Funding from A-Z

This instrument is offered only by DFF | Medical Sciences. DFF | Medical Sciences can fund workload reductions for clinician scientist positions, so that up to 6 months per year during a maximum of 3 years are dedicated to carrying out a research project, while the remaining time is spent in a clinical position remunerated by the employing institution.

Funding is primarily awarded to medical doctors, dentists and veterinarians who have obtained a PhD or equivalent qualifications through their research. At the time of employment, applicants must be employed in a clinical position with no possibility of carrying out research during working hours.

The research activity does not necessarily have to be carried out in the employing clinical department, but the council requires the grant to be administered by the institution at which the clinical work takes place. Please note that the council prioritises applications where the applicant’s clinical position involves patient treatment.

This instrument is offered only by DFF | Medical Sciences. DFF | Medical Sciences funds pre-graduate scholarships for a duration of 6-12 months for the purpose of giving highly qualified students the opportunity to undertake scientific work and strengthening their interest in a further scientific career. A fixed amount of DKK 100,000 (excluding overhead/administration expenses can be awarded.

Applications for Pre-graduate Scholarships must be submitted by the student’s academic supervisor. As a supervisor, you must have obtained a PhD or achieved equivalent qualifications through your research. The council emphasises that you have experience as a supervisor as well as an individual research profile.

The council strives to distribute the Pre-graduate Scholarship grants among different research environments, so as to provide recruitment to a wide range of health sciences. Therefore, the council will only fund one Pre-graduate Scholarship per supervisor at a time, so that there is no overlap between multiple students under the same supervisor during the part of the grant period funded by the council.

This instrument is offered only by DFF | Social Sciences. In order to promote the internationalisation of social sciences research, DFF | Social Sciences provides funding for research stays at foreign research institutions for continuous periods of at least 3 months. The research stay should be based on specific research activities within the field of social sciences and contribute to those activities through strengthened international collaboration or networks and collection of data.

This instrument is offered only by DFF | Humanities. In order to support the dissemination of humanistic research through digital scientific journals, DFF | Humanities offers funding to established as well as new journals of a high scientific value, which strive for an international level of circulation. However, the council does take into account that certain areas of humanistic research will primarily be geared towards a Danish readership. Grants for journals are awarded as a deficit guarantee.

As the applicant, you must be editor-in-chief of the journal and have associate professor/senior research-er level qualifications as a minimum. It is a further requirement that the editorial board or committee must be comprised of active researchers from at least two different academic institutions in Denmark.

In order to be eligible for support from DFF | Humanities, the journal must use external peer review to assess the scientific quality of articles submitted to the journal. In order to be awarded funding for an established journal, the journal must have a reasonable circulation within the relevant field of science. The dissemination, extent and scientific weight of the journal are the most important assessment criteria. Only journals that accompany all their articles with an abstract written in an international language (i.e. English, German, French or Spanish will be considered). Furthermore, funding can only be offered to journals that do not offer author fees. The council does not support popularised science journals.

To advance the quality of Danish research, DFF offers funding for research projects within an economic framework of up to DKK 2 million, excluding overhead. A DFF-Research Project1 is characterised by having a clear and well defined research question, where the research activities are expected to be of a high, international level of quality.

The duration of a DFF-Research Project1 is typically 3 years, but it is possible to apply for a 4-year project, if a PhD student is involved in the project.

The applicant must be able to document independent research experience typically corresponding to 3 years or more after having obtained a PhD degree (or similar qualifications). The applicant’s previous results will be assessed in relation to his/her career and in relation to the scientific challenges of the project applied for.

To advance the quality of, and develop collaboration within, Danish research, DFF offers funding for research projects carried out by multiple researchers (including  postdoctoral candidates and PhD students) of up to 4.5 years in duration within a budget framework of DKK 2 million to DKK 4.3 million, excluding overhead.

A DFF–Research Project2 is often characterised by a coordinated and mutually binding collaboration featuring a well-defined, joint research question. However, it may also be a project formulated by a single researcher, but which is to be carried out in a research team, when it can be argued that the project is particularly ambitious and resource demanding, and that the research objective cannot be obtained through a DFF–Research Project1. The research activities must have the potential to create synergy among any sub-projects, involve an international level of collaboration (if relevant) and be of a high, international standard.

