NordForsk, in cooperation with ETAG, opened the call for proposals „ Antagonistic threats challenging societal security in the Nordic and Baltic countries“.
The deadline for proposal submission is 12 June 2025 at 13:00 CEST.
The aim of the call is to fund research projects in the societal security field that will contribute to increased knowledge about antagonistic threats and societal security in the Nordic-Baltic region. Antagonistic threats are human initiated and carried out by individuals, groups, organisations or governments and range from hybrid attacks, cyber-attacks, information manipulation, hybrid threats and armed actions from states to gang-related violence, youth violence, organised crime and terrorism.
The research should contribute to supporting societal security and resilience in the region through new knowledge and the formulation of solutions, possible improvements and actionable measures. In addition, the funding should help strengthening Nordic and Nordic-Baltic research in the field and foster a new generation of researchers with experience of Nordic and Nordic-Baltic collaboration. The research could engage in empirical Nordic or Nordic-Baltic country comparisons and could consider age, gender, social class, and when relevant, indigenous perspectives.
Applicants should address one or more of the following aspects in proposals:
- resilience, prevention and meeting internal and/or external antagonistic threats to societal security
- Nordic or Nordic-Baltic models for total defence
- governance, capacities and regulation at multiple levels within societal security
- relationships between aspects of societal/civil security,
- total defence and state security
- trade-offs between personal integrity and security
Applications must be submitted via the NordForsk Application Portal.
See also the full call text.
The consortium of applicants must include partners from research-performing organisations in at least three participating countries or areas, of which at least two are Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland and/or Åland Islands).
If the project owner is based in Estonia or Lithuania, the project must appoint a co-host institution in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden which NordForsk enters into contract with concerning the Nordic part of the project. A contact person must be appointed from the co-host institution and will serve as NordForsk’s administrative contact point. A contact person must be appointed from the co-host institution and will serve as NordForsk’s administrative contact point.
Estonian partner(s) in a successful project will be funded by the Estonian Research Council (ETAG) and Estonian Ministry of the Interior. The maximum requested budget for the Estonian partner(s) participating in one project, if all Estonian partners participate as regular partners, is 150 000 euros per project. If the Project Leader (Owner) is from an Estonian research organisation, the requested budget for the Estonian sub-project may be up to 300 000 euros. If several Estonian partners participate in a project coordinated by an Estonian research organisation, the maximum requested budget of all Estonian partners in the project is still 300 000 euros.
Eligibility criteria for Estonian partners: https://etag.ee/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Vastavusnouded-Eesti-taotlejatele-partnerluste-rahvusvahelistel-uhiskonkurssidel-osalemiseks.pdf
On 21 March at 14-15:30, ETAG will host a webinar to introduce the open NordForsk calls, where ETAG funds Estonian participants. The webinar will be held in Estonian, with a Q&A session also available in English. Please sign up for webinar by 19 March HERE.
NordForsk administration will host a webinar for researchers regarding the call: https://www.nordforsk.org/events/2025/webinar-call-proposals-antagonistic-threats-challenging-societal-security-nordic-and
Call announcement at NordForsk website: https://www.nordforsk.org/calls/call-proposals-antagonistic-threats-challenging-societal-security-nordic-and-baltic-countries
Call contact at NordForsk: Thomas Jacobsson; thomas.jacobsson@nordforsk.org
Call contact at ETAG: Lauri Teppo, lauri.teppo@etag.ee