News
Call for independent research funding withdrawn and to be republished in March
A new and revised call for independent research funding will be published in March 2026. Independent Research Fund Denmark has therefore withdrawn the current call for independent research funding for autumn 2025 and spring 2026. The revised call will be adjusted to reflect how the legislative amendments effective as of 1 January 2026 are implemented. It will also include adjusted assessment criteria and new requirements regarding the applicant’s CV and list of publications. Going forward, Independent Research Fund Denmark will publish its calls for proposals at the beginning of each calendar year.
The Act on Independent Research Fund Denmark was amended with effect from 1 January 2026. In connection with the implementation of the legislative amendment, the fund is changing the timing of its calls for proposals, so that all calls will be published at the beginning of the calendar year.
Read the news about the legislative amendment concerning Independent Research Fund Denmark.
The timing of the application deadlines will, however, remain familiar. The change concerns only the publication date of the calls. Independent Research Fund Denmark has published an overview of the funding opportunities available in 2026, allowing applicants already now to consider which funding opportunity best fits their original research idea.
Read the news about what you can apply for at Independent Research Fund Denmark in 2026.
Current calls to be republished in March
The call for independent research funding that has applied until now (autumn 2025 and spring 2026) has been withdrawn from the fund’s website as of today. Similarly, the individual pages for the instruments DFF-Research Project1 and Pregraduate Scholarships (DFF | Medical Sciences) are no longer available on the fund’s website.
These two instruments will be reissued with the same application deadlines as part of a single, consolidated call for independent research funding covering the whole of 2026. When the calls are published around 16 March 2026, the instruments will once again be visible on the fund’s website, and the application forms will also become available in e-grant as the individual application deadlines approach.
Going forward, the fund’s calls for open research funding will be published at the beginning of each calendar year and will apply for the entire year.
Significant content-related changes in upcoming calls
When the consolidated call for independent research funding is published around 16 March 2026, it will include adjusted assessment criteria and new requirements for the content of the applicant’s CV and list of publications. These new measures are intended to support a broader assessment of applicants, including their relevant roles and contributions to research. This is part of the fund’s work to implement the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (ARRA), which you can read more about on the fund’s CoARA page.
If you are already in the process of preparing an application to the fund, you should therefore be aware of these changes.
The fund expects to be able to publish the revised assessment criteria and requirements for CVs and publication lists during January 2026.
The requirements will apply to all calls at Independent Research Fund Denmark.
Overview of the fund’s calls for proposals in 2026
Independent Research Fund Denmark expects to publish five calls for research funding in 2026. The calls are expected to be published around 16 March 2026:
- Call for independent research for 2026 (i.e. spring 2026 and autumn 2026)
- Call under the Inge Lehmann Programme 2026
- Call for thematic research 2026
- Call for thematic research for multiannual priorities 2026–2029
- Call for thematic research for Arctic research and research on the Danish Realm 2026
Questions and further information
Find answers to questions about the legislative amendment and the major changes in 2026 here.
Email: DFF-opslag@ufm.dk
Telephone: +45 72 31 82 00 (weekdays between 9.00 and 12.00)