Investigator Grants

Here we define an investigator grant as a large grant typically for a single group of researcher (not a collaborative project), where the only evaluation criteria is excellence: excellence of the researcher as well as the excellence of the project.

Investigator grants are often split by the career level of the applicant, usually this is by number of years post-PhD, but it can also be by the number of years you have been a professor or similar. For contact persons for each of the funding bodies, please check the relevant category in the side menu. The links below are to the external webpages of the different calls.

Starting and ascending investigator grants

EU Funding

Horizon Europe - ERC Starting Grant (PhD age is between 0-10 years): You can apply for Euro 1.5 million to your own groundbreaking bottom-up, high risk/high gain project (5 years). The research is expected to lead to advances at the frontiers of knowledge. You have to be an excellent researcher and have shown research independence.
Horizon Europe - ERC Consolidator Grant (PhD age is between 5-15 years): You can apply for Euro 2 million to your own groundbreaking bottom-up, high risk/high gain project (5 years). The research is expected to lead to advances at the frontiers of knowledge. You have to be an excellent researcher and have shown research independence (several important publications as main author).

Danish Public Funding

Danish Council for Independent Research – Sapere Aude, Research Leader. The starting grant is aimed at younger, very talented researchers with outstanding research results in their field. PhD age is from 2 to 8 years. You can apply for DKK 4.4 million excl. overhead for a duration of up to 4 years.

Danish Private Funding

Villum Foundation - Villum Young Investigator: Especially talented up-and-coming younger researchers (2-8 years after PhD) in technical and natural sciences for 5 years to start a research group. The applicant is a postdoctoral researcher, assistant professor or associated professor (no more than two years’ standing), and must have the scientific qualifications of a candidate qualified for a fixed-term or tenured position at a Danish university.
Villum Foundation - Villum Ascending Investigator: The programme targets researchers in the mid-stage of their independent careers who have demonstrated scientific excellence and are ready to expand their leadership role and consolidate their research vision. Applicants must have a PhD age of at least 9 years and be in, or recruited for, a permanent position at the Associate Professor or Professor levels. Professors must not have held their title for more than 5 years at the time of the application. The grant period is 5 years.
Carlsberg Foundation – Semper Ardens Accelerete: Outstanding newly appointed associate professors with international experience can apply for a grant to establish an independent research group or environment within natural science, social science and the humanities. At the time of application, the applicant cannot be more than two years into his/her tenured associate professorship position.
Carlsberg Foundation - Semper Ardens Accomplish: Five-year grants for recently tenured (maximum four years at the date of application) internationally recognised professors within natural science, social science and the humanities to pursue innovative and ambitious research projects. The funding instrument was launched 1st October 2023, and will be offered every other year.
Novo Nordisk Foundation – Emerging Investigator: With these grants NNF seeks to support and strengthen the development of the young and promising research leader in Denmark within the fields of a) bioscience and basic biomedicine, b) endocrinology, c) clinical, d) industrial biotechnology and environmental biotechnology, e) plant science, agriculture and food biotechnology, f) data science and g) natural and technical sciences (NERD). The applicant should be in the early phase of establishing his or her own research group, or a senior post doc who has matured to the point where s/he wishes to start-up his or her own research group (approx. 4-8 years after PhD and maximum 3 years of group leader experience).
Novo Nordisk Foundation – Ascending Investigator: With these grants NNF seeks to support and strengthen the consolidation of the excellent, younger to mid-career associate professors in Denmark within the fields of a) bioscience and basic biomedicine, b) endocrinology, c) clinical, d) industrial biotechnology and environmental biotechnology, e) plant science, agriculture and food biotechnology, f) data science and g) natural and technical sciences (NERD). The applicants should have their own research groups and individual research profiles,and have the ambition and potential to rise to the highest international level within their research fields (approx. 7-15 years after PhD).
Novo Nordisk Foundation - Distinguished Investigator: With these grants NNF seeks to support the most outstanding professors in Denmark within the fields of a) bioscience and basic biomedicine, b) endocrinology, c) clinical, d) data science and f) natural and technical sciences (NERD). The grant is for the outstanding professors who through several years continuously have demonstrated the ability to execute and lead research at the highest international level.
Lundbeckfonden - LF Fellows: Outstanding and promising young researchers (received their PhD within the last 8 years) can apply for DKK 10 million for 5 years to establish or expand their own research group within biomedicine, including science projects with a clear biomedical perspective. The fellowships may well attract Danish or foreign researchers from abroad who wish to move to Denmark and continue their research here. The call is also open for researchers at Danish universities and university hospitals.
Lundbeckfonden – Ascending Investigator: The research should be within the fields of neuroscience or biomedical, clinical or health science, or should facilitate research within these fields. Grant for experienced and independent researchers with a demonstrated ability to conduct original research at a high international level.
Leo Foundation – Dr. Abildgaard Fellowships: The Fellowships are supporting talented emerging research leaders in establishing an independent group in Denmark, including applicants from abroad, to pursue novel and important research questions within skin and skin diseases. Applicants within basic science must have between two and eight years of research experience since completing their PhD degree (calculated at the application deadline), i.e., be at the career stage of senior postdoc, assistant professor, or a recently appointed associate professor/senior researcher.