the welfare state will develop in the future. The particular topics the 15 research project teams will incorporate include health inequalities, globalisation, families, migration, social security rights and citizens' support for the welfare state. WSF promotes research-based knowledge and insight with societal, practical and policy relevance. The programme will advance globally excellent research, promising theoretical, methodological and empirical advances in a wide range of social science disciplines. NORFACE programmes strengthen and promote cooperation amongst member organisations and thus contribute to the European Research Area in the social sciences. WSF is dedicated to fostering theoretical, conceptual and methodological innovation in research on welfare.