About

This Nordic Centre of Excellence in Welfare Research is a virtual research centre co-ordinated from NOVA in Norway.

The main goal of the centre
Distinguished Nordic researchers aim to investigate and critically discuss whether the Nordic welfare model has the ability to renew itself under changing external conditions (European integration, greater mobility across national borders, globalisation, etc.) and internal conditions (ageing populations, changeable patterns of parenting and partnering, individualisation, etc.).

Ten research strands
The project researchers ask whether the behaviour of the Nordic welfare states corresponds to the idea of a distinct Nordic welfare model, or whether these welfare states in practice are moving away from this idea. Ten thematic groups will highlight this overarching question by analysing trends and trajectories in areas like ageing and the social organisation of care, changes in family, gender and inter-generational relationships, economic security in old age, migration as a challenge for redistributive welfare states, social exclusion and inclusion, e.g. as exemplified by the situation of people with disabilities, new and old forms of governance in the activation of people without work, competitiveness and social equality, drivers of change in the Nordic welfare states, and the impact of such change on the economic and social well-being of citizens in the Nordic countries.

Activities
The key activities and instruments in the centre´s work will be the compilation, coordination and joint analysis of available data in the Nordic countries, steps to stimulate Nordic researchers´ motivation and skills in analysing such data, e.g. survey- and register-based longitudinal data, workshops, seminars and larger research conferences, PhD, post-doc and guest researchers fellowships, doctoral training, extensive international publishing and dissemination, and the preparation of joint applications for research grants, e.g. from the EU framework programmes.

Partners
Ten partner institutions participate in the centre:

• SFI - The Danish National Centre for Social Research, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Agder University, Norway
• Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Oslo, Norway
• Institute of Social Research and Department of Social Work, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Department of Social Work and Health Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
• Oslo University College, Norway
• Centre of Comparative Welfare State Research, Aalborg University, Denmark
• Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Tampere University, Finland
• Turku Centre for Welfare Research, Turku University, Finland
• Research Center for Social Studies (RCSS) at the Social Science Research Institute, the University of Iceland

Associated partner: Estionian Institute of Population Studies, University of Tallinn

Funding
The centre is funded by NordForsk, a Nordic research board operating under the Nordic Council of Ministers for Education and Research. Four national research councils have financed NorForsk´s funding of the Nordic Centres of Excellence in Research: The Academy of Finland, The Swedish Research Council, Rannis - The Icelandic Centre for Research, and The Research Council of Norway.

Contact
The virtual centre is led by Norwegian Social Research - NOVA - and leader is Head of research at NOVA Bjørn Hvinden. Find more contact information

The web site
NOVA maintains this web site. The main objective of the site is to present the researchers and partners of the centre, the ten researchs strands and thematic areas. Another goal is to inform about conferences and other activities concerning the nordic welfare state research of interest to the visitors to the website. In addition to this internet site REASSESS also has an extra net available for the participating partner institutions and researchers.
Web editor: Nina Eriksen