Independent Research Fund Denmark promotes excellent and pioneering research in Denmark. A core value of the Fund is that all research talents – regardless of gender, age, nationality, or background – have equal opportunities to apply for funding.
The Fund’s Gender Equality Plan defines the framework and priority areas for its work on diversity and inclusion up to 2027. The plan fulfils the requirements for Gender Equality Plans in Horizon Europe and builds on the fund’s existing equality policy as well as its longstanding practice of monitoring diversity in the allocation of research funding.
Responsibility for implementing the Gender Equality Plan is anchored in the fund’s management and undertaken by the secretariat and members of the fund in collaboration. The Board has the overall strategic responsibility for diversity and inclusion measures of the fund, while the Head of Office holds the operational management responsibility.
The fund allocates dedicated resources on a continuous basis for data collection and analysis, capacity building, and communication related to diversity and inclusion. Particular emphasis is placed on embedding diversity work within the Fund’s councils, the Secretariat, and among grant holders.
A staff member with specific expertise in research-related diversity has been appointed within the secretariat to coordinate the fund’s work with diversity and equality.
Independent Research Fund Denmark applies a data-driven approach to gender equality and diversity. Its annual reports present success rates by gender by research council and thematic councils. Furthermore, the reports contain PhD age of applicants and grantees success rates by nationality.
An internal diversity analysis is carried out annually and shared with the board and fund members. This analysis assesses the extent to which the gender balance among applicants to the Fund’s instruments reflects the gender distribution in the Danish research system. Gender is reported in terms of male and female. The fund also monitors whether men and women have equal opportunities to obtain funding through its instruments.
Further monitoring indicators include age distribution, academic position, institutional affiliation, and research field, in order to identify areas where the fund’s diversity focus may be further strengthened. The analysis also includes an overview of diversity among the fund’s council and board members (gender and institutional affiliation).
In 2025–2027, the fund will launch and evaluate a series of targeted diversity and inclusion measures. During this period, both the secretariat and the fund’s regular and external members will participate in bias-awareness training with a particular focus on assessment and funding processes. The bias-training will be repeated annually ensuring sustained capacity building.
From the call published in the fall 2025 onwards, a mandatory research leadership course will be introduced for Sapere Aude grant holders, with a specific focus on diversity and inclusive leadership.
The Gender Equality Plan is evaluated annually by the Board, in a report including data from the annual report and the internal diversity analysis. Evaluations from the bias training are integrated, and from 2028 evaluation data the Sapere Aude research leadership programme will also be included.
The Gender Equality Plan is updated every three years. The next version is expected to be published in 2028. The Gender Equality Plan is available in both Danish and English on the fund’s website.
This Gender Equality Plan was published in September 2025. Before that, it has been adopted by the board of directors of DFF and signed by chair of the board Søren Serritzlew.
