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Dedicated support for surgical research

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has earmarked DKK 60 million over the next 3 years for supporting surgical research to increase the level of experimental evidence in this field.

Surgery is a key part of the treatment for people with acute and chronic diseases. More than 235 million surgical procedures are performed per year worldwide. Despite this high number, many of the procedures are only supported by limited experimental evidence.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has launched a new programme dedicated to surgical research to enable researchers to obtain more knowledge in this field. The grants available under the programme range from DKK 100,000 to DKK 3 million over 1–3 years. The programme has an annual budget of DKK 20 million (€2.7 million) and will run for 3 years.

Stimulating research
The new programme is aimed at stimulating surgical research in Denmark by providing funds for experimental clinical work. It will provide surgeons an opportunity to apply for funds for dedicated research or scientific or technical assistance.

“We know that the workload is a major issue in most departments of surgery. Without the necessary time for research, developing better, more efficient and more gentle surgical procedures becomes difficult. This has led to unmet need within research. With the new programme, the Foundation wants to give surgeons the opportunity to free up time that can be dedicated to surgical research,” explains Niels-Henrik von Holstein-Rathlou, Head of Biomedicine and Health Research, Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Who can apply and for what?
The programme is open to all researchers based at public research institutions or hospitals in Denmark. The scope of the research project should be within surgery.

The specific research topics could be:

  • Randomized or non-randomized clinical trials;
  • Epidemiology;
  • Developing new surgical techniques or procedures; and
  • Preventive surgery, rehabilitation after surgery and the care of patients undergoing surgery.

The annual application rounds for the programme will start in autumn 2019. The programme will run for 3 years and then be evaluated. The application system opens on 24 July 2019, and the deadline for applications is 4 September 2019.

See further details in the announcement of the programme.

Further information

Christian Mostrup Scheel, Senior Press Officer, phone: +45 3067 4805, [email protected]