How can bioenergy contribute to a more sustainable and secure energy future in the Nordic region? This question brought together experts, researchers, and stakeholders in Copenhagen for a workshop organised by Nordic Energy Research.
Bioenergy plays a key role in ensuring Nordic energy security and in driving the green transition. Within the Bioenergy Value Chain Programme, researchers and practitioners are exploring solutions where waste products from various biomass value chains can strengthen the reliability and availability of green energy. Transparency in areas such as the origin of CO₂ sources and responsible land use is also crucial to build public trust in bioenergy solutions.
The Nordic countries have much to gain from collaboration. Their strengths complement each other — in biomass resources, energy efficiency, circular use of materials, and industrial know-how. By joining forces, the region can develop stronger, more sustainable energy systems.
The workshop addressed both the opportunities and challenges of turning biomass into energy, with perspectives ranging from farming, forestry, and biodiversity to biogas production, biofuel refining, and carbon capture. Participants also had the opportunity to network and discuss future collaboration and funding possibilities.
The event was moderated by Lise-Lotte Terp, an expert on the Nordic and Arctic regions who specialises in facilitating cross-sectoral dialogue and collaboration.
The 4th Nordic Field Trials Network Conference is planned for January 21-23, 2026, and you can already secure your spot or propose a presentation for the program.
Place: Skejby, Denmark Time: January 21–23, 2026
The program isn’t set yet, and the registration just opened. But the organisers are very positive to another successful event. This will be the fourth field trial conference, and the three first ones have all been really appreciated. The conference is the region’s largest meeting place for field trial professionals and enthusiasts.
The program will start off with a field trip to visit inspiring partners and actors within field trials in Denmark. The two following days will be stuffed with short talks and interactive workshops, focused on all aspects of field trials. There will of course be room for networking among colleagues!
NKJ has an open call for networks in agriculture and food. We want as many nordic researchers as possible to exchange knowledge, therefore we arrange a matchmaking event for you to find new colleagues, to elaborate your scientific project further and to get inspired.
When: December 16 2025, 13.30–16.00 CET Where: Online via Zoom, link will be sent out in advance of the meeting Registration:Application form (Deadline: Dec 11th)
Welcome to join our online matchmaking event, to find out more about how to apply for funds from Nordic Agri Research (NKJ), hear from an ongoing network how they use their collaboration platform, and connect with other researchers who are looking for collaboration opportunities!
You will be inspired by an ongoing research network who will talk about what type of activities they have done, what they have achieved so far and how they have benefitted from collaborating in the Nordic region. NKJ will also inform you about the current open callthat can fund your future networking activities.
AGENDA 13.30 Welcome and presentations 13.50 How to apply for funds from NKJ – tips and tricks 14.10 Inspiration talk from an ongoing Nordic research network Nicolai Fog Hansen, Nordic Field Trial Network 14.30 Networking workshop with Malin von Essen 16.00 Finish
CONTACT
If you have any questions, send an email to
Calling all researcher networks in food and agriculture!
NKJ welcomes applications for funding to boost Nordic collaboration and spark new ideas across disciplines. The call aims to strengthen Nordic cooperation and inspire new, cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Deadline for application: 31 January, 2026 Apply by filling in the application form and sending it to
The aim of the call is to promote Nordic collaboration between researchers from agricultural and food sectors by networking activities including workshops, conferences and seminars. Transdisciplinary networks between researchers and stakeholders are encouraged.
This open call welcomes applicants from all fields of research within food and agriculture!
NKJ will host an onlinematchmaking event on December 16 2025 (information and registration here), where you will be able to connect with other researchers who are looking for collaboration opportunities. This event will also include information on the open call and an opportunity to ask questions.
To have the chance to be granted, the network should include applicants from at least three Nordic countries. Each binary gender must be represented by a minimum of 40% of the participants in the network, and NKJ welcomes applicants and participants of other genders. Young researchers should be included in the network.
