Arctic research – Climate change and sustainable Arctic communities

Description of the theme

As a result of the Agreement on the research reserve, etc., 2025, DKK 46.5 million has been allocated to DFF with the purpose of strengthening Arctic research. According to the political agreement, the prioritisation can contribute to a sustainable development in the Arctic through a greater understanding of climate change and its impact on biodiversity, ecosystems, cultural heritage as well as living conditions in the Arctic, including a focus on involvement of the local population (including attention on Indigenous Peoples) and capacity building. The overall theme encompasses, among other things, knowledge about the challenges and solutions in regard to physicochemical conditions, climate feedback mechanisms, ecosystems and the living conditions of humans and animals. The effort can also contribute to increased knowledge about social and cultural changes and conditions in the Arctic communities as a result of, among other things, climate change, historical circumstances, etc.

DFF emphasises that the text in the political agreement is broad, and that the call encompasses the possibility for research within and across all main research disciplines.

As a geographical starting point, DFF uses the definition of the Arctic from Arctic Monitoring & Assessment Programme (AMAP), which spans the member countries of the Arctic Council, in which the Danish Realm (Rigsfællesskabet) is represented. Please be aware of section 1.6 in the Arctic Call for Proposals regarding applicants/participants from Russian (and Belarussian) institutions, etc.

DFF emphasises that all applications for this theme must include collaboration between researchers from at least two different research institutions. The research project’s applicant and Co-PI can, for example, be associated with different research institutions in Greenland, the Faroe Islands and/or Denmark. DFF encourages such collaborations, but DFF simultaneously emphasises that research projects without such forms of collaboration are not excluded from applying for this theme and obtaining a grant.

To ensure research capacity building, DFF requires that all applications include at least one PhD student or postdoctoral candidate as specified in the theme-specific requirements below. PhD students and/or postdoctoral scholarships in the research project can, for instance, be fully or partially associated with research institutions in the Arctic.

At the same time, DFF requires that all applications involve general capacity building in the Arctic by means of involvement of the local population and/or Indigenous Peoples as an integrated part of the collaboration on the individual research project, as specified in the theme-specific requirements below.

Involvement and general capacity building can take place in different ways. The research project can, for instance, involve one or more of the local communities that the research is concerned with or has significance for, or one or more of the local communities close to which the research activities are carried out. The involvement can, among other things, be focused on how the research project involves the local population and Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives. A mutual transmission of knowledge can occur by means of the involvement, which will benefit the research project as well as the local community. The research project can be strengthened through the local community’s knowledge of the area, which is the subject of the research, and, at the same time, the knowledge and results of the research project can be shared with the local community. DFF urges that the involvement is initiated as early as possible, e.g. in the development stage of the project, and that the application contains relevant collaboration/support letters.

Furthermore, involvement and general capacity building can also take place through the research project contributing to an increase in the general level of knowledge and competencies in the relevant local community or communities. DFF emphasises the importance of making the knowledge and results of the research project easily available, so that the produced knowledge can benefit and impact the Arctic in general and, specifically, the involved local communities.

For further information and inspiration as well as links to examples of relevant guidelines and documents, DFF refers to an appendix on Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives in Arctic research, which appeared in NordForsk’s call Sustainable Development of the Arctic.

For research projects in Greenland, DFF also refers to Arctic Hub, which serves as a central point of contact for Greenland’s local and international research community. Arctic Hub can, among other things, assist with the creation of networks, arrange contacts and provide feedback on how to bridge between research and local communities.

For research projects in the Faroe Islands, DFF also refers to Granskingarráðið – Research Council Faroe Islands, which serves as a central point of contact for the Faroe Islands’ local and international research community. Granskingarráðið can, among other things, assist in arranging contact to institutions and researchers.

