NFA's Strategy
More innovative research, greater societal impact, realising digital potential and strengthened organisational robustness. These are the objectives of NFA’s strategy for 2025–2028.
The National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NFA)’s institutional strategy can be summarised as a mission that contributes to address challenges.
NFA contributes to a healthy and safe working environment through research, knowledge dissemination, education and scientific advisory services.
In practical terms, this mission is reflected in a set of intended contributions and impacts that guide NFA’s research. NFA’s research must identify and explore current and future challenges and opportunities within the working environment and contribute to the prevention and management of occupational health and safety challenges through research-informed solutions.
NFA’s research must:
- support the realisation of the national objectives for the working environment.
- contribute to the implementation of the national research strategy for the working environment.
- create societal impact in policy and practice.
- contribute to knowledge on a healthy and safe workforce.
A Strategy with Four Overall Objectives
Objective 1: More Innovative Research
NFA’s research is already of high international quality. This strong position must be maintained. NFA will increase its emphasis on conducting more intervention research, implementation research and economic research within the field of occupational health and safety. In addition, NFA will exploit the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration, both internally and externally, as well as the opportunities presented by new digital technologies.
Objective 2: Greater Societal Impact
NFA shall maintain a strategic focus on research into the factors that advance workforce health and safety, supported by ongoing dialogue with key stakeholders and the cultivation of potential strategic partnerships.
In addition, NFA will actively communicate its research-based knowledge through relevant (digital) channels and through tailored content.
NFA will also document its societal impact using methods that position NFA as an international thought leader in Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE) research.
Objective 3: Realising Digital Potential
NFA will identify and utilise digital opportunities across a range of processes in both research and support functions. Overall, this is expected to result in a significant enhancement and transformation of NFA’s delivery of its core tasks.
Objective 4: Strengthened Organisational Robustness
The work at NFA shall be characterised by job satisfaction, high professional standards, mutual respect, influence over one’s own work and strong leadership. The focus on staff development will be strengthened and supported by an infrastructure that promotes organisational learning.
Foundations of NFA’s Strategy
NFA’s research will contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (3 and 8), the political objectives set out in the tripartite agreement, the corporate objectives of the Ministry of Employment, and support the national strategy for occupational health and safety research.
The specific design of NFA’s strategy for 2025–2028 is also based on key stakeholders’ expectations of NFA’s research and dissemination activities, as well as the results of an international evaluation of NFA’s scientific and societal impact.
There is strong stakeholder support for the strategic direction pursued during the previous strategy period. Furthermore, the evaluations concluded that NFA’s research is of very high to excellent quality, and that the strategy for societal impact is remarkably thoughtful and effectively implemented.
NFA will therefore maintain the strategic direction set out in the 2021–2024 strategy. However, the balance of the research portfolio will be further adjusted so that intervention research, implementation research and economic research will constitute a larger share relative to epidemiological research.
In addition, NFA will maintain its strategic focus in its communication efforts.