RSS Feeds

Email a Friend Printer Friendly

Nordic Centres of Excellence selected

October 31, 2002

Four units have been selected to take part in the first Nordic Centres of Excellence programme. They are

- A Centre of Excellence concerned with studying ecological systems in climate change. Consisting of research teams based at the Universities of Oslo, Helsinki and Lund, the unit is expected to increase our understanding of the impacts of climatic fluctuations upon ecosystems.

- A Centre of Excellence concerned with studying the impacts of climate change upon the biosphere, the region of the Earth's surface occupied by living organisms. The unit involves several teams from Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish universities and research institutes.

- A Centre of Excellence concerned with studying carbon dioxide and methane exchange between the climate system and Nordic ecosystems. Large amounts of organic carbon are stored in Nordic ecosystems, which means they play a key role in containing climate change. The unit consists of research teams from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.

- A Centre of Excellence that specialises in luminescence dating. The Centre will be working to develop luminescence dating methods that can help to improve the accuracy of estimates of sediment age. The unit has two research laboratories, one at the University of Aarhus and one at the Ris'¸ National Laboratory.

Further details on the four units are available
www.aka.fi/eng > Centres of Excellence > Nordic Centres of Excellence Programme)



Aiming for higher quality and greater international visibility for Nordic research

The Nordic Centres of Excellence Programme was initially launched by Nordic Research Councils for the Natural Sciences, the Environment and Engineering and the Nordic Council of Ministers with a view to raising the quality standards of Nordic research and increasing its international visibility. The Programme is due to run from 2003 through to 2007, with annual funding amounting to around DKK 10 million, or EUR 1.35 million. In addition, NorFA allocates NOK 1.7 million per year (approx. EUR 230,000) to fund two graduate schools within the framework of the programme. The purpose of this new initiative is to connect centres of excellence and graduate schools in order to strengthen the quality of Nordic researcher training through international cooperation.

The Nordic Centres of Excellence Programme is focused on basic natural science in the field of global change, specifically on atmospheric processes, oceanographic processes and ecosystem processes in climate change.

Three of the Centres of Excellence appointed to the programme consist of extensive networks of research groups, one provides Nordic researchers with equipment and infrastructure support. A total of 18 applications were filed by the deadline, with the total amount applied for standing at DKK 280 million (approx. EUR 37.7 million) for the five-year period. The Secretariat of the Nordic Centres of Excellence is based at the Academy of Finland.

Units involved in the Nordic programme will also be in an excellent position to compete for Networks of Excellence funding within the 6th EU Framework Programme. The aim here is to encourage closer cooperation between European centres of excellence.

Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland)