In 2006 NORFACE introduced a path-breaking new approach to European social science research: a collaborative transnational programme on a theme of importance to Europe. The NORFACE Research Programme on 'Re-emergence of Religion as a Social Force in Europe?' granted funding to ten transnational projects with the maximum sum available per project set to 500,000 EUR.

The objectives of the programme were:

• to support excellent research in NORFACE partner countries
• to promote and support cooperation between researchers from NORFACE partner countries, especially researchers early in their careers
• to coordinate scattered capacities funded through the NORFACE partner agencies in a chosen field of research
• to build on an area where the NORFACE countries working together have an opportunity to contribute to the development of the social sciences globally
• to increase the visibility of European social science research on a specified theme.

In December 2006, the NORFACE Network Board made the decision to grant funding to ten successful projects. The projects granted funding and their Principal Investigators are:

• Transnational Southern Pentecostal Churches, Networks and Believers in Three Northern Countries: a Potential and Potent Social Force. Professor Andreas Droogers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology (more info)
• The Architecture of Contemporary Religious Transmission. Professor Roger Hewitt, Goldsmiths College, University of London, Centre for Urban and Community Research (more info)
• Gender, Nation and Religious Diversity in Force at European Pilgrimage Sites. Professor Wilhelmina (Willy) Jansen, Institute for Gender Studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Faculty of Social Sciences (more info)
• What are the Impacts of Religious Diversity? Regions in three European Countries Compared. Professor Volkhard Krech, Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Protestant Theology (more info)
• Islam as a Social Force in Europe: Islamic Fashion and the Politics of Presence. Professor Annelies Moors, Universiteit van Amsterdam, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (more info)
• Ethnic Identity and Religious Mobilisation of the European Second Generation: Comparing Muslim Youth in Multicultural Cities. Professor Karen Phalet, European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER), Social Sciences, Utrecht University (more info)
• "Recognizing Christianity": How African Immigrants Redefine the European Religious Heritage. Dr Ramon Sarró, University of Lisbon, Institute of Social Sciences (more info)
• Religious Sources of Solidarity (EURESOURCE). Professor Peer Scheepers, Radboud University Nijmegen, Faculty of Theology, Department of Empirical Theology (more info)
• Religion, Euroskepticism, and the Media. Professor Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam, The Amsterdam School of Communications Research, ASCoR (more info)
• Extending and Enhancing the ISSP 2008 Module on Religion. Dr David Voas, University of Manchester, Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, School of Social Sciences (more info)

The Scientific Coordinator of the Programme is Professor Roger Hewitt from Goldsmiths College, University of London, Centre for Urban and Community Research.