Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research within Plant Science, Agriculture and Food Biotechnology

The intention of the fellowship is to enable excellent young scientists, to develop their own independent research area. Fellowships must be based at a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, or Sweden.

The proposed research should address major challenges within plant, agricultural, and food science associated with developing sustainable agriculture and food production. The research should be fundamental in character with a clear and strategic outlook to improve sustainability and potential solutions. The proposed research should significantly extent existing knowledge beyond state-of-the-art and may have a high-risk profile. The research should be based on life science research disciplines.

Priority Areas

• Development of plants with high productivity, resiliency, and resource-use-efficiency for food, fibre, materials, fuel and energy, chemicals, or climate change mitigation.
• Utilization of microorganisms to improve sustainability across the value chain from primary agricultural production to end-product.
• Development of agricultural-, food-, and forestry systems with higher productivity, circularity, and biodiversity, and with minimum impact on environment and climate.
• Development of sustainable plant-, microorganism-, and fungi-based ingredients and foods with high functionality, and organoleptic quality. The proposed research should primarily focus on the technological aspects of food science and biotechnology, while nutrition and health related aspects may be considered only to a limited extent.
• Utilization of ingredients derived from precision fermentation, fungi, algae, insects, and cellular agriculture for food production.
• Development of methods and technologies, including those driven by data science, that enable and support sustainable agriculture and food production. A significant proportion of the proposed research should explore the use of the new method or technology for its intended application.

Funding Information

• The grant period is 1-3 years.
• The total grant amount is up to DKK 3 million for a 3-year grant. The grant amount should be distributed approximately equally each year, and for projects shorter than three years, the total grant amount is proportionally reduced.
• Please note, at least 1 year must take place at the Nordic host institution. The duration of the fellowship should reflect the time frame of the research activities.

Ineligible Programs

• Research primarily focusing on livestock, livestock commodities, and feed
• Research focusing on aquaculture, or its derived commodities
• Research with their main research component on nutritional uptake and clinical studies

Eligibility Criteria

• An applicant must either:
  • have a PhD or equivalent degree obtained within 6 years of the application deadline date, or
  • be a PhD student who will defend her/his/their thesis before April 1, 2025.
• As part of the application, applicants need to submit a host letter from the Nordic host institution and letters of support from other institutions supporting the fellowship.

For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Foundation.