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Third project call of Baltic Research programme

The State Education Development Agency in cooperation with the Research Council of Norway and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia are pleased to open the 3rd call for proposals under EEA Financial Mechanism Baltic Research Programme in Latvia.

The main goal of the Baltic Research Programme is to enhance research-based knowledge development in the Baltic States through research cooperation between Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein and the Baltic States. During the programme period, three open calls are announced: one in Estonia one in Lithuania and one in Latvia (2020) respectively.

The Programme will contribute to the reduction of economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and to the strengthening of bilateral relations between the Donor States and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania through financial contributions in the field of research. The programme’s main outcome is enhanced performance of Baltic research internationally. Expected outcome indicators, outputs and output indicators of the programme are available here:

The Baltic Research Programme shall strengthen research cooperation with the aim of stimulating strong and sustainable collaboration, complementarity, capacity and competence-building and provide a step for future collaborative research projects on EU and regional level. An important objective of the Programme is to present regional Baltic added value and strengthen human resources in research through facilitating international relations and involving PhD students and postdoctorates in the projects.

The collaborative research projects between the three Baltic States and the donor countries – Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein – must be concluded before 30 April 2024 with a total budget of €23.5 million.

Proposals for collaborative research projects are invited in five thematic priorities of fundamental and applied sciences.

For the Latvian call in 2020, the research proposals shall comply with at least one of the sub-topics:

1. Public health; e- health

The project in this thematic area should contribute to knowledge about disease prevention and patient-centered health care system.

• Sub – topic 1.1. Population based studies on health behaviours (alcohol and drug use and addiction; physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and diet; and mental health) and implications for disease prevention;
• Sub – topic 1.2. E-health and integrated care;
• Sub – topic 1.3. Cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention, their personalized and patient-centered care.

2. Migration; social inclusion

The project in this thematic area should contribute to exploring migration processes and tackling challenges that arise from migration, as well as studying other challenges and topics related to social inclusion and equality. Proposals on migration are encouraged to not only explore and identify solutions for challenges which arise from immigration, but also challenges around emigration such as brain drain and depopulation.

Proposals should aim to deliver policy impact via policy recommendations and other pathways.

• Sub-topic 2.1.The study of social inclusion involves identifying patterns and trends of social inequality in a broad perspective, e.g. economic inequality, inequality of education, inequalities between geographic areas or minority and majority groups, as well as exploring causes and consequences of these patterns;
• Sub-topic 2.2. Research proposals can investigate third country nationals [1] migration into EEA/EFTA countries, as well as inter-EEA/EFTA migration;
• Sub- topic 2.3.Migration between the Baltic countries and Scandinavia is an area of special interest.

3. Cyber security; public security

The project in this thematic area should contribute towards research challenges surrounding resilient public and private infrastructure (especially critical infrastructure) and overall safety of digital life in EEA/EFTA countries especially for protecting people against malicious cyber activities.

• Sub – topics 3.1. Proposals on cybersecurity should explore questions surrounding data protection and safety of online activity for public and private institutions and society in general;
• Sub – topics 3.2. Proposals in public security should be focused towards research to optimize the functionality of different emergency services and the criminal justice system.

4. Regional economic development; employment, labour market regulations and social policy

The project in this thematic area should contribute to meet challenges in the context of urbanisation, emigration and ageing society, the economically lagging regions experience decline of their populations, low productivity growth and a strain on their social services. The use of advanced quantitative methods using a wide range of available datasets (e.g. big data) is encouraged.

• Sub – topic 4.1. The challenges of societal and economic transformations in regions in the context of declining and ageing population and low productivity growth;
• Sub – topic 4.2.  Solutions for the provision of the availability of quality social services, scenarios of viable and fair labour market policy;
• Sub – topic 4.3. Solutions for increasing the prosperity of regions, comparatively examining social policies, labour market policies and their effects on individuals and households.

