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Borregaard Clinical Ascending Investigator

Novo Nordisk Fonden

To promote and strengthen Danish clinical and translational research at a high international level and to stimulate the continued development of excellent clinical research leaders, the Novo Nordisk Foundation seeks to support the consolidation of accomplished clinically active doctors with ambitious and clinically relevant 5-year research projects.

Research Field

The overall goal is to support medical research with relevance to patients and human health. The research fields could be within, but are not limited to: Patients and disease related research, translational and clinical research, research in: disease mechanisms; treatment methods; disease trajectories, epidemiology; diagnostic methods; public health and family medicine, intervention studies, register-based research, proof-of concept studies, pilot projects, initial clinical trials and clinical testing, biomedicine etc.

Funding

The 5-year grant amounts up to DKK 11,000,000 million. The amount needed to cover the salary of a qualified substitute, that will undertake part of the applicant’s clinical responsibilities during the project period, must be applied for and up to DKK 1.6 million per budget year can be allocated to direct project related expenses. 

Up to four Borregaard Clinical Ascending Investigator Grants will be awarded. 

Application process

The application must be completed and submitted using the foundation’s electronic application system, using the link “Send application”. Link is found at the top of the page and will be visible when the call opens.

It is very important, that the applicant carefully reads the guidelines, before initiating the application process. This document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Strong Strategic Alignment

Successful applications clearly align with the Foundation’s strategic focus areas — especially projects that:

Push forward health and biomedical research,

Advance sustainability and environmental solutions, or

Strengthen the life science research and innovation ecosystem.

Projects outside these core foci are generally not competitive unless they relate directly to one of these themes. Novo Nordisk Fonden

2. High Scientific Quality & Rigor

NNF looks for proposals with scientific excellence and methodological rigor:

Clear hypotheses and strong research design,

Well-justified methods and analytical approaches,

Evidence of feasibility and a credible plan to achieve aims.

This principle applies across research grants, whether in life sciences, data science, or the natural and technical sciences. Novo Nordisk Fonden

3. Societal and Real-World Impact

Funded projects generally articulate:

Clear value to society, such as improvements in health outcomes,

Solutions to societal or planetary challenges,

A credible route from research results to practical impact or policy relevance.

Applications that make the chain from idea → evidence → impact explicit score highly in reviews. Novo Nordisk Fonden

4. Clear Fit with Specific Programme Objectives

The NNF runs many distinct calls (e.g., Challenge Programme, Project Grants in Natural Sciences, NERD exploratory grants, Laureate Research Grants). Each has its own defined aims and criteria, and proposals aligned tightly with those definitions are far more competitive. For example:

Challenge Programme: ambitious, multi-institution consortia addressing major research themes. Discover Pharma

Project Grants: mid-range project support with clearly scoped objectives and deliverables. Novo Nordisk Fonden

Laureate Research Grant: for established biomedical researchers to build and strengthen research groups in Denmark. Novo Nordisk Fonden

Predictor: Carefully tailor your proposal to the specific call’s goals and guidelines.

5. Evidence of Feasibility and Team Capability

Competitive proposals demonstrate:

A research team with relevant expertise and track record,

Institutional support (e.g., host university or research center),

A realistic timeline and resource plan,

Clear management and execution structures.

This shows reviewers that the team is capable of delivering the project to completion.

6. International Collaboration and Leadership (Where Applicable)

Although many programmes remain Denmark-centric, NNF has expanded major calls (e.g., the Challenge Programme) to include international researchers, particularly for collaborations involving Danish partners. Discover Pharma

Predictor: Inclusion of strong international collaborators can strengthen proposals for globally relevant Challenge calls.

7. Clear and Realistic Budget Justification

Budgets must be:

Directly linked to the research activities,

Transparent and realistic,

Detailed enough for reviewers to judge resource needs.

NNF does not cover overhead costs and limits indirect costs to a small percentage of the total budget (e.g., up to 5% for administration). Novo Nordisk Fonden

8. Ethical, Legal, and Quality Standards

All funded research must adhere to applicable ethical, regulatory and research best-practice standards — including research integrity and compliance with local and EU norms. Novo Nordisk Fonden

Predictor: Clearly describing ethical oversight (e.g., IRB, data integrity) increases confidence in the application.

🧠 Additional Practical Strategies

Craft a Compelling Narrative

Explain:

Why the research matters in the context of the Foundation’s goals,

What gap in knowledge or application the project addresses,

How the project will be executed and assessed.

Match the Call Language

Read the call guidelines thoroughly — proposals that reuse the scheme’s own terms and objectives are more intuitively scored as aligned.

Build Consortiums for Big Challenges

For flagship schemes like the Challenge Programme, forming multi-institution consortia with clearly defined roles and complementary expertise greatly strengthens competitiveness.

Highlight Societal Impact and Translation Pathways

Describe potential translational outcomes — not just scholarly outputs — especially for health and sustainability programmes.

📌 Summary: What Reviewers Look For

Predictor	Benefit
Strategic alignment	Ensures relevance to foundation priorities
High scientific quality	Indicates likelihood of advancing knowledge
Clear societal impact	Demonstrates value beyond academia
Fit with specific call	Matches reviewer expectations
Feasible plan & strong team	Reduces risk in execution
International collaboration	Enhances scientific breadth
Detailed budget justification	Shows stewardship of funds
Ethical & quality compliance	Meets foundational standards

Specialties

Clinical Trials

Data Science

Eligibility Requirements

The project must be a 5-year project, and it must be anchored at a Danish university, hospital or other non-profit research institution.

Applicants must be a medical doctor and should have a Ph.D. or a dr. med. degree.
Applicants must be a qualified specialist physicians employed in full time clinical positions at a Danish hospital.
Applicants should be at the associate professor level or have similar qualifications.
Professors, incl. clinical professors, cannot apply for this particular call – but can apply for the foundation’s ‘Clinical Distinguished Investigator’ grant.
It is essential that applicant’s own salary must be covered throughout the entire 5-year project period. 
Applicants must have institutional support from the heads of both the clinical department and the department where the research is to be performed (hosting and support letters must be uploaded to the application, please see section 3.6).
‘Borregaard Clinical Ascending Investigator’ grants are individual grants at the disposal of the applicant. If the applied project involves collaboration, the collaboration and the nature of the collaboration should be described in the project description, but the applicant must be the clear driver of the project (it is not possible to have or register co-applicants for this specific call).

Applications from Master students, Ph.D. students and postdocs will not be taken into consideration.

An applicant may only submit one application to the NNF ‘Research Leader Programme 2025’ within all NNFs funding areas. If you submit more than one, the first application submitted will be evaluated, while subsequent applications will be administratively rejected.

Eligible Countries:

Denmark

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Novo Nordisk Fonden

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: Tuborg Havnevej 19 2900 Hellerup Denmark

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