The applicant must be able to document independent research experience at a high, international level typically corresponding to 5 years or more after having obtained a PhD (or similar qualifications).

The objective of DFF-International Postdoctoral Grant is to strengthen the international mobility of young talented researchers, as well as to develop the competencies of researchers who are in the beginning of their research career. The aim is to enable the grant recipient to consolidate his or her individual research profile by managing a specific research project in an independent matter at a research institution outside of Denmark.The grant amounts to a total of DKK 1.3 million over a 2-year period.

COUNCIL-SPECIFIC CRITERIA

DFF │Natural Sciences requires that you spend the entire two-year grant period abroad.
DFF | Social Sciences requires that you spend at least 18 consecutive months abroad. Six months may be spent consecutively at a Danish research institution, either at the beginning or by the end of the project period.
DFF | Technology and Production Sciences, DFF | Medical Sciences, and DFF | Humanities require that you spend at least 12 consecutive months abroad. 6 months may be spent at the beginning and/or up to 12 months by the end of project period at a Danish research institution.

APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS

Researchers who have a PhD or are expected to  submit thesis for defence within 6 months after the application deadline, or have obtained equivalent qualifications (e.g. a positive assistant professor assessment, ”adjunktbedømmelse”) may apply for a DFF-International Postdoctoral Grant. 

Your PhD must have been awarded by a Danish research institution.

DFF emphasises that applicants are at the beginning of their research career. Thus, calculated from the application deadline, no more than 3 years must have elapsed since you obtained your PhD. The precise date for obtaining the PhD, as it appears on the PhD-diploma, is to be stated in the application form in e-grant concerning calculation of the PhD age with regard to maternity leave, etc.).

DFF receives funds under the Danish National Budget, which are earmarked for the education of researchers at state, non-university public research institutions. In 2020, these funds amount to approximately DKK 21 million, corresponding to 8-9 grants. Maximum amount per grant will be DKK 1.8 million, excluding overhead. Please note that DFF does not generally offer support for individual PhD scholarships. Therefore you cannot apply for an individual PhD grant to be carried out at a university.

The purpose of the PhD grants under this call is to strengthen the education of researchers at public, Danish, state, non-university research institutions. The instrument is relevant for non-university research institutions, and covers sector research institutions, university colleges, business academies as well as state archives, libraries and museums. It does not cover state approved museums, Advanced Technology Group (GTS) institutes, hospitals, and others.

You can begin your application in e-grant approx. three months before the application deadline.

This instrument is offered only by DFF | Humanities. The purpose of Research Networks | Humanities is to strengthen the broad base of cooperation among research areas which are geographically and institutionally scattered, both in Denmark and abroad. The network is expected to cooperate on defined research themes and challenges. In assessing applications, emphasis is placed on the originality of the concept and the network’s expected contribution to scientific development.

You can begin your application in e-grant approx. three months before the application deadline.

In order to promote the education of researchers and strengthen internationalisation, Independent Research Fund Denmark offers the Sapere Aude (meaning "dare to know") instrument.

Sapere Aude: DFF-Starting Grant is aimed at providing excellent younger researchers, i.e. researchers who have carried out top class research in their field, with the opportunity to develop and strengthen their research ideas. The instrument also aims at promoting the mobility internationally as well as nationally among research environments, and thereby to strengthen networks and careers. Starting Grants are targeted at top researchers who intend to gather a group of researchers and/or research students, to carry out a research project at a high, international level. Sapere Aude: DFF-Starting Grant also strengthens the possibility for excellent younger researchers to return to a Danish research institution after a research stay abroad.

DFF expects that a Sapere Aude: DFF-Starting Grant prepares the grant recipient to apply for an ERC Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant or Advanced Grant, or a similar international programme.

There is expected to be approx. 32 grants in 2020.

You can begin your application in e-grant approx. three months before the application deadline.