RFPs: New Exploratory Research and Discovery Program 2025 (Denmark)

The overall goal of the NERD programme is to support fundamental research within the natural and technical sciences, including, e.g., physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and technical sciences.

The purpose of the NERD programme is to support creative and ambitious researchers within the natural and technical sciences, at any career stage after obtaining the PhD degree. A NERD grant is aimed at supporting a single principal investigator (PI) with ample funding and a long time-horizon, providing the required long-term stability and continuity to explore truly exceptional ideas with potential application within the life sciences, health sciences, or sustainability.

Projects focused on areas covered by other calls from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, or which fall outside the current scope of the Foundation, are not eligible for the NERD Programme. Examples of research areas not eligible for the NERD Programme are:

• Bioscience and basic biomedicine
• Endocrinology and metabolism
• Industrial and environmental biotechnology
• Plant science, agriculture, and food science
• Clinical and translational medicine
• Cosmology
• Zoology
• Biotechnology
• Projects that are primarily retrospective or primarily of historical value

Funding Information

• The total grant size is up to DKK 16.6 million in funding for a 7-year project period (pro rata for shorter projects).

Eligible Expenses

• Applicants may apply for funding for the following types of expenses directly related to the project:
  • Salary for the applicant for all or part of the project period. Salary for the applicant cannot be covered if the applicant is in a time-unlimited position. In exceptional cases, where the applicant is contractually obligated to undertake specific commitments that are not compatible with the proposed research project, the applicant may apply for a part of his/her salary. Salary at professor level cannot be awarded with this grant.
  • Salary for employees, e.g., postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and technicians. Salary expenses cannot cover employees of similar or higher academic employment level than the applicant.
  • PhD tuition fee up to DKK 80,000 per budget year (must be included separately).
  • Operating expenses, e.g., materials, consumables, compute time, and purchase of services.
  • Equipment required for the project.
  • Conferences.
  • Travel expenses for, e.g., conferences, meetings, or experiments carried out at other laboratories.
  • Publication costs.
  • Project supplement (universities only).
  • Bench fee (not applicable to universities).
  • Administrative support (not applicable to universities).

Eligibility Criteria

• Researchers at any career stage after obtaining the PhD are eligible to apply. Examples include independent researchers who have already established their own line of research, or researchers who are in the process of establishing themselves as independent researchers. Applications from PhD students will not be taken into consideration.
• Other important criteria:
  • The research project must be anchored at a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark.
  • The applicant must be at least 80% affiliated with a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark (at the time of starting the project).
  • A hosting letter signed by the head of department must be provided, confirming the following: o That the institution will provide the required infrastructure, laboratory, and office facilities, as well as administration of the grant. o That the applicant does not have a grant portfolio exceeding an annual total of DKK 4.0 million (including possible overhead) in the year of commencing the project.
    • A NERD grant cannot be used to cover a teaching substitute for the applicant.
  • NERD grants are individual grants at the disposal of the grant recipient, and the grant recipient must be the clear driver of the project. However, if the applied project involves collaboration, the nature of this collaboration should be described in the project description, in an anonymous fashion. Invitation of co-applicants is not possible in this call.
  • The NERD programme is intended for ‘full-time’ researchers who may have teaching obligations at a normal level for university faculty.

For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Foundation.