In the appendix to your project description, you must account for how the research project includes general capacity building by means of involvement of the local population and/or Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic, including how it will be ensured that the involvement happens in an inclusive, credible, appropriate, respectful, and ethically acceptable manner. The account will be included in the fund’s overall assessment of your application.

DFF notes that it is your responsibility, as an applicant, to ensure that your research project meets the national and international declarations, rules, guidelines, protocols, or similar, that are applicable in the particular area(s) where the research will take place, and/or where the research has concrete significance. The research project must also meet any research-ethical guidelines at an institutional level, etc. This applies, e.g., to research projects that fully or partially take place in, or has significance for Greenland or the Faroe Islands, where DFF refers to Greenland’s National Research Strategy from 2022 and Arctic Policy of the Faroe Islands from 2024. For research projects that involve Indigenous Peoples, DFF refers to the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as The Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement, known as the EEE protocols.

It is possible to apply for research projects within a budgetary framework of up to DKK 5,000,000 excluding overhead/administration expenses. Within the upper budget limit of DKK 5,000,000 excluding overhead/administration expenses, research projects of various sizes can be applied for and granted.

The following theme-specific requirements apply to your application:

• Your application must include at least one PhD student or postdoctoral candidate. This requirement is intended to support capacity building of research.
• Your application must include collaboration between researchers from at least two different research institutions.
• In the appendix to your project description, you must account for how the research project includes general capacity building by means of involvement of the local population and/or Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic. This requirement is intended to support general capacity building and involvement of the local population and Indigenous Peoples.
• In the appendix to your project description, you must also account for the ways in which your application addresses the call’s theme of strengthening Arctic research, and how your application meets the theme-specific requirements above

Applicant and Co-PI

The project must be lead by an applicant and a named Co-PI. The applicant is main responsible towards the fund in the event of a grant.

As applicant as well as Co-PI you must have obtained a PhD degree (or similar qualifications, e.g. positive assistant professorship evaluation) at the time of the application deadline. Both the applicant’s and the Co-PI’s previous results will be assessed in relation to their career path and in relation to the scientific challenges of the project applied for. If you, as the applicant, are not an associate professor and have not been awarded a positive associate professor assessment (“lektorbedømmelse”), you must account for how the supervision of the project's PhD student and/or postdoctoral candidate will be provided, and how the research student’s scientific association to the project will be ensured.

The applicant and the Co-PI must enter into a relevant and binding collaboration on a joint research project. The distribution of roles between the applicant and the Co-PI in the research project must appear clearly from the application.

Application requirements

The research project must be run by multiple researchers, including both an applicant and a Co-PI. Your application must include at least one PhD student or postdoctoral candidate (see above under “Description of the theme”). This requirement is intended to support research capacity building.

The research project must be characterised as being a coordinated and mutually binding collaboration on a well-defined research question. The research activities must establish synergy among any sub-projects.

The research project must be of a high, international standard and involve international collaboration to a relevant extent. If the research project is embedded in a specific, local context, it is expected that the project argues for the potentially limited internationalisation. In all cases, DFF expects applications to relate to the international state of the art within their area.

Embedded PhD and/or postdoctoral scholarships must be well integrated into the project and fulfil a clear, independent function within the research project. Embedded postdoctoral candidates must have obtained their PhD or achieved equivalent qualifications, e.g., a positive assistant professorship evaluation (”adjunktbedømmelse”), within the last 4 years at the time of the application deadline. Periods of leave must be deducted (see section 5.3.5 in the Arctic Call for Proposals). If a named postdoctoral candidate is a PhD student at the time of application, the application must include a declaration from the student’s supervisor, stating that the student is expected to submit the PhD thesis within 6 months after the application deadline. If the application includes requests for funding for unnamed PhD students and/or unnamed postdoc candidates, the application must include an account of the proposed recruitment process.

There must be a sufficiently balanced relationship between the roles of all listed project participants (scientific/academic staff, technical/administrative staff, and whether funded or not), and the concrete role of the participants must be accounted for and justified