Deadline: 24-Aug-23
Applications are invited for project grants to support excellent research within plant science, agriculture and food biotechnology.
Projects must be based at a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, or Sweden.
Areas of Support
- 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.
- Non-exclusive list of prioritized areas:
- Development of plants with high productivity, resiliency, and resource use efficiency for food, fiber, 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 plant, microorganism, and fungi-based foods with low resource use technologies and high functionality, organoleptic, and nutritional quality
- Utilization of precision fermentation, fungi, algae, and cellular agriculture for novel food production
- Development of methods and technologies, including those driven by data science, that enable and support sustainable agriculture and food production.
- Projects with a focus on pharmaceuticals and therapeutics should submit their application to the Novo Nordisk Foundation Committee on Bioscience and Basic Biomedicine, while proposals focusing on industrial biotechnology and environmental biotechnology should be submitted to the Novo Nordisk Foundation Committee Industrial Biotechnology and Environmental Biotechnology.
Funding Information
- Grants can support research activities at a level of DKK 300.000 – 1 million per year for 1 to 3 years. For projects having a main applicant and a co-applicant located in different Nordic countries, the maximum amount that may be applied for is DKK 1.35 million per year.
- Grant funding is available for expenses including direct project costs as well as salary for scientific researchers, technical assistants, and PhD students. Funding from the grant cannot cover salary for the main applicant or co-applicants as well as general overhead costs. Up to 5 % administrative costs can be included.
Eligibility Criteria
- Researchers with an independent research program at a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, or Sweden are eligible to apply for these project grants. Eligible candidates may be junior-level researchers, under the condition that they can document to have established themselves as independent researchers. As the grant does not cover salary of the grantee, the applicant must be guaranteed their own salary for the entire project period.
- In addition to the main applicant, applications may include one or more co-applicants who contribute scientifically to the project and will receive a financial share of the grant. A co-applicant must have an independent research program at a university or other non-profit research institution. There is no geographic restriction to the location of co-applicants.
- The project may also include research partners who do not receive funding from the grant. Those research partners may be located at a for-profit organization. The applicant has the main responsibility for developing the project, writing the application, and carrying out the proposed research.
- Important restrictions regarding NNF grants and proposals:
- Applications from Master students and PhD students will not be taken into consideration.
- At any given time, the applicant may only have one Novo Nordisk Foundation “Project Grant” application under evaluation. If the applicant submits more than one application, only the first application submitted will be evaluated, while any subsequent applications will receive an administrative rejection. After having received notification on the funding decision, the applicant may submit a new application for a Novo Nordisk Foundation “Project Grant”.
- The applicant may submit applications for other grant types, e.g., Research Leader Programmes or Pioneer Innovation Grants, while their “Project Grant” application is under evaluation if they cover different research activities.
- It is not possible to be the grant holder for more than one active Project Grant within Plant Science, Agriculture and Food Biotechnology or Biotechnology-based Synthesis and Production.
- Researchers holding a Project Grant within Plant Science, Agriculture and Food Biotechnology or Biotechnology-based Synthesis and Production, may apply for a new Project Grant within this area as main applicant during the final year of the grant, however, the grant periods cannot overlap.
- It is possible for a Project Grant holder to be a co-applicant on an application submitted by another eligible applicant.
For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Fonden.