NORFACE is a co-ordinated common action of currently fifteen national research funding agencies. NORFACE stands for New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe. The ERA-NET NORFACE Co-ordination Action started in January 2004 and has developed a close partnership and network of European national agencies responsible for funding research in the social sciences. The NORFACE Co-ordination Action formally ended in September 2009. The NORFACE-SA Partners together provide the capacity for significant levels of co-operation and exchange. They are committed to an ambitious programme of communication, enquiry, sharing of experience and action.The central Work package of the current proposal, Work package 1, is on Joint Research and Related Activities and Initiatives. This will involve the scoping and identifying of the multidisciplinary research needs with a view to developing joint research and related initiatives.Work package 2, Exploiting Data Infrastructure in the Social Sciences, forms an important part of the proposal. In many European countries initiatives are taken to improve the infrastructure for research in the social sciences. By discussing national and international strategic initiatives, developing mechanisms to exploit data, and by co-ordinating a joint approach, NORFACE can have a contribution to the development of a European data infrastructure for the social sciences.The proposed ERA-NET NORFACE-II Support Action aims at further deepening and strengthening the established trans-national co-operation based on the experience gained and the existing co-operation structures, but also broadening the network activities and the EU impact, in order to successfully prepare a new ERA-NET Co-ordination Action and/or ERA-NET Plus.