Call for Proposals: Challenge Program – Biological Systems under Non-equilibrium Conditions

The Challenge Programme aims to contribute substantially to the development of Danish and European research ecosystems within research areas of strategic priority to the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The goal is to develop innovative solutions to major scientific challenges, supporting leading researchers to form a consortium united by a clear vision and mission.

Supported research will centre around establishing new or improved theoretical frameworks, this in combination with using state-of-the-art experimental techniques and recent advancements in computational methods. The research must be an interdisciplinary collaboration between fields such as biology, physics, chemistry, engineering or computer science. Supported research may include but is not limited to:

• Mechanisms of self-organisation driving order and specialised function under nonequilibrium conditions.
• The drivers of self-assembled biological structures under non-equilibrium conditions.
• Complex biological behaviour driven by active processes involving protein interactions, molecular machines, cellular metabolism and signalling.
• Fundamental physical models for predicting dynamics of non-equilibrium biological systems.
• Novel experimental and AI-based methods to observe and quantify non-equilibrium biological processes in real-time.

Funding Information

• A total budget of up to DKK 150 million (ca. EUR 20 million) is available for grants up to DKK 75 million (ca. EUR 10 million) for projects lasting up to 6 years.

Eligible Expenses

• Salary for technicians, analysts, and other technical assistance, including laboratory administrators.
• Salary for postdoctoral researchers.
• Salary for Ph.D. students.
• Salary for employees or project consultants at all staffing levels, including project management; however, main applicant and co-applicants cannot receive funding for their own salary.
• Operating costs: Direct expenses for developing, implementing, and operating the project, including materials, consumables, animals, services, etc., directly related to the project.
• Operating cost related to the purchase of high-end compute power for use in the research project.
• Equipment: Provided it is essential for the proposed project and its use after completion of the project can be clearly justified.
• Infrastructure: required for the project.

Ineligible Expenses

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

Eligibility Criteria

• The main applicant must be an independent tenured/tenure-track researcher with their own research group, employed at a European (European Union, Schengen Area plus United Kingdom) university, hospital, or non-profit research organisation, which will be the host institution and will be responsible for administration of the grant.
• The main applicant must be employed at the host institution with at least a 75% commitment and must be guaranteed their own salary for the entire project period.
• Co-applicant institutions may be located anywhere globally.
• At least one applicant (either main- or co-applicant) must be at least 75% employed and have their research group at a Danish university, hospital, or non-profit research organisation.

Assessment Criteria

• The selection of the successful Challenge Programme applicants will be primarily based on the following criteria:
  • Scientific quality and impact
  • Scientific approach
  • Scientific environment and collaboration
  • Investigators’ track record.

For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Foundation.