Purpose

Many scientific challenges that have large implications for health and sustainability can only be addressed through interdisciplinary efforts. With the Exploratory Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme, Novo Nordisk Foundation seeks to strengthen the synergy between researchers, across disciplines, organisations, and national borders. The goals of the Exploratory Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme are to:

• Enable creative, novel, high-risk/high-gain interdisciplinary research
• Support early-stage research that requires interdisciplinary collaboration and solutions
• Stimulate emerging research that spans across scientific disciplines and techniques
• Break down or overcome the barriers that hamper collaboration across disciplines
• Strengthen Danish research through internationalisation

The Exploratory Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme is designed to fund the exploration of un-tested research areas that demonstrate the potential to have a high level of impact, i.e. high risk/high-gain. Specifically, this programme aims to support fundamental research between technology readiness levels (TRL) 1 and 2, as defined by the European Commission, and encourages the generation of preliminary data to guide researchers toward a more defined and expanded project stage. Opportunities for projects that have experimentally demonstrated proof of concept (TRL 3+) are available in other Novo Nordisk Foundation grant calls.

PLEASE NOTE:
The grant cannot be used to cover the main applicant’s or the co-applicant’s own salary. Guidelines has been updated May 2024 to include this sentence under Eligible Budget Costs, section 3.4 page 11 and first bullet point changed to:

• Salary for scientific employees in time-limited contracts e.g., PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, assistant/associate professors, researchers/senior researchers, laboratory administrators. Salary will not be covered for scientific personnel with time-unlimited contracts, applicants, or co-applicants.