Call Deadline: 22.04.2026 13:00 (CEST/Oslo Time)
Available Budget for Nordic partners: up to 65 000 000 NOK
Available Budget for Estonian partners: up to 600 000 EUR
Available Budget for Lithuanian partners: up to 300 000 EUR
Amount of funding that may be sought to Nordic partners in a project: up to 13 MNOK
Amount that may be sought by Estonian partners in a project: up to 150-300 000 EUR
Amount that may be sought by Lithuanian partners in a project: up to 150-250 000 EUR
Background
Nordic and Baltic countries share a strong tradition of state-funded education spanning early childhood education and care to higher education and lifelong learning. Despite these common foundations, international surveys highlight significant differences in performance across the national systems. Comparative research is therefore well-positioned to uncover how similar conditions can yield diverging outcomes in areas such as student achievement, equity, and social mobility.
The urgency of the call “Nordic-Baltic education systems and 21st century challenges” is underscored by growing concerns regarding democratic resilience, societal polarisation, and new forms of exclusion linked to migration, inequality, and digital divides. At the same time, rapid advances in technology are reshaping the ways in which teaching and learning are organised, creating both opportunities and risks. Nordic and Baltic education systems, long recognised for their emphasis on equity and inclusion, are now challenged to adapt while preserving their core values.
Aim of the call and thematic framework
Against this backdrop, NordForsk invites proposals that explore how education can contribute to resilient, equitable, and future-ready societies. Applicants are encouraged to adopt a societal challenge perspective when developing their projects. This call aims to generate new knowledge about Nordic and Baltic educational systems in light of pressing societal challenges. Its objectives are to:
- strengthen the Nordic and Nordic-Baltic position in educational research,
- broaden and deepen research collaborations and networks,
- contribute to the development of knowledge-based policy across the Nordic and/or Baltic countries, and
- ensure wide dissemination of results to decision-makers and stakeholders.
To guide and inspire proposals, the call highlights the following thematic areas:
- democracy, integration, inclusion and/or exclusion in education
- the impact of emerging and/or disruptive technologies in education, including digital tools and artificial intelligence
- organisation of educational systems, teacher education, and/or continuous education, competence development and upskilling for teachers
In addition, proposals are expected to integrate the following cross-cutting priorities:
- Inclusion of early-career researchers: proposals should actively involve early-career researchers in key roles. The proposal should reflect on how the inclusion of the early-career researchers will support their career path.
- Interdisciplinarity: research questions should draw on and integrate expertise from multiple disciplines.
- Societal engagement and impact: research should involve stakeholders throughout the process and generate knowledge relevant to policymakers, practitioners, and other societal actors.
Funding
This call is announced as a collaborative effort between the Independent Research Fund Denmark, the Research Council of Finland, the Research Council of the Faroe Islands, the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís), the Research Council of Norway, the Swedish Research Council, the Estonian Research Council, the Research Council of Lithuania, and NordForsk.
Webinar
We hosted a webinar for researchers interested in the call 11 February 2026.
Contact list
Would you like to connect with other researchers interested in the call? If so, you can join our contact list. Sign up and complete a brief form before 22 March 2026, and you will be added to a list where your information will be shared with other researchers.
Question & Answers
Do you have questions related to the call? Please contact: education-qa@nordforsk.org
Questions and answers will be anonymized and published on this call page. We update the questions & answers section continuously, and you will shortly find a reply to your question below.
Budget
Is co-financing /in-kind contributions required?
NordForsk does not, in this call, request own contribution from the consortia partners. If the consortium contributes with own resources, this should be stated in the online Total budget, Budget per partner and in the justification of resources secion in the application form. The percentage of coverage of cost agreed in the contract with NordForsk will apply for the entire duration of the project and the partners cannot reduce the degree of co-financing/in-kind contributions at a later stage.
Can the overhead (OH) cost be fully covered in the budget application?
The Nordic consortium partners can cover the costs for overhead from the grant. NordForsk does not apply any fixed rate or model for calculating overhead/(indirect costs) for research projects. Overhead (indirect) costs should be determined by the participating institutions according to their rules and models, and applicants are advised to consult their respective institutions for further guidelines. The rate for overhead should be explained under the budget section on the justification of resources. The feasibility of the budget will be assessed. Estonian and Lithuanian partners must consult Annex 1 in the call text regarding overhead/indirect costs.
Can Latvian partners be included (as collaborators but without funding assigned to them)?
Salaries for applicants not affiliated to a research institution in a Nordic country, Estonia or Lithuania cannot be claimed as part of the project costs. Partner institutions from outside the Nordic region and Estonia and Lithuania must fund their own participation in the project; however, travel and accommodation costs may be covered from the project budget, as well as invited participants/guests from the partner countries. This does not apply to institutions based in the Russian Federation and Belarus, they may not participate in projects funded by this call.
The call text states that standard institutional duties (including teaching) are not eligible costs, but what if teaching is specifically included as part of the project (e.g. teaching a specially-designed course), are those eligible wage costs?
Teaching a course is not an eligibible cost. Should your assessment be that the course in question is necessary to conduct the research, you should explain and justify this in your proposal.