Network outputs should be useful for the Nordic community and should include knowledge exchange across national borders through e.g. arranging workshops, seminars/webinars, scientific meetings or open conferences. The funding can be used to bring additional value to ongoing research projects through mentioned activities.
Successful applicants may receive funds from NKJ of up to 300.000 SEK for two years of network activities from April 2026 to March 2028, covering at most 50% of the total budget for the network. The total budget for the call is 2.500.000 SEK.
This call is open for applicants from all fields of research within food and agriculture!
The researcher network TerraNordica emphasises the urgency and opportunity for advancing soil health and agroecology in the Nordic region. It highlights the essential ecosystem services provided by healthy soils, the risks of continued degradation, and regionally adapted actions to support sustainable food systems.
The network has arranged a seminar, which gathered experts, researchers and stakeholders. They emphasized the need for regionally adapted frameworks that include policies and incentives, collaborative monitoring frameworks, and stakeholder engagement to support sustainable soil management.
“By embracing a regionally adapted agroecological approach, Nordic countries can lead the way in building resilient, climate-smart food systems rooted in healthy soils”, the network says in a policy brief, which provides a range of advice that can lead to better soil.
The advices also includes to develop a dynamic online dashboard where current state of soil health can be viewed, establish monitoring systems that reflect local soil types, and to fund interdisciplinary research – among more.
– Based on the discussions during within the TerraNordica network and the seminar we have identified knowledge gaps and future challenges, as well as policy constraints and opportunities for Scandinavian countries. This information is used for composing the policy brief on agroecology and soil health opportunities and challenges for Scandinavian conditions. The members of the network are enthusiastic about the established contacts, and we will continue this cooperation in coming related events, says Jannes Stolte, coordinator of the NKJ co-funded researcher network TerraNordica.
NKJ has a long history. But we also have a future, which starts now. As we’re celebrating our 60th anniversary this year, we’ve asked the youngest generation in our board, in what way NKJ will be of most and best use in the future.
Jónína Sigríður Þorláksdóttir, youth member of the NKJ board. Photo: Private
Jónína Sigríður Þorláksdóttir, Agricultural University of Iceland, is the youth member of the NKJ board. The position has given her insight into, and the possibility to influence, NKJ’s work with interlinking researchers in the different Nordic countries, and to make sure that scientific knowledge is used in policy making.
– An important function that NKJ could develop further is to connect research and practice, she says.
– There we could really have an impact, also when it comes to looking at why it is so difficult to achieve.
Cooperation and synergies
She also emphasizes that NKJ has an important unifying function in the research community. Making sure that the same work isn’t done over and over again in the different countries, finding possible synergies and creating opportunities to benefit from each other’s experiences across national borders saves a lot of energy and time.
– NKJ could also be an important force in making research more transdisciplinary, and in providing a more holistic perspective on the issues. NKJ could look beyond the boundaries between different research fields, see the synergies. For example, when it comes to land use, NKJ could provide a more multifunctional way of looking at it.
– We also need to interest people in agriculture and make them want to engage in the issues – more people are needed in the sector!
Climate change
The climate issue is being discussed intensely, not least in Iceland. The changing climate will bring many new questions for the agricultural sector.
– Not least the degradation of our ecosystems is an issue that will be brought to the fore. As well as how we should connect our different systems, so that we get a circular system instead of, for example, consuming at one end and handling waste after consumption at the other.
Jónína also sees resilience as an important issue for the Nordic countries, and by that she means not for the future but right now.
– We are so extremely dependent on the outside world, so how do we take small steps to ensure that, in the face of increasing conflicts or environmental change, we have sustainable systems?
Knowledge exchange outside the Nordic region
When it comes to external contacts, for example with the EU, she believes that the Nordic countries have a lot of knowledge to share with others.
– Our countries are less suited climate-wise for agriculture, in many places we have harsher conditions, so we also have experiences and knowledge based on that to share.
– NKJ is a very important pathway for this knowledge to reach the global community.
