Purpose

Applications are invited for individual fellowships to support outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting research within plant science, agriculture* and food biotechnology. The intention of the fellowship is to enable excellent young scientists, to develop their own independent research area. Fellowships must be based at a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, or Sweden.

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.

The program will not support:

• Research primarily focusing on livestock, livestock commodities, and feed.
• Research with their main research component on nutritional uptake and clinical studies

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.

*Agriculture is here defined as terrestrial farming and cultivation of plants, including forestry.

Eligibility

Nordic Region

An applicant must either:

• have a PhD or equivalent degree obtained within 6 years of the application deadline date,

or

• be a PhD student who will defend her/his thesis before April 1, 2024.

As part of the application, applicants need to submit a host letter from the Nordic host institution and letters of support from other institutions supporting the fellowship.

Funding

The postdoctoral fellowship period can be from 1 to 3 years, of which at least 1 year must be used at the Nordic host institution. The duration of the fellowship should reflect the time frame of the research activities.

Funding up to DKK 800.000 per year is available for expenses including the fellowship recipient’s own salary and direct project costs, as well as up to 5 % administrative costs. An additional amount of up to DKK 100.000 can be included to cover costs related to research stays abroad exceeding 6 months.

Application process

Applications must be completed and submitted using the NNF’s application system following the instructions in the “Information and guidelines for applicants” pdf. Additional essential information regarding eligibility, funding and submission requirements is found in this pdf.

Click here to read more about the Evaluation Committee.