Who can apply?

In order to apply for a co-financed (1/3) PhD scholarship, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

• You must have a Master’s degree* or an equivalent degree from a foreign university by the time of application**.
• You must not already be enrolled as a PhD student at the time of receiving the grant notification letter (12 December 2023). This means that already enrolled PhD students cannot apply for or obtain funding from the DDEA. The DDEA reserves the right to check with the relevant institution whether you are enrolled as a PhD student.
• Your principal supervisor must be associated with a Danish university*** (foreign applicants may contact the DDEA Secretariat that will assist by recommending a potential principal supervisor associated with a Danish university).
  Please note that your principal supervisor can be principal supervisor on only one application for a DDEA PhD scholarship (including DDEA PhD scholarships 2/3-financed) (per application round), and that your principal supervisor may host only one DDEA-funded PhD student or postdoctoral fellow at a time (principal supervisors/investigators hosting a DDA-funded researcher with a grant from 2018-2022 are eligible to be involved in a DDEA application).
• A co-supervisor from a private life sciences company must be affiliated with your project.
• At least 1/3 of the remaining 2/3 funding must be covered by a private life sciences company (funding must be secured within six months after receiving the grant notification letter).
• You must possess high-level English language skills (oral as well as written) ****

Only PhD candidates may apply for a PhD scholarship (i.e. supervisors may not apply), and you can only apply for one PhD scholarship per application round (i.e. you cannot apply for both a 2/3-financed PhD scholarship and a 1/3-financed PhD scholarship with co-funding from life sciences industry).

Terms of employment

The selected candidate and her/his principal supervisor will be informed about the decision by the DDEA by 12 December 2023. The principal supervisor is expected to assist the PhD candidate when submitting her/his application for enrolment at the relevant university.

Place of enrolment and employment

Enrolment will take place at a university in Denmark. Employment will last for three years and take place at the research institution or private life sciences company where the PhD project will be carried out.

The PhD scholarship will be granted in December 2023, and enrolment and employment should be within six months after receiving the grant notification letter.

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), but enrolment 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 (PhD Order) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
• The regulations and guidelines defined by the university where employment will take place

Commitment to the DDEA

The selected PhD candidate is expected to participate in the activities and PhD courses offered by the DDEA, including annual reporting of activities and research results deriving from the project to the DDEA Secretariat. Further, the PhD candidate and her/his principal supervisor are expected to take part in teaching or organising DDEA educational and networking activities upon request.

* If the exam is not yet passed, the applicant should enclose a statement from the supervisor of the Master’s 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.

** Employment as a PhD student in Denmark requires a Master’s degree or an equivalent foreign degree, which must be approved by the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education. Approval can be requested by application to the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education through their website. Please see the database containing previous assessments of non-Danish qualifications (note the disclaimer on the page). Approval must be received no later than six months after receiving the grant notification letter and must be submitted to the DDEA Secretariat.

*** The principal supervisor must be employed at the faculty at which the PhD 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 principal supervisor has overall responsibility for ensuring compliance with all formalities relating to the PhD programme. Please note that a principal supervisor can only be principal supervisor on one application for a DDEA PhD scholarship (including co-financed DDEA PhD scholarships with co-funding from life sciences industry) per application round. Please note that PhD students whose principal supervisor currently hosts a DDEA-funded PhD student or postdoctoral fellow are not eligible for funding under this scheme. Principal supervisors/investigators may host only one DDEA-funded PhD student or postdoctoral fellow at a time (principal supervisors/investigators hosting a DDA-funded researcher with a grant from 2018-2022 are eligible to be involved in a DDEA application). Applicants are responsible for informing their principal supervisor of this rule.

**** The DDEA requires high-level English language skills, oral as well as written. Please be aware of the fact that specific requirements can vary from one university to another with regard to English language skills. We refer to the individual PhD schools of the Danish university where you will apply for enrolment for further information.

How to apply

Applications must be written in English and submitted via our online application form. You can edit and review your data before the final submission.

You must upload your application in one single PDF file.

