The Novo Nordisk Foundation is expanding its commitment to the green transformation by creating a programme that will support numerous basic research projects each year, with a strategic perspective within industrial biotechnology and environmental biotechnology.
The Foundation’s ambition is to provide new knowledge that will lead to sustainable solutions that can address the environmental and climate challenges related to industrial production, such as production organisms, enzymes for carbon capture or biological methods to remove phosphorus from wastewater. An additional aim is to strengthen the research communities in these fields.
The target group is researchers in the Nordic countries, and the grants will be awarded in open competition based on the relevance of the projects and the excellence of the researchers.
“We definitely need to replace fossil resources in industry with biology-based solutions and to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to mitigate climate change. Our focus with this programme is to create knowledge that can form the basis for solutions that can broadly benefit water, land and air and protect them from the negative effects of industrial production and human activity in general,” says Claus Felby, Senior Vice President, Biotech, Novo Nordisk Foundation.
The new programme will thus focus on numerous projects that will create new knowledge about how biological systems and processes can be used in industry to improve the environment, including reducing the quantity of wastewater and improving its treatment and determining how to minimize the emission of greenhouse gases. The goal is to improve sustainability and reduce the environmental impact of industry. This is a major and growing challenge that requires extensive research efforts and other initiatives.
Researchers are therefore invited to submit projects that address these challenges. They will then participate in open competition for research grants. The Foundation expects to award about 25 grants each year.
“The green transformation is extremely important and a main focus of the Foundation. This programme aims to boost researchers from the PhD level and upwards. We will award grants in different Nordic regions and to researcher of various ages, so that we can strengthen the research communities now and secure the basis for future recruitment,” says Claus Felby.
Updated information on the opportunities to apply for grants will be posted on the Foundation’s website along with detailed information about the topics on which the applications must focus.
More information
The first round of applications for project grants and postdoctoral fellowships are open and will run until 27 August. For further information, see:
- https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/grants/project-grants-for-research-within-industrial-biotechnology-and-environmental-biotechnology
- https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/grants/postdoctoral-fellowships-for-research-within-industrial-biotechnology-and-environmental-biotechnology
Further information
Anders Rosendahl, Senior Communications Partner, +45 7730 1532, [email protected]