Are the salary costs of the project coordinator eligible?
Salaries of researchers corresponding to the person’s activity level in the project are eligible costs. Please consult annex 1 to the call text for overhead/indirect costs rates for Estonian and Lithuanian researchers.
Eligibility requirements
May a researcher participate in multiple applications under this call?
Nordic and Estonian researchers may participate in multiple applications under this call, but a researcher may serve as project leader for only one application. Lithuanian researchers or project leaders (i.e., pagrindinis projekto vykdytojas) may apply for only one proposal under this call. Please consult Annex 1 for eligibility criteria for Estonian and Lithuanian researchers, or contact the concact person from the national research council.
What are the possibilities of having more than one institute from one country involved in the call. For example, if I were to include 2 institutions in Finland, 1 institution in Norway, and one in Lithuania, would that be ok?
If you apply as a Nordic-Baltic research project, your consortium must consist of research-performing organisations from at least two Nordic countries and at least one research-performing organisation from Lithuania or Estonia. In your example, the consortium fulfils the requirement of participation from at least two Nordic countries (Norway and Finland), and it is permissible to include more than one research-performing organisation from the same country (e.g. Finland), provided that the consortium continues to meet the requirement of participation from at least two Nordic countries and at least one research-performing organisation from Lithuania or Estonia.
Aim of the call and thematic framework
Are all levels of the education system relevant as subjects for research projects under this call?
This call includes research on Nordic and Nordic-Baltic educational systems spanning from early childhood education and care to higher education and lifelong learning.
In the call, it states: “Interdisciplinarity: Research questions should draw on and integrate expertise from multiple disciplines.” Does it mean that the research team must be multidisciplinary and include researchers from different disciplines, or does it refer to how the research questions are formulated and framed, for example in relation to the overall research problem and relevant prior research?
Research questions should draw on and integrate expertise from multiple disciplines. It is up to the applicants to explain and justify how the proposed research team is qualified to address the proposed research questions. This should be reflected in the proposal and we encourage you to read the assessment criteria carefully as an international expert panel will assess the proposals according to them. We encourage that you reflect on how you address the quality of the research team and the feasibility of the project in your proposal.
Are any of the named thematic areas prioritised?
No, the call highlights thematic areas, but the themes and topics are not listed in prioritised order. They are there to guide and inspire proposals.
Research team
How should applicants think about dividing responsibilities (such as work packages) between countries? Do you prefer more divided responsibilities or consortia with more centered responsibilities within the project leader’s institution?
It is up to the consortium to design and distribute responsiblities and tasks between the partners. We encourage you to carefully read the assessment criteria as your application will be assessed according to them by the international expert panel. In this case, we encourage that the partners reflect on how their application explains and justifies the quality of the research team and the feasibility of the project. According to NordForsk’s Standard Terms and Conditions of Contract, the Project Owner shall provide a consortium agreement between the cooperating partner institutions when entering contract. It is up to the consortium to agree on how the collaboration is regulated in the agreement.
Would you consider it more important for a Project Leader to be experienced in Project Management (with a PhD and subject to all other eligibility criteria) with primary responsibility for coordinating teams from three institutions, or to be a topic expert from one of the institutions?
It is up to the consortium to design and distribute responsiblities and tasks between the partners. We encourage you to carefully read the assessment criteria as your application will be assessed according to them by the international expert panel. In this case, we encourage that the partners reflect on how their application explains and justifies the quality of the research team and the feasibility of the project.
Early-career researcher
Must young researchers (PhD holders) be hired only in a postdoc position, or can they alternatively be hired in a "Researcher" position (shorter than 3 years) in the project? In Norway, according to new rules, a postdoc position must be at least 3 years, but a "Researcher" position can, for example, be 2 years, have the same salary level, and research responsibilities.
Applicants should consult with the national university administration and make sure that they follow national rules and regulations. Please check NordForsk's Standard Terms and Conditions for further guidance on recruitment. You will find the link to NordForsk's Standard Terms and Conditions in the call text.
Can periods of unemployment also be considered as deductable periods of leave when calculation the PhD age?
No, periods of unemployment will not be considered as a deductable when calculating the PhD age. However, in this particular call you are not excluded to participate if you are not an early-career researcher with a PhD age under 7 years. But you will not be included in the group of named researchers who indicate participation of early-career researchers in the project.
Estonian/Lithuanian applicants
I have a question about Estonian and Lithuanian participation in a proposal for this call.
Applicants from Estonia and Lithuania must ensure that their proposal meets the national eligibility criteria of the Estonian Research Council and the Research Council of Lithuania (see Annex 1 of the call text), in addition to the criteria described in this call. They are strongly advised to contact their national contact points early in the proposal preparation process. Contact information for the national contact points can be found in Annex 1.
Webinar
I was unable to attend the NordForsk webinar on 11 February. Is a recording available?
Yes, you can watch a recording of the webinar on this webpage.
Important: Please read the instructions in the application form as well as the call text to access all the necessary information to write your proposal. You can use the preview form function to see the instructions in the application form.
See also: How to apply
