Nordic Centre of Excellence for Security Technologies and Societal Values (NordSTEVA)

NordSTEVA was established in September 2014, and ran until January 2021. As of January 1st 2016 the scientific and administrative coordination of the project was transferred to the partner in Copenhagen, CAST.

NordSTEVA received its funding from NordForsk, which was established by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2005. NordForsk provides funding for Nordic research co-operation as well as advice and input on Nordic research policy development.

NordSTEVA was funded through NordForsk's multidisciplinary Nordic Societal Security research programme, which aims to develop new knowledge about issues that must be addressed to safeguard societal security in the Nordic countries and about how to promote recovery in the wake of a disturbance. Security comprises the ability of a society to sustain vital societal functions and secure populations’ life, health, needs and basic values under extraordinary stresses, known as crises. The programme addresses questions of vulnerabilities, resilience and capabilities for crisis management related to prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The research funded by the programme should add value to work already done in the Nordic countries within Societal Security.

The specific objective of NordSTEVA was to advance research, education and training, industrial strategy and public policy in support of a wider and deeper understanding of the security technology/values interface. The Centre drew together and integrate diverse ideas, capabilities and experiences in order to generate new knowledge, approaches, and solutions in support of the enhancement of Nordic Societal Security.

The primary objective of the centre was to organize and carry out problem-based analysis, social science research, technological development and public policy in support of Nordic societal security. To fully achieve this goal, the centre pursued three secondary objectives:

• O1: To create a Nordic hub for research, documentation and technological development in the area of societal security;
   
• O2: To foster the growth of excellence in research on technology and values on a global scale;
   
• O3: To promote long-term education and capacity-building in societal security research and policy at the meeting place of technological innovation and value-based inquiry

Research group 1: Law and Ethics
Law and Ethics addressed some of the moral and legal questions arising in the current security landscape. The interests of the affiliated researchers cover issues such as privacy and data protection, accountability of and public trust in intelligence services and other ethical dimensions of security policies. The groups general design was to study how security technologies and legal and social norms interact with and influence each other by formulating clear and analytically sound philosophical questions and striving to answer them. The method was much like the philosophical method, interpretive and contextual, reviewing text and discourse in the aim of clarifying its premises and consequences.

Research group 2: Digital Matters (ICT)
Digital Matters focused on the construction and influence of the socio-technical assemblages in security environments. The group aimed to address how digital technologies in the security domaine affect society and politics. This implies a multi-disciplinary exploration of technologies like surveillance cameras, biometrics, blockchain, cloud technology and algorithms in concrete settings that relate to societal security in the Nordic countries. The group was theoretically oriented, but also drew on qualitaeve interviews, document analysis and analysis of digital technology, like YouTube algorithms.

Research group 3: Politics of Security
Politics of Security's overall aim was to understand and grasp how the relationship of authority between different societal actors and political systems are reconfigured in and by the use of security technologies. Research questioned both the relations between Nordic political systems and citizens, and the political choices concerning the use of technologies by diverse societal groups. It primarily used constructivist methods, textual analysis and qualitative interviewing.

Research group 4: Risk Governance
Risk Governance focused on the changing landscape of values and technologies in the provision of security, and the related shift of power balances in the Nordic region and abroad. Paying special attention to technologies for risk governance, research investigated questions different forms of governance in relation to societal security and values.  Designed as a survey of existing approaches, the the work adopted qualitative and quantitative methods.

Research group 5: Institutions
Institutions analysed the capacity of new and renewed national institutions address societal security challenges. It also studied how existing security institutions do not become impediments to security and to societal values. The focus was on how institutional design is able to integrate security technologies, and how this can affect the whole of society. It was conducted using empirical data-gathering methods, including inventories of EU activities in early warning, for example, and, case studies using text analysis and interviews. It was also theoretically guided, drawing on more traditional positivist-theories like neofunctionalism as well as those in critical security studies.

RG6: Policing and Resilience
Policing and Resiliance studied Nordic and other policing regimes, prevention, capacity building and other strategies and practices of enhancing individual, organisational and societal resilience at various levels of governance. Methodologies included policy analysis and realistic evaluation.

The NordSTEVA Final Conference took place in Copenhagen on the 28 and 29 November 2019.

The conference dealt with how security technologies sustain, bolster or challenge core Nordic values and political structures.