5. Innovative solutions for efficient and sustainable use of resources

Research in this thematic area should contribute to issues how to tackle global issues of energy efficiency, decarbonisation and more responsible use of resources. Research proposals should focus on materials, technologies, digital solutions and socioeconomic aspects in at least one of the following sub – topics:

• Sub – topic 5.1. Efficient urban energy systems (buildings, industry, services, transport and mobility).
• Sub – topic 5.2. Renewable energy for local energy systems.
• Sub – topic 5.3. Alternative fuels for transport and heating. 
• Sub – topic 5.4. The development of waste-to-resource (can refer to any kind of waste, e.g. food, materials, water – and technological solutions converting it into a new resource).
• Sub – topic 5.5. Safe and sustainable food systems.
• Sub – topic 5.6. Sustainable management of water and aquatic resources.

Project promoters and project partners from Latvia, Lithuania and/or Estonia and Norway and/or Iceland, and/or Liechtenstein are research organisations, as defined in the EU Framework for State aid for research and development and innovation (2014/C 198/01). Research organisations established in countries outside the Baltic States or Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein (third countries) can participate as additional project partners. Please note that for partners from third countries no costs will be covered from the project budget.

Project promoters from Latvia and project partners from Latvia, if applicable, have to be registered in the national register of scientific institutions – https://sciencelatvia.lv.

Proposals are submitted by the Project promoters electronically to the State Education Development Agency via submission system rsgrants.viaa.gov.lv. The online submission system is available for the Latvian Project promoter as of 19 August 2020. The deadline for submission of proposals is 19 October 2020.

The rules and procedures for submission of proposals are described in the Guide for Applicants available here:

The eligible duration of the projects is 36 months. The projects are planned to be started 1^st quarter of 2021 not before the date on which the State Education Development Agency decides to award the project grant. The date for the final eligibility of expenditure in the projects is 30 April 2024.

Applications with Project promoter and one project partner from two different Baltic States and one Donor State partner may apply for a project minimum grant € 300 000 and maximum grant up to € 800,000 (including overhead costs and VAT).

Applications with Project promoters and project partners from all Baltic States and one Donor State partner may apply for a project minimum grant € 300 000 and maximum grant up to € 1,000,000 (including overhead costs and VAT).

The total amount available in the call is € 7 541 272.

Grants from the Programme may be up to 100% of total eligible project costs, provided all applicable national and EU rules on State aid are complied with. Any remaining costs of the project shall be provided or obtained by the Project promoter and the project partners, according to their respective shares of the project budget.

Eligible costs are personnel costs (the cost of staff assigned to the project), travel and subsistence allowances for staff taking part in the project, subcontracting costs (no more than 15% of total budget project), other costs (consumables), and institutional overhead (flat rate of 25% of total direct eligible costs, excluding direct eligible costs for subcontracting). Costs are eligible if they are justified, necessary and appropriate, and directly related to the project.

Norwegian research institutes may, as an alternative to an institutional overhead flat rate of 25 %, use unit costs set on the basis of hourly rates related to “cost of staff” and “indirect costs”, approved by the Research Council of Norway for each individual research institute. These unit costs can form part of the grant awarded to research institutes from donor programme partners participating in projects falling under Programme Area “Research”, provided that:

• That entity does not claim any further staff costs or indirect costs for its participation in the project;

That any other costs claimed by that entity (e.g. travel costs) follow the general rules on eligibility of expenditure contained in the legal framework of the EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.

The rules and procedures for evaluation of proposals are described in the Guide for Evaluators available here:

Proposals are evaluated by three international independent experts following the consensus report of which the preliminary ranking list is drafted to be submitted to the Programme Committee. The State Education Development Agency will take into account the recommendations of the Programme Committee on which proposals to select for funding and final awarding of grants. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

References (in English):

1. Guidelines of the call for project proposals including selection criteria (also in Latvian) available here.
2. Regulation on the implementation of the EEA Grants 2014-2021 available here.
3. Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No.333 for the implementation of the activity “Baltic Research Program” and the activity “Scholarships” of the program “Research and Education” of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and Norwegian Financial Mechanism for the period 2014-2021 adopted on 2 June 2020 available here.
4. Guidelines for Research Programmes available here.
5. Guidelines for Applicants available here.
6. Guidelines for Evaluators available here.
7. Expected outcome indicators, outputs and output indicators of the programme available here.

The questions and queries concerning the call for the project proposals please send to info@viaa.gov.lv.

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