The Candidate

• You must have a master’s degree from a Danish university or an equivalent degree from a foreign university by the time of application*.
• You must have completed your master’s degree within five years at the time of application (leave of absence and “hoveduddannelse” excluded).
• You must have research experience. An MSc can be considered as having research experience from the master’s degree thesis. An MD is expected to have research experience beyond the medical training (e.g. publications, submitted manuscripts, pre-graduate research year).
• Co-supervision is a requirement. You must have an agreement with a principal supervisor within the field of data science employed at a Danish university, as well as a co-supervisor within diabetes or classical endocrinology research affiliated with a Danish research institution.
• You must have a high-level of proficiency in English**.
• You must not already be enrolled as a PhD student by the time of receiving the grant notification letter (June 2024). This means that if you are already enrolled as a PhD student you cannot apply for or obtain funding, and we reserve the right to check with the relevant institution whether you are already as a PhD student.

The Supervisors

• The principal supervisor must be within the field of data science and be employed at a Danish university***.
• The co-supervisor must be within the field of diabetes or classical endocrinology research and affiliated with a Danish research institution.
• Both supervisors are expected to play a highly active role in the training and supervision of the PhD student.
• Supervisors cannot apply for PhD scholarships, only candidates may apply.

The Research Project

Your project must span both data science and diabetes or classical endocrinology research and must be aligned with the research scope of the DDSA/DDEA funder, Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Data science requirements:

• The proposed project may concern basic theoretical research, development of new data science methods and technologies, and/or innovative applications of data science to generate new important insights.
• Projects mainly concerned with methods development must argue convincingly for the potential application and impact.
• Projects that have their primary focus on applications of state-of-the-art data science methods must argue convincingly for the novelty and impact of their data science approach and for the importance of the new knowledge generated.

* If the exam is not yet passed, the applicant should enclose a statement from the supervisor of the Master thesis confirming when the thesis will be handed in and when the exam will take place. The Master’s degree certificate must be forwarded to the DDEA Secretariat no later than six months after receiving the grant notification letter. If we have not received your Master’s degree certificate six months after receiving the grant notification letter or if you do not pass the Master’s exam, the scholarship will be withdrawn.

** DDSA/DDEA expect high-level proficiency in English oral as well as written. Please be aware of the fact, that specific requirements can vary from one university to another with regards to English language skills. We refer to the individual PhD schools of the Danish university where you will apply for enrolment.

*** The main supervisor must be employed at the faculty at which the student applies for enrolment, and he/she must conduct research as an associate professor or professor within the subject studied by the PhD student. The main supervisor has overall responsibility for ensuring compliance with all formalities relating to the PhD programme. Please note that a main supervisor can only be main supervisor on one application for a DDSA-DDEA or DDSA-DCA PhD scholarship per application round.

Applications must be written in English and submitted through our online application system. Please note that you must have a user login to the DDEA Grant Website before you can submit an application.

Applicants can edit and review their data before the final submission.

For readability purposes, all documents must be prepared using standard fonts, font size 11-12, and line spacing between 1.15 and 1.5.

The main application document must consist of the following documents, merged into a single PDF-file in the order stated below:

0. Abstract in English

Half A4 page

1. Project description including:

4 pages, including illustrations but excluding literature cited

• Aim and specific objectives
• Background, significance and state-of-the-art
• Preliminary studies/results (if applicable)
• Hypothesis
• Research questions and methods
• Risk management strategy (“plan B”)
• Outcome and potential impact
• Literature cited

2. Data availability statement (optional):

Max. half a page

It is a prerequisite that the proposed research is conducted in agreement with The Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Furthermore, if the specific project contains elements of potential ethical concern, please enclose a statement describing these as well as a presentation of measures to ensure responsible research conduct. If the research requires approval from ethical committees, this should be stipulated along the expected approval processing time.

3. Description of project and candidate synergy including:

Max. 2 pages

• Description of which parts of the project you will perform independently and how you will address the research questions
• Description of which parts of the project other research team members will contribute to/be responsible for
• Description of how the project and you support interdisciplinary collaboration across the fields of data science and diabetes or classical endocrinology, including a description of how the described interdisciplinary collaboration will result in synergy between the collaborators and bridge the two research fields

4. Your CV including

Max. 2 pages

• Your educational background
• Additional qualifications and experiences you may have, for instance: studies abroad, pregraduate research, data science and programming experience, honours, experience with working in a research environment, participation in research conferences/ meetings/ presentations, teaching experiences, and publications (incl. the status of the paper: published/accepted/under review/preprint, etc.)
• Other documentation

5. Copies of your master’s degree and bachelor’s degree certificates including full transcripts of grades

If you have not yet finished your master’s degree, please enclose a statement from your master’s thesis supervisor including the expected date for handing in the thesis, as well as expectation of a successful outcome.

