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Diversity Policy for Novo Nordisk Foundation

Our belief

At the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF), we believe that diversity and inclusion are fundamental to achieving our vision and mission. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute with their unique perspectives and that is essential to our success.

NNF upholds the principle that our global presence should reflect the diversity of the societies we serve, ensuring equal opportunities for all, irrespective of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are dedicated to actively fostering diversity and inclusion, not only within our organization but also among our committees, subsidiaries, partnerships, and grant-related endeavours. Our goal is to contribute to a societal evolution that embraces greater diversity and inclusion across research, education, innovation, and broader societal contexts.

NNF is therefore committed to:

  • Achieving a target of at least 40% representation of the underrepresented gender in our Board of Directors, our Registered Officers, and VP-level positions and above by the end of 2027
  • Fostering a culture of inclusion through leadership role modelling and ownership
  • Attracting and retaining people through fair, equitable, and transparent recruitment and promotion processes
  • Training and developing our people in diversity, equity, and inclusion to increase awareness
  • Ongoing monitoring, tracking, and reporting on our diversity and inclusion metrics

Our diversity scope

This policy applies to all NNF employees, evaluation panels, committees and strategic subsidiaries (i.e. not Novo Holdings A/S and its subsidiaries). NNF further expects strategic partners to actively pursue DEI in their organisations.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion actions

Our commitment translates into the following five action items:

Action 1: Recruit diverse talent: Through our new global recruitment policy and process we ensure that all job ads and recruiting processes are open, transparent, and designed to encourage diversity in applications and hires.

Action 2. Ensuring diverse representation: Boards, scientific expert committees, advisory bodies, and leaders of NNF should have action plans for increased diversity across different diversity parameters (at least on gender diversity).

Action 3. Enforcing equality in career advancement: All promotion and performance management processes are thoroughly evaluated up against equality principles and biases e.g. if there is an equal gender distribution in the annual promotion process (target 40/60).

Action 4. DE&I training: All our employees are to complete our mandatory Workplace Behaviour e-learning on inclusive behaviours, work ethics and our workplace behaviour policy. We also mark and celebrate special days such as pride month and International Women’s Day and we support employee-driven resource group activities.

Action 5. Promote an inclusive culture: Through our leaders and our new leadership development initiatives we develop our leaders’ awareness and inclusive leadership skills as well as their accountability for fostering a culture of inclusion every day in their teams.