Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme 2025

Purpose

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

• Enable creative, novel, high-risk/high-gain interdisciplinary research
• Provide long-term support of interdisciplinary collaborations and research ideas
• 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 Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme is designed to fund the exploration of novel 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.

The project is ideally founded on clear pilot data that support pursuing the novel and high-risk/high-gain idea over an extended project period of 4 years. If there at the application stage exists no pilot data, the applicants are encouraged to consider the Exploratory Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme.

Please be aware that the call deadline has been moved to 3rd of June 2025 (as the office is closed May 29-30, and that there will be no possibility of assistance).

Research areas:

Funding from the Interdisciplinary Synergy programme will generate novel, interdisciplinary approaches driven by research that aligns with NNF’s strategic focus areas of Medical Sciences, Biotechnology, and Natural and Technical Sciences, with potential applicability in health or sustainability.

Please note that if the proposed research falls within Natural and Technical Sciences, the applicant must explicitly state the research’s potential application in health or sustainability.

Funding

Up to DKK 19.5 million over 4 years per grant

Application process

Please read “Information and Guidelines for Applicants” carefully before initiating the application process. Essential information about eligibility, required content, the evaluation criteria, budget structure, etc. is found in these guidelines.

The application must be completed and submitted using the foundation’s application system NORMA that can be accessed via the link “Apply now“.