Code of conduct for DFF members who apply for research funding from the fund.
Danish society in general and the research community in particular need the persons, who are part of public research funds, to have the best possible qualifications.
Members of Independent Research Fund Denmark’s (DFF) board of directors, research councils and thematic expert committees are appointed in their personal capacity, and emphasis is placed on broad experience with both Danish and international research. Furthermore, DFF appreciates members who are active researchers.
This means that the persons who are appointed as members of the fund are active researchers with a research past and a research present, which particularly distinguishes them. This also entails that they generally have a track record of higher success rates of obtaining research grants than the research community as a whole. This is confirmed by the surveys that DFF regularly conducts concerning DFF members’ applications to and grants from the fund prior to, during and after their membership of the fund.
As an active researcher, a member of the fund may still find it necessary to apply for research funding from DFF. Meanwhile, it poses some dilemmas for the fund as well as the individual fund member when members apply for, and obtain grants from the fund. In particular, this applies to the fund’s legitimacy and the potentially vulnerable position, which the individual member and the fund can be placed in, when the research councils and thematic expert committees assess and make decisions about the distribution of funds subject to competition on the basis of applications including applications from the fund’s own members.
It is therefore the board’s position that the fund’s members can still obtain grants from DFF during their appointment period, but that their grant level should not exceed their grant level prior to their membership of the fund. This applies to members of the research councils as well as members of thematic expert committees.
The board has discussed whether DFF should establish a set framework for fund members’ possibility of applying for and/or obtaining grants from DFF. The board has chosen not to set up a fixed framework because it is judged that this will not alleviate the challenge. It has moreover been discussed whether the board – which has been practiced to some extent – should ask fund members to show restraint during their appointment period at DFF. Nor has the board found this appropriate as a general principle. The board does find, however, that the board of directors as well as the chairs of the research councils and thematic expert committees occupy a special role and position, and for this reason these particular fund members are expected to refrain from applying for DFF’s independent or thematic calls as long as they hold the mentioned positions within the framework of DFF.
The board expects that members of the fund’s research councils and thematic expert committees continuously strive to balance their own need for research funding against the highly significant role as a member of the funding system. The board therefore maintains an ongoing dialogue with the research councils and thematic expert committees about this subject. Likewise, the board is obliged to protect the funding system by constantly being able to document that the work of funding is conducted according to the highest standard of quality and in full observance of applicable rules concerning partiality.
This revised code of conduct will come into force on 1 January 2024.
