Areas of support
Research proposals which are eligible for funding should address:
- Development of new algorithms, methods and technologies within data science, artificial intelligence (incl. machine learning and deep learning), statistics, bioinformatics, and other computational sciences (incl. mathematical modelling, simulations, etc.)
and/or
- Applications of data science and computational sciences to areas of relevance to NNF’s strategy, including life science, biomedical- and health science, public- and global health, infectious disease, sustainability, green transition, agriculture, as well as natural and technical sciences.
For projects mainly concerned with methods development, it is important that the applicants argue convincingly for potential application and impact within NNF’s scientific focus areas (Health, Sustainability, Life Science Ecosystem). Vice versa, projects that have their primary focus on the application side must describe and explain the novelty and impact of their data- and computational science approach, be it development of novel methods or novel applications of existing methods.
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.
In general, projects without potential applications within NNF’s scientific focus areas and/or projects with no novelty in terms of development or application of computational methods will not be funded in this programme. Projects where the primary focus is on financial or insurance, fraud detection, advertisement, commercial analysis, telecommunication, mass surveillance, defense, cyber security, gaming, etc., are considered outside of scope and will generally not be considered for funding.
Eligibility
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 our ‘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.
Funding
Each grant can be up to DKK 11 million over a period of up to five years.
The total annual grant budget for the 2024 Data Science Investigators Programme is up to DKK 75 million, across all three career levels.
Grant funding is available for:
- Salary for the applicant
- 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
- Direct administrative expenses
Application process
The application must be completed and submitted using the foundation’s application system NORMA that can be accessed via the link “Apply now”.
Please read “Information and Guidelines for Applicants” carefully before initiating the application process. The Guidelines provide essential information on the call and the application content and process.
Click here to see a list of former grant recipients.
