COLLABORATION

The aim of the ROCKWOOL Foundation is to create new, independent knowledge that addresses the challenges facing welfare societies. This is achieved through research and through the development and trialling of innovative new solutions to specific problems in society – solutions that can ultimately be implemented nationwide in Denmark.

One of the great challenges to the welfare society in Denmark is to make it possible for all children and young people to pass into adulthood with an appropriate educational background and with the general skills needed to acquire a firm foothold in the labour market. If this can be achieved, it will help to secure not only the personal wellbeing of individuals but also the financial sustainability of the welfare society itself. However, it is calculated that up to eight percent of any given annual cohort begin their adult lives without a proper education or a stable relationship with the labour market. These young people are vulnerable. The ROCKWOOL Foundation provides support for projects that can increase the knowledge we have about vulnerable young people through an initiative that crosses the boundaries separating its four existing research areas and between its research and intervention activities. The objective of this initiative is to focus on risk behaviour among vulnerable young people. We will examine their time use, and will attempt to determine what factors, in terms of family background and ethnic origins, increase the risk of young people becoming vulnerable.

In this connection, individuals and organisations active in this field are welcome to seek financial support for research or for the development and trialling of new ideas for interventions. However, it is rare for an application to be approved and a project implemented solely on the basis of the original application.

In practice, support from the Foundation nearly always involves discussion of the project and work with personnel from the Foundation’s Interventions Unit or Research Unit after the initial application, with a view to focusing and fine-tuning of the project idea before a donation is made.

Projects and activities that will not be supported by the Foundation

The ROCKWOOL Foundation does not support the following types of projects and activities:

• projects with  party political, church or religious goals
• projects with goals directed towards entertainment, sports or leisure activities, including the activities of sports clubs
• camping trips, and travel in general
• Study visits, stipends, or Masters/PhD degree projects, including periods of study abroad
• the establishment of, or investment in, capital equipment, plant and machinery
• projects and activities that fall outside the Foundation’s research areas
• the publication of books that are not linked to activities organised or supported by the ROCKWOOL Foundation.

Applications for support

The Foundation will only consider applications that are submitted electronically and that are written in Danish or English.

PRACTICAL INTERVENTIONS

In connection with the Foundation’s practical interventions, we are currently seeking proposals for activities with the potential to contribute to the promotion of innovative practical solutions which can reduce the risk of future marginalisation of vulnerable young people, and which can help to revive the social relationships of such young people and thus equip them with greater resistance to problems. All the projects must be targeted towards solving problems encountered in modern welfare societies – primarily in Denmark and its neighbouring countries.

In order to be eligible for support from the ROCKWOOL Foundation, practical interventions, projects and other initiatives must include innovative elements and the trialling of new approaches and methods. Our purpose with these projects is to develop and document best practice and thereby to promote the spread and upscaling of the interventions so that they cover a wider range of target groups and instigators.

Applications that fulfil the requirements described above will be those that:

• focus on marginalised young people, or on vulnerable children and young people who are at elevated risk of becoming marginalised; at present we are especially interested in applications focused on new and innovative solutions to promoting the integration of vulnerable young people of Middle Eastern origin, and on new and innovative initiatives related to providing aftercare for children and young people in care
• implement a practical and innovative solution for ameliorating marginalisation or reducing the risk of marginalisation, or act as a trial for a new but as yet undocumented approach in this focus area
• fulfil our requirements for research and intervention activities.

HOW TO APPLY FOR SUPPORT FOR PRACTICAL INTERVENTIONS

• Download our application form and budget proposal form. Please note that applications must be written in  Danish or English.
• At present, we support projects with a budget of around DKK 500,000 or less, and primarily those run in Denmark or its neighbouring countries.
• Complete the forms, and email them to kontakt@rfintervention.dk to receive further information.
• Remember to write ‘Application for support’ as the subject of the email – otherwise there is a risk that your message will be diverted by our spam filter.

The ROCKWOOL Foundation does not give reasons for the rejection of applications.

RESEARCH

Anyone wishing to collaborate with the ROCKWOOL Foundation on a research project should first make sure that the project falls within one or more of the Foundation’s focus areas. Next, it is important to check fulfilment of our requirements for research activities.

Finally, applicants should understand that the Foundation primarily supports research that is based to a significant degree on quantitative methods.

Potential research partners who believe that their proposed project is relevant for the Foundation are requested to contact Bodil Wullum Nielsen of the ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit at bon@rff.dk for further information.