Since 2004, the NORFACE Network has proven itself as a successful coordinated common action of currently twenty national research funding agencies. NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) has offered unique opportunities for participating funding agencies by developing common research funding instruments, thus creating opportunities for facilitating and building new networks of research collaboration in the social sciences.
Major achievements up until now have been six transnational initiatives: three rounds of the NORFACE Seminar Series in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the pilot research programme “Re-emergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe?” (€ M 5,4) in 2006, the transnational research programme “Migration in Europe - Social, Economic, Cultural and policy Dynamics” (€ M 23) in 2008, the “Welfare State Futures” programme (€ M 18), in 2014, the “Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course” programme (€ M 18) in 2017, the “Transformations to Sustainability” programme (€ M 11,6) in 2018, and more recently the “Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age” (€ M 17,6) of which the call is currently running. These programmes have been in line with the ideas of the European Research Area. By strengthening and promoting co-operation amongst member organisations, NORFACE is contributing to the realisation of the European Research Area in the Social Sciences.
NORFACE launched the Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course: structures and processes (acronym: DIAL) to contribute to the understanding of the existing and rising inequalities that pose fundamental challenges to European societies and economies. The increasing gap between rich and poor, exacerbated by the recent financial and economic crises, has been a key concern. The sources of inequalities in contemporary societies are complex and highly intertwined and they and their consequences can only be understood by comprehensive research activities.
The DIAL programme has three major objectives. First, to advance globally excellent theoretical and methodological research on dynamics of inequality across the life-course which may be multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and comparative, and which builds synergistically on a pan-European basis; second, to motivate and support excellence and capacity building for research on dynamics of inequality across the life-course on a cross-national basis throughout the NORFACE countries; and third, to develop understanding and promote research-based knowledge and insight into dynamics of inequality across the life-course for issues of societal, practical and policy relevance, with theoretical foundations but worked on jointly with relevant users and experts.
The research projects funded within the DIAL programme include researchers from eleven European countries, funded by national research funding agencies of NORFACE. With over € M 18 of funding, thirteen transnational research projects were selected for funding within the programme. The thirteen teams with 52 Principal Investigators from a wide variety of disciplines are undertaking research topics ranging from inequality and its consequences in education, child development, health, populism and LBTQ citizens, to employment and working life.