6. CVs of both the principal supervisor and co-supervisor

Max. two pages each

7. Statement of Support from Principal Supervisor including:

• Why he/she supports the candidate and the project
• Confirmation and description of the research environment where the PhD project will be carried out
• If available, signed confirmation from principal supervisor and /or head of department concerning expected or already granted funding of the remaining 1/3 of the scholarship (including 1-year of tuition fee to the university)

8. Other relevant documents

After submitting your application, you will receive a receipt of your application by email – if you do not receive this email, please contact the DDEA Secretariat to make sure that your application has been successfully submitted. Please note that the date of submission stated in the e-mail is the date when you created the application.

The DDEA secretariat will process all incoming applications. Applications not fulfilling the eligibility criteria and/or technical requirements will not be considered.

All eligible applications will be forwarded to the DDEA Grant Review Committee and DDSA FEC Sub-Committe for a scientific evaluation.

The selected candidate will be informed about the decision by June 2024.

Evaluation criteria

Applicant:

• Is the applicant appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work?
• Does the applicant have relevant research experience?
• Has the applicant expressed high motivation and commitment during the master studies?

Project:

• Significance: Does the study address an important problem?
• Approach: Are the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, and appropriate to the objectives of the project?
• Innovation: Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches or methods?
• Feasibility: Are the three years suitable for completion of the project?

Research environment:

• Does the scientific environment in which the work will be performed contribute to the probability of success/increase the feasibility of the project?
• Can the supervisors and collaborators sufficiently contribute to the completion of the PhD study?

Interdisciplinarity and cross-sectoral focus:

• Does the application promote interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research and describe how the synergy of research disciplines contributes to achieving the research goals of the project?
• Does the application contribute to viable networks and collaborations across disciplines and sectors?

Internationalisation: An international aspect, if relevant, is evaluated positively.

• Does the application contribute to position Denmark at an international level within data science in diabetes or classical endocrinology research?

The principal supervisor is expected to assist the candidate when submitting her/his application for enrolment at the PhD School.

Applicants must be aware of the fact that specific requirements can vary from one university to another e.g. required research experience, publication of articles in peer-reviewed journals, English skills.

Place of enrolment and employment

Enrollment must take place at a university in Denmark. Employment is full-time and will last for three years unless an agreement is made with DDEA. Employment will take place at the research institution (Danish university or hospital, or a private life sciences company in Denmark) where the PhD project will be carried out.

Enrollment and employment should be within six months after receiving the grant notification letter. If this is not achieved, the grant will be retracted. Upon enrollment, the enrollment letter must be submitted to the DDEA Secretariat.

If the PhD project includes close research collaborations between two universities (one Danish university and one university abroad), it is possible to obtain a joint or double PhD degree (according to the rules in force and Danish legislation), but enrollment must take place at one of the Danish universities (home university). For further information, the PhD candidate should contact the institution where she/he will be enrolled.

Terms of employment are according to the agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the Ministry of Finance.

PhD programme

The PhD programme must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities, Ministry of Higher Education and Science and the regulations and guidelines defined by the university where employment will take place.

Funding

DDSA/DDEA will fund the PhD scholarship up to an amount of DKK 1,100,000 covering tuition fee and the salary of the PhD student for two years during the three-year PhD project period. DDSA/DDEA do not cover overhead or operating expenses.

Full financing for three years is a prerequisite for being enrolled as a PhD student at a Danish university. Accordingly, DDSA/DDEA grant 2/3 PhD scholarship, provided that funding for the remaining 1/3 funding (including tuition fee to the university) is assured. If a submitted application does not include documentation of the remaining 1/3 funding in terms of a grant letter or the like (e.g. signed guarantee from principal supervisor and/or head of department), the 2/3 PhD scholarship will be paid out when the DDEA Secretariat has received documentation of the remaining 1/3 funding at the latest six months after receiving the grant notification letter. Otherwise, the PhD scholarship grant will be withdrawn.

If you receive additional grants covering salary for the project (except for the 1/3 salary not included in the grant from the DDSA/DDEA), the DDSA/DDEA reserve the right to withdraw your PhD scholarship grant or part of it.

For further information about the DDSA-DDEA PhD scholarships, please contact Head of Administration Tine Hylle at tine.hylle@rsyd.dk or tel. +45 2374 1691.