Amendment to the executive order on Independent Research Fund Denmark

  • New law

The Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science is currently amending the executive order on the Functioning of Grants under Independent Research Fund Denmark. This is a direct follow-up to the amended Consolidation Act governing the fund, which entered into force on 1 January 2026. The executive order lays down the framework for the implementation of the legislative amendment.

Read the news about the legislative amendment to Act on Independent Research Fund Denmark.

The Consolidation Act on the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy and Independent Research Fund Denmark was amended with effect from 1 January 2026. Under the amended Act, Independent Research Fund Denmark has been granted legal authority to introduce new limits on the number of applications per applicant and to impose quarantine periods, which are to be further specified in an amending executive order governing the fund’s grants administration function.

This work is currently underway, and on 19 January 2026 the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science circulated a draft executive order on the grants administration function etc. under Independent Research Fund Denmark for public consultation. The consultation period ends on 22 February 2026.

Limitation on the number of applications per applicant

With the 2026 calls, Independent Research Fund Denmark will introduce limits on the number of applications per applicant. Pursuant to section § 32(1)(6) of the amended Act, the Minister for Higher Education and Science may lay down detailed rules for the fund’s grants administration function concerning limitations on the number of applications an applicant may submit, including restrictions on applications from active grant holders. 

The executive order circulated for consultation specifies the limitations as follows:

  • Section § 9. The fund may lay down the following limitations on the number of applications an applicant may submit:
    • A maximum of one application may be submitted per year.
    • An applicant with two or more active grants from the fund may not submit applications.
  • Subsection 2. The fund specifies and publishes any limitations pursuant to subsection (1) in the call text for the individual calls.   It must also be stated in the call if a limitation pursuant to subsection 1 may result in an application being rejected without prior active consideration.

(Please note that this is not an official translation of the executive order.)

Once the executive order has been adopted, the application limits will be described in the fund’s calls for 2026.

If the executive order is adopted in its proposed form, this will mean that, going forward, there will be a limit on the number of applications you may submit to the fund per year. If you want to apply to the fund in 2026, you will therefore need to choose which funding instrument or scheme you wish to apply to.

You can find an overview of the application opportunities available under the fund in 2026 by reading the news item below.

Read the news item on application opportunities and the fund’s calls in 2026.

Allocation of quarantine periods

Independent Research Fund Denmark has for some time been able to impose quarantine periods on applicants if the applicant has been found guilty of scientific misconduct, or if the applicant has repeatedly submitted applications that are far from being considered fundable in terms of quality.

The amendment to the Act (cf. § section 31(1)(1)) means that, going forward, the fund may impose a quarantine period on applicants on the basis of a single application if the application is assessed as being far from fundable in terms of quality, or if the applicant’s scientific qualifications are otherwise not assessed to be at a sufficient level.

The amending executive order stipulates that the target groups and criteria for the allocation of quarantine periods must be determined and published in the fund’s calls.

Independent Research Fund Denmark expects that the expanded possibility for imposing quarantine periods will be implemented in the calls for 2027. This means that, from next year, applicants will be assigned a quarantine period of one or two years if their application is assessed as being far from fundable in terms of quality. The fund will use 2026 to define the applicable criteria, and to consider whether quarantine periods should apply to all of the fund’s funding instruments and grant schemes.

Find answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the legislative amendment and the major changes in 2026 here.

Questions and further information

Email: DFF-opslag@ufm.dk 

Telephone: +45 72 31 82 00 (weekdays between 9.00 and 12.00)