New research to strengthen knowledge about the Arctic

The Arctic is undergoing rapid change, and the need for new knowledge about the region’s environment, societies and living conditions is vital. With support from Independent Research Fund Denmark, seven researchers will now have the opportunity to explore key issues and thereby build capacity in the Arctic.

The grants are awarded by Independent Research Fund Denmark from funds in the political agreement behind the research reserve. The funds support research projects addressing current and long-term challenges in the Arctic – including climate, health, culture while including local knowledge.

Find the seven new Arctic research projects here

Minister for Higher Education and Science, Christina Egelund, says about the grants:

Research in the Arctic contributes important knowledge about developments in Arctic communities and many of the challenges we are facing – including climate change and security and geopolitics. That is why I am pleased to see a number of exciting research projects getting started, and that funding for Arctic research has once again been allocated in the Agreement on Research and Innovation 2026–2029.

The committee has emphasised collaboration between researchers from at least two different research institutions and that local populations or Indigenous Peoples in Arctic communities are involved as an integrated part of the research projects. Grants have been awarded to researchers in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Canada and Denmark, and several of the projects include collaboration across grant holders and their Co-PIs (Co-Principal Investigators)

Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen, chair of the thematic committee for Arctic Research – Climate Change and Sustainable Arctic Societies says:

With this instrument, we support new and critical knowledge about the Arctic in collaboration with communities in and around the region. It is important that research in the Arctic is conducted in respectful dialogue with Indigenous Peoples and other local stakeholders in the region, and that the research activities contribute to capacity-building in the Arctic, while also being based on strong academic quality.

Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen also explains that the committee invited two experts to participate in the committee meeting to assist in evaluating the projects in relation to community involvement and capacity-building in Arctic communities.

The committee was composed of researchers from Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark and abroad with research expertise in Arctic studies and the cultural, societal and natural science dimensions addressed by the theme. Prior to establishing the committee, Independent Research Fund Denmark requested the Greenland Research Council, the Faroese Research Council and the Forum for Arctic Research to nominate potential members. All three organisations proposed candidates, who were subsequently appointed to the committee by the Board of Independent Research Fund Denmark.

All grants are subject to change pending the upcoming administrative review.

Facts about the theme ‘Arctic Research’

Independent Research Fund Denmark received a total of 51 applications for this call. Grants were awarded to sevenprojects, resulting in a success rate of 13,7% based on the number of applications.

This theme is one of twelve politically prioritised themes to which the fund will allocate funding in 2025.

Since 2018, Independent Research Fund Denmark has awarded grants under politically prioritised thematic calls, financed through annual political agreements on the allocation of the Danish Research Reserve.

The thematic instruments are open to applications from all scientific disciplines that can contribute relevant knowledge to the theme. Thematic research – as politically prioritised – serves as a supplement to the fund’s free and independent research funding based on researchers’ own curiosity-driven ideas.