DFF-Research Project2

Objective

To advance the quality of, and develop collaboration within Danish research, DFF offers funding for research projects carried out by multiple researchers (e.g. postdoctoral candidates and PhD students). A DFF-Research Project2 is often characterised by a coordinated and mutually binding collaboration on a well-defined, joint research question; however, it may also be a project formulated by a single researcher, which is to be carried out in their 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 establish synergy among any subprojects, involve international collaboration (if relevant), and be of a high, international standard.

About the applicant

You must possess considerable, independent research experience at a high, international level. Furthermore, you must have obtained your PhD at least 8 years before the expiration of the application deadline. If you do not have a PhD degree, you must have obtained equivalent qualifications, e.g., a positive assistant professor assessment (”adjunktbedømmelse”), at least 8 years before the application deadline. Specific periods of leave must be deducted in the calculations of PhD-age, cf. section 10 in the call.

Your previous results will be assessed in relation to your career path and in relation to the scientific challenges of the project applied for.

About the application

When writing an application to the fund, you must pay special attention to ensuring that the application fulfils the purpose of the funding instrument and that it meets the fund’s assessment criteria.

DFF emphasises that the project description should account for the synergy between any sub-projects, the project management and organisational structure, as well as plans for publishing results. The project description must include an account of the proposed content of all sub-projects, including any PhD and postdoctoral projects.

There must be a sufficiently balanced relationship between the roles of all listed project participants (scientific/academic staff, technical/administrative staff, and whether DFF-funding or not), and the concrete role of the participants must be accounted for and justified.

The application must be written in English.

PhD and postdoctoral scholarships

You can apply for funding for embedded PhD and postdoctoral scholarships, if these are well integrated into the project and fulfil a clear, independent function within the research project.

Embedded postdoctoral candidates must have obtained their PhD within the last 4 years at the time of the application deadline. If an embedded postdoctoral candidate does not have a PhD degree, they must have achieved equivalent qualifications, e.g., a positive assistant professorship evaluation (“adjunktbedømmelse”), within the last 4 years at the time of the DFF application deadline. Specific periods of leave must be deducted in the calculation of PhD age, cf. section 10 in the call. Note that the PhD age requirements does not apply to application for DFF | Medical Sciences. 

If you, as the applicant, are not an associate professor and have not been awarded a positive associate professor assessment (“lektorbedømmelse”) and the project involves the education of researchers, you must account for how the relevant supervision will be provided, and how the research student’s scientific association to the project will be ensured.

If the application includes requests for funding for unnamed PhD students and/or unnamed postdoctoral participants, the application must include an account of the proposed recruitment process. If a named postdoctoral candidate is a PhD student at the time of application, the application must include a declaration from the student’s supervisor, stating that the student is expected to submit the PhD thesis within 6 months after the application deadline.

Budget

You can apply for between DKK 2,500,000 and DKK 4,400,000 excl. overhead. The budget must be completed in the mandatory budget template, which can be downloaded from e-grant.

Project description and appendices

There are a number of mandatory appendices that must always be attached, as well as additional appendices that must be included if relevant. You can read more about the general requirements for the contents of the project description and appendices in section 8 in the call and the budget in section 9 in the call.

Please pay special attention to the fact that there are character and page limits for both the project description and the applicant's CV. Exceeding these limits will result in an administrative rejection. It is always the character count generated by e-grant that applies. You can find more information in section 8.2 in the call.