Hallas-Møller Ascending Investigator: Bioscience and Basic Biomedicine Grant (Denmark)

Focus Areas

• The overall goal is to support fundamental research in bioscience and basic biomedicine relevant for understanding the human organism and/or basal mechanisms underlying health and disease. The research fields include, but are not limited to: molecular biology, cell biology, bioinformatics, modelling of biological systems, genetics, microbiology, pharmacology, experimental physiology, biophysics, biochemistry, biology, and biostatistics etc. The research will typically be carried out in animals, cellular or subcellular model systems, or in silico.
• The Novo Nordisk Foundation offers mutually exclusive calls within the areas listed below. It is the responsibility of the applicant to apply within the call that is the most appropriate to her/his project proposal:
  • Endocrinology and metabolism
  • Clinical and translational medicine (for clinicians)
  • Industrial and environmental biotechnology
  • Plant science, agriculture and food biotechnology
  • Natural and technical sciences (NERD and RECRUIT)

Funding Information

• A total of up to DKK 102.6 million is available, of which up to DKK 57 million is prioritised for international recruitment. In case of too few competitive international candidates, as compared to national candidates, the remaining budget can be used for additional grants within the Emerging or Ascending investigator categories.
• For each grant, approximately DKK 2.28 million can be awarded per year, over a 5-year grant period, for a total budget of up to DKK 11.4 million per grant. For candidates relocating to Denmark upon awarding of the grant, extra funding and time of up to DKK 11.4 million and 2 years, respectively, can be allocated.

Eligible Expenses

• Salary: for the applicant for all or part of the project period (unless the applicant is tenured or otherwise guaranteed own salary), and/or for research and technical assistance, including postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, technicians and research-year students.
• Tuition fee: for PhD students (up to DKK 80,000 per budget year) – must be specified separately in the budget.
• Operating expenses: e.g. lab consumables, chemicals and reagents, research animals, sequencing/proteomics and other analysis services directly related to the project.
• Equipment: required for the project, however not exceeding 20% of the budget total.
• Conference participation: conference travel and participation for presentation of research results in relation to the project or participation in research leadership courses or workshops, up to DKK 50,000 per budget year.
• Travel: travel expenses directly related to the project, i.e. experiments carried out in other labs for a limited period.
• Publication costs: of results emanating from the research project (up to DKK 50,000 per budget year).
• Project supplement for research grants (Danish universities only)
• Bench fee (not applicable to Danish universities)
• Administrative support (not applicable to Danish universities)

Ineligible Expenses

• The Foundation will not award funding for:
  • Commercial activities
  • Overhead/indirect costs (such as rent, electricity, water and maintenance)
  • Double funding of projects

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants should be associate professors. Applications from assistant professors, senior researchers or people in similar research positions will be considered if the application meet all the other requirements in this call. Professors, including MSO, cannot apply for this particular call – but can apply for Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Distinguished Investigator grant.
• The applicant cannot be a group leader in one of the Novo Nordisk Foundation research centres, where research support is included in the applicant’s affiliation to the centre.
• The applicant cannot have a grant portfolio exceeding an annual total of DKK 4 million (excluding possible overhead) in the year of commencing the project.
• Recipients of this grant must contribute to the pre-graduate teaching environment at their host institution. An Ascending Investigator grant must not be used to cover a teaching substitute for the applicant.
• The Ascending Investigator call is intended for ‘full-time’ researchers (teaching obligations included) and researchers with clinical obligations cannot apply for this grant.

For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Foundation.