Dear Colleague Letter: Nordic-U.S. Research Collaboration on Sustainable Development of the Arctic

March 19, 2024

Dear Colleague:

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and NordForsk, the science funding body of the Nordic Council of Ministers, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Research Cooperation. The MOU provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration among U.S., Nordic, and Canadian research communities and sets out the principles by which jointly supported activities might be developed.

NordForsk and NSF are pleased to announce support for interdisciplinary research to bring forward new knowledge on how to ensure sustainable development of the Arctic. This funding opportunity is designed to support interdisciplinary research projects of the highest international quality and potential for societal impact with clear added value from multilateral collaboration. Only interdisciplinary research will be funded that integrates skills from multiple disciplines to contribute new and groundbreaking knowledge for the sustainable development of the Arctic.

When relevant, this opportunity also aims to encourage the engagement of Indigenous perspectives. Indigenous perspectives should be an integrated part of the proposed research, described in the application, and will be evaluated as part of the proposal assessment. Depending on the research and research results, Indigenous perspectives can be integrated into the projects in different ways. This will be up to the researchers to decide, but the expectations, guidance and how this part will be evaluated are described in the call text.

Applicants are encouraged to consider three keywords when developing research ideas into proposals: Security, Natural Resources and/or Societal Changes. Climate change has driven rapid transformations in the Arctic, including significant temperature rise and declining sea ice, which have profound ecological, societal, and geopolitical impacts. International research collaboration, especially that which includes local Indigenous perspectives, can open opportunities for the combination of expertise and experience from diverse research communities that have not collaborated on Arctic research before. Increased and strengthened collaboration between like-minded countries and communities in the Arctic is valuable and will allow researchers to take advantage of infrastructure and human resources across disciplinary and national boundaries. To participate in this multinational collaboration, U.S. researchers would collaborate with Nordic and Canadian researchers and jointly develop a project within the scope of the NordForsk Call. This document provides the specific guidelines for the preparation, submission, review, and award of joint NSF-NordForsk proposals.

The call is two-stage, and the deadline for pre-proposals is 4 June 2024.