The Board of Directors decides the Foundation’s strategy, vision, payout ambition, the annual grant giving budget and the grants. The decisions on grants are decided directly by the Board of Directors, or on behalf of the Board of Directors by 24 expert committees, the Chairmanship and the Registered Officers that advice and implement the Boards’ decisions.
The Board of Directors decides all grants
The Board decides the purpose, the research field, the budget, the application and assessment criteria and the assessment process. The Board also decides the grant-awarding model; open competition, strategic awards, Steno Diabetes research hospital grants or grants for development of own initiatives.
The Board of Directors determines the financial framework
The Board sets the financial framework for each grant when deciding the annual budget.
The implementation of the decisions of the Board of Directors
A grant can either be decided directly by the Board of Directors or via annual mandate letters to expert committees, the Chairmanship and the Registered Officers. The expert committees, the Chairmanship and the Registered Officers implement the decisions of the Board of Directors by identifying projects and researchers among the received applications that fulfil the criteria the board has defined.
The Board of Directors approves the rules of procedure and the committee register
The Board appoints all the members of each committee and approves the rules of procedure of the committees. The rules of procedure and the annual mandate letter and committee register sets the scope and framework for how the committees’ implement the Board’s decision. The committees also serve as the Foundation’s window to the research community for grants awarded in open competition.
The Board of Directors selects the committee members
The Board has decided that the rules of procedures for each committee follow the best international standards. Hence, committee members are internationally recognized experts in their field who often have national and international experience as members of research councils and academic assessment committees. New committee members are selected based on recommendations from the committee or the Secretariat describing the potential member’s scientific credentials, thereby ensuring high expertise within the relevant scientific field.
The Board of Directors oversees the committees’ work
On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Secretariat supervises the committees’ activities within the framework decided by the Board.
The Board of Directors establishes the grant policy
The Board has established a policy on grants with grant-giving principles. The objective is to support projects of the highest quality.