Data Science Emerging Investigator Grant Programme (Denmark)

The purpose of the ‘Data Science Emerging Investigator’ grant is to support highly promising starting group leaders with ambitious projects rooted in data science and computational science with immediate or potential future applications within areas of relevance to NNF’s Strategy.

The intended impact is to strengthen the quality and size of the Danish academic environment for data science research and education, which in turn will allow for an increased and improved output of new candidates skilled in data science and computational science, to meet the strong demand for such competencies from all sectors of society.

Focus Areas

• Development of new algorithms, methods and technologies within data science or computational science, artificial intelligence (incl. machine learning and deep learning), statistics, bioinformatics, and other computational sciences (incl. mathematical modelling, simulations, cybersecurity, etc.)
• Applications of data science and computational sciences to areas of relevance to the Foundation’s strategy and grant awarding activities, including life science, biomedical- and health science, public- and global health, infectious disease, sustainability, green transition, agriculture, as well as natural and technical sciences.

Funding Information

• Each grant can be up to DKK 13.3 million over a period of up to five years.
• The total annual grant budget for the 2025 Data Science Investigators Programme is up to DKK 99 million, across all three career levels.

Eligible Costs

• Salary for research and technical assistance
• PhD tuition fee
• Operating expenses
• Data management
• Equipment required for the project
• Travel expenses related to the project
• Conference participation
• Publication costs
• Bench fee (Not applicable for Danish Universities)
• Direct administrative expenses (Not applicable for Danish Universities)
• Project Supplement (only available for Danish Universities)

Eligibility Criteria

• It is recognized that data science application and maturity will differ between disciplines and applicants within biotechnology and natural sciences are also encouraged to apply.
• The ‘Data Science Emerging Investigator’ grant is aimed at talented starting group leaders.
• Applicants should, at the time of application, be at the level of senior postdoc, senior re-searcher, or assistant professor. Importantly, they should be starting independent researchers.
• Applicants are expected to have a track record of high-impact scientific contributions to the field of data science (relative to their career stage).
• Applicants must be ‘full-time’ researchers (teaching obligations included) who, during the project, are primarily employed, and have their primary research group, in Denmark. The project applied for must be anchored at a university or other non-profit research institution, which will be considered the administrating institution of the grant. The applicant must be the principal investigator of the proposed project and should thus, during the project, act independently from more senior researchers at the host institution where the project and the applicant are based.
• It is a requirement that the applicant contributes to educational or training activities within data science or computational science at their host institution and/or at other institutions in Denmark.
• Please note, applicants who are already established independent group leaders with more than 2 years of group leader experience should apply to their ‘Ascending Investigator’ programme. Only exceptionally could they be considered ‘Emerging Investigators’ and would need to argue strongly for why they do not belong in the ‘Ascending Investigator’ call.

For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Fonden.