Pre-graduate scholarships | Medical Sciences

Objective

This funding instrument is offered only by DFF | Medical Sciences. The council funds pre-graduate scholarships of 6-12 months’ duration with the purpose of providing the most talented BA and MA students, who have completed at least 2 years of education (finalised with an evaluation) from educations that allow no more than 6 months for the completion of their master’s thesis, with the opportunity to undertake scientific work and strengthen their interest in pursuing a scientific career. A maximum amount of up to DKK 144,000 (excluding overhead/administration expenses) can be awarded.

Applicant requirements

Applications for Pre-graduate Scholarships | Medical Sciences must be submitted by the student’s academic supervisor. As a supervisor, you must have obtained a PhD degree or achieved equivalent qualifications through your research. The council places emphasis on the fact that you have an independent research profile and that you have the time required to undertake the supervision. 

The council strives to distribute the pre-graduate scholarship grants among different research environments in order to achieve a broad recruitment to health science research. Consequently, the council will only fund one pre-graduate scholarship student per supervisor at a time, ensuring that there is no temporal overlap between multiple students under the same supervisor during the part of the grant period funded by the council.

Application requirements

It is possible to apply for funding for a pre-graduate scholarship of 6-12 months’ duration incl. any operating expenses. 

The student completes a research project of 2 semesters’ duration. It is expected that one of the two semesters is teaching-free, or that the student takes leave during the semester. The second semester must have research as its main focus. If exceptional circumstances prevent the student from taking leave for a semester, this must be accounted for in the application. There is no requirement as to when this consecutive period is placed during the student’s overall education, other than the fact that the period must be completed before the student finishes their education. 

Students enrolled in programmes that do not offer the possibility of a research semester are still eligible to apply for a scholarship. In this case, it is likewise expected that the student takes leave for a one-semester period. It is also a requirement that the research project takes place over a total period of two semesters. The council is willing to accept that the project, if necessary, extends over a three-semester period. 

Students enrolled in an education that allows more than 6 months for the completion of the master’s thesis (regardless of whether this option is utilised or not) are not eligible to receive a Pre-graduate Scholarship.

The grant covers the scholarship for the pre-graduate scholar as well as other operating expenses, and the budget must account for the use of these. The funds can be used throughout the entire approved period. Due to technical reasons, the funds for a pre-graduate scholarship count as operating grant support (“driftstilskud”) to the supervisor’s research activities in regard to the budget. Thus, the scholar is neither a scientific/academic employee, nor a technical/administrative employee or project participant, and the funds for the scholarship should therefore not be listed as salary, but as an operating expense in the budget template. It should be noted in the free text field for the relevant budget item how the funding is distributed between the student’s scholarship and other operating expenses. The council prioritises applications that include financing of operating expenses, or operating grant support (“driftstilskud”), for the student/pre-graduate scholar over applications that only include financing of other operating expenses.

In its assessment of the application, the council places emphasis on the student’s qualifications (especially their grades) as well as the student’s role and work tasks in relation to the project. The tasks must form part of an innovative research project and not merely constitute practical routine tasks in support of a larger project. The intention of the scholarship is that the student completes an independent project under the guidance of the supervisor/applicant, and with the aim of the student publishing their contribution. The council does not offer support for pre-graduate scholarships that have already received full or partial funding for the student’s salary from other sources.

As a pre-graduate scholarship is tied to the specific student listed in the application, it is not possible for grant recipients to subsequently transfer the grant to another student. 

You cannot apply for funding for pre-graduate scholarships within the framework of the council’s other funding instruments.