– With NKJ we have a stronger Nordic voice, and a broader and stronger knowledge base!
NKJ turns 60!With such a long experience of Nordic cooperation in the agricultural and food sector, we are now moving forward into the future. But what do we actually bring with us, and where are we heading now?
NKJ was founded in 1965, as a body for financing joint Nordic research projects in the agricultural sector. The money came from the membership fees paid by each country. Today, financing comes from both the member countries and the Nordic Council of Ministers, and the activities have both grown and changed.
Suvi Ryynänen.
– Now we finance cooperation between researchers but have no research projects of our own, says Suvi Ryynänen, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who has been a member of NKJ’s board since 2003.
– The financing of joint Nordic projects had a great significance in the beginning, after the war, when a cross-national research collaboration was to be started. Before the EU, Nordic cooperation was the most important arena for collaboration, says Niels Götke, Head of Division at the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education and member of the NKJ board since 2010.
The cooperation has not been limited to the Nordic region, more neighbors have over time been included in the group. More countries in the nearby area have similar conditions and issues.
– In 2012 we decided to create a new bioeconomy initiative, and at the same time the EU was working on a new bioeconomy strategy. We also brought in the Baltic States in the work, which we had not done before, says Niels Götke.
– For example Estonia is very innovative, and the Nordic and Baltic countries have much to learn from each other, says Suvi Ryynänen.
One of the points of Nordic cooperation is to make the small Nordic countries stronger together. In larger contexts we can raise our issues and give them greater weight if we speak with one voice.
– Being a springboard towards the EU and creating relevance is an important task ahead for NKJ, in order to be able to access funds from the EU’s research programs. We strengthen the Nordic voice and create important platforms, says Siri Anzjøn, who was a member of NKJ’s board between 2002 and 2023, and has worked at the Research Council of Norway.
That the Nordic position in the EU can be strengthened by cooperation, Niels Götke also agrees.
– I believe that the Nordic countries should stand much, much closer together. We have a good opportunity to influence the agendas that exist around agriculture and food. Climate and animal welfare are central themes in the Nordic countries and we could absolutely get greater focus on those issues when it comes to the EU’s framework programs.
– The Nordic countries need to make sure to work clearly politically and utilize the Nordic cooperation for that. Before the next period of the EU’s research programs, one should show that there has long been a well-functioning cooperation on agriculture in the Nordics, he continues.
That NKJ has an important function to fill and that there is much left to do is clear.
– Something that is very important going forward, in my personal opinion, is the nature agreement that the UN came up with. It says that 30% of the areas should remain intact nature. Lack of land and land use I think will only become more and more relevant in the future, says Siri Anzjøn.
Suvi Ryynänen has a background in the food sector and can see that NKJ could have a greater task there than it takes on today.
– It has been quite technical and natural science issues so far. Maybe we need to get to the social side?
– We need to change the food system, it does not work well either for us humans or for the environment as it is now, but how do we bring about change? We know what changes we need to make, but how do we get people on board and really implement it? How to do that we have not worked so much on yet.
Niels Götke believes that the way we use our financing can change and become more relevant.
– I do not think we should stop the financing of research networks, but maybe do it a bit more ad hoc, and tie it more closely to the political discussion.
But what are the needs that NKJ has filled over the years? What makes the cooperation so successful? Siri Anzjøn, at least, has an answer.
– I believe in the way of working that NKJ has; to meet and talk. There is a lot of learning in that. And also that younger people are recruited, says Siri Anzjøn.
– There is a continuity, that you build stone by stone and there is always someone who knows the history and is confident about what the way forward should be – there is almost a mentor function built into the system. It provides a great sense of security.
– You meet so many people through NKJ who know so much and have so much to pass on. You feel that you gain insight into new themes and other ways of both thinking and working, by over time building trust in a group. The culture that NKJ represents, that is Nordic cooperation at its core, she continues.
Did you miss out on the Nordic Conference on Reindeer Husbandry 2025? Don’t worry, here comes the ultimate summary!
The conference was funded by the NKJ secretariat and the reindeer husbandry working group, and organised by NIBIO in Alta, Norway, 12-14 February 2025. The aim was to create an arena for exchange of experience and knowledge between the three Nordic countries Norway, Finland and Sweden. Knowledgable speakers and participants made the lectures and discussions valuable.
The report contains both overviews of the status of the reindeer husbandry in the three countries, and a summary of the conference lectures.
Part 1 of the conference included reindeer health and welfare, climate change and cumulative impact. Part 2 was about land use conflicts, herders, pastures and regulation, and climate change and adaptations. In the summary you get the main contents, and the speakers, of each issue.
Join the workshop ”Adapting Winter Wheat for Harsh Winters”, organised by the NKJ network “Fimbulwinter wheat”!
Time: October 28, 2025, 09.00-16.30 EET (UTC+2)
Place: Teams (online). The Teams link will be shared with registered participants after registration deadline (26/10 2025).
The participants will, together with several knowledgable speakers, delve into for example the role of VRN2 in cold adaptation, freezing tolerance, winter wheat from Finland’s perspective, and a lot more.
Keynote speakers:
Dr. Dominique Hirsz (IPK, Germany),
”VRN turning into winter: Exploring the role of VRN2 in cold adaptation”
Dr. Sebastian Michel (Boku, Austria)
“Can we teach machines to select like a plant breeder?”
Additional speakers are part of the research network. Together they will form the two sessions “Understanding the trait of winter hardiness” (morning), and “The role of winter hardiness in breeding, different country perspectives” (afternoon).
Students from the Nordic and Baltic countries gathered at Agriventure in Finland to take part in a hackathon themed around bioeconomy and digitalization. Sparkling creativity, confidence in the future, and joy were mixed, resulting in a winning idea, and several other fully feasible solutions.
The students had been divided into five teams in advance, each receiving a bioeconomic knot to untie. Over the course of a month, they worked on their ”problem” remotely, before meeting up to further develop and refine their solutions at Agriventure. One key requirement was to integrate digitalization into their ideas.
The topics addressed in the hackathon were:
• Biodiversity: The Key to Resilient Agriculture
• Forest Futures: Adapting to Extreme Weather in the Nordic and Baltic Regions
• Sustainable Aquaculture in the Nordic and Baltic Region
The atmosphere at the hackathon was positive, with a strong focus on finding and refining solutions and arriving at an idea that could be realized. Each team had a mentor who helped to question, identify gaps, and support the development of an implementable solution. The solution had to address a real challenge and have a financially sustainable foundation.
The winning team, Charvest, worked on the problem that fish sludge is dumped into the sea. That harms marine ecosystems and is also a costly burden for aquaculture farms. The team came up with the idea of drying the fish sludge using waste heat from data centers, and then selling it as a fertilizer for agriculture. This would benefit and profit everyone, including the seabed!
The prize for the winner includes a trip to get even closer to a practical application of the idea, for example to a testbed or a company relevant to the topic. Congratulations to the winners and good luck with nurturing the idea!
– We wanted to give young people a chance to test their ideas and creative power, but also to move forward with real solutions to real problems. A hackathon was the best way to combine the two, says Jonas Rönnberg, SNS Secretary General.
All five teams came up with solutions to their problem statements that were grounded in reality and possible to develop further. Utilizing all the coffee grounds produced in cafés and restaurants every day and turning them into something valuable for the bioeconomy and environment instead of seeing them as waste feels like real progress. Creating a new food product to increase the use of mussels, which in turn help purify seawater, is also a creative idea that we would benefit from if it became reality.
NKJ and SNS want to thank all participants for your work, creativity, and the time you’ve invested. We hope you move forward with your ideas so that we can eventually see them put into practical use!
The hackathon was organized by the Bioeconomy Program, run by NKJ and SNS, and financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