The application should include the following documents, which should be numbered as specified below:

0. Title page: Name of applicant and project title

1. Abstract in English (half A4 page)

2. Lay abstract in Danish (half to one A4 page) with a short description of your project including purpose of the project and significance for patients/health care professionals/industry (if relevant) (if you do not speak Danish, please ask you supervisor to help you write this abstract)

3. Project description including:

• Specific aims
• Background and significance of the project to the research area
• Preliminary studies (if applicable)
• Research design and methods
• Literature cited

The page limit for the research plan is five pages (font size 12, single spacing), including figures and tables, but excluding references. Applications with research plans exceeding the page limit will not be considered.

4. Detailed time schedule for the course of study (including documentation for agreements regarding change of research environment and/or studies abroad (email correspondence is sufficient documentation)

5. Motivation letter (max. one page) including:

• An explanation of why you are the right candidate to complete the project
• Description of how the project and you support the three funding focus areas of the DDEA*****, including a description of how the described international collaboration creates actual value for the project, and how the described interdisciplinary or cross-sectoral collaboration result in synergy between the collaborators
• Future career plans
• Information about current position, place of work and name of principal supervisor

6. Your Curriculum Vitae (including documentation of research experience e.g. experience with working in a research environment, pre-graduate research, participation in research conferences/meetings, studies abroad, etc.) (max. two pages)

7. Your publication list including journal impact factor (no page limit)

8. Copy of your Master’s degree certificate (including grades (from both BA and Master))

9. Recommendation letter from your principal supervisor including:

• If available, a signed statement from your principal supervisor and the co-supervisor from the private company co-funding the PhD scholarship concerning expected or already granted funding of the remaining 2/3 financing of the scholarship (including two-year tuition fee to the university).
• Description of the research environment where you will carry out the PhD project, including confirmation that the PhD project can be carried out at the department where your principal supervisor is employed and at the company co-funding the PhD scholarship.

10. Short CV of your principal supervisor (max. two pages)

11. Collaboration agreement with other research groups nationally or internationally (email correspondance is sufficient documentation)

12. Other relevant documents (e.g. grant letter confirming funding of the remaining 2/3 financing of the scholarship (if available), recommendations, certificate of English proficiency)

After submitting your application, you will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application – if you do not receive this email, please contact the DDEA Secretariat at ouh.ddea@rsyd.dk 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 three funding focus areas of the DDEA:

• International collaboration: Such as study abroad; recruitment from abroad; and/or affiliation of collaborators from abroad. The collaboration can be documented by e.g. a collaboration agreement or an email from the collaborator describing the nature of the collaboration. The international collaboration must create actual value for the project and the applicant and it should therefore be incorporated in the project from the beginning.
• Interdisciplinary collaboration: Such as affiliation of collaborators from other research disciplines e.g. basic science, clinical science, epidemiology, psychology; and/or integration of different research disciplines in the project. The collaboration must be described in the research plan with regard to the description of the hypothesis, methods and/or idea development. The collaboration should result in synergy between the collaborators.
• Collaboration across sectors: Such as affiliation of collaborators from other sectors e.g. industry, general practice, university hospitals; formalized agreements with collaborators from other sectors; and/or change of research/work environment in other sectors. The collaboration can be documented by joint publications based on affiliation and educational background of authors, joint and funded applications, patent applications or spin-off companies. The collaboration should result in synergy between the collaborators.

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 submitted to the DDEA’s Grant Review Committee for a scientific evaluation. Evaluation of the applications will consider four evaluation criteria: 1) the applicant; 2) the project; 3) the research environment; and 4) the DDEA funding focus areas: internationalisation, interdisciplinarity and collaboration across sectors.

For further information about the evaluation procedure, selection process and evaluation criteria (including the DDEA funding focus areas), we refer to the guidelines for the DDEA grant review process and evaluation criteria for grants.

The DDEA will fund the PhD scholarship up to an amount of DKK 550,000 covering the salary of the PhD student for one year during the three-year PhD project period.

Full financing for three years is a prerequisite for being enrolled as a PhD student at a Danish university. Accordingly, the DDEA grants 1/3 PhD scholarship, provided that funding for the remaining 2/3 financing (including tuition fee to the university) is assured (at least 1/3 must be covered by a private life sciences company). If a submitted application does not include documentation of the remaining 2/3 financing in terms of a grant letter or the like (e.g. signed guarantee from main supervisor, head of department and the private company co-funding the PhD scholarship), this must be submitted