The purpose
The purpose of the NERD programme is to support creative, daring, and ambitious researchers within the natural and technical sciences, at any career stage after obtaining the PhD degree. The grant is aimed at supporting a single PI with ample funding, providing the required long-term stability and continuity to explore truly exceptional ideas with a potential application within the life sciences, health sciences or biotechnology.
Two-Stage evaluation
The NERD programme uses a two-stage evaluation procedure. At the first stage, applicants will remain anonymous to the evaluation committee. The top evaluated applications will proceed to the second stage, where the CVs and publication lists of the applicants will be included to assess the feasibility of the proposed projects.
To ensure that the PI will dedicate time and effort to the proposed research, during the year of commencing the NERD project, the applicant cannot have a grant portfolio as PI exceeding an annual total of DKK 4.0 million. Grants where the applicant is co-PI are not included in this total.
Eligibility
Researchers at any career stage after obtaining the PhD degree are eligible to apply. This includes for example independent researchers who have already established their own line of research and researchers who are in the process of establishing themselves as independent researchers. The applicant must be at least 80% affiliated with a university or other non-profit research institution in Denmark.
Support areas
The NERD programme supports fundamental research within the natural and technical sciences, including, e.g., physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and technical sciences.
The application must describe how the outcome of the project may have potential future applications in the life sciences, health sciences, or biotechnology.
Funding
The expected awarding budget for the 2022 call is DKK 126 million.
The timeframe of a NERD project is up to 7 years, with a total grant size of up to DKK 10.5 million (pro-rata for shorter projects). If the activities are primarily of an experimental nature, an additional DKK 3.5 million can be requested, for a total of up to DKK 14 million (pro-rata for shorter projects). Projects with a duration of less than 5 years will not be taken into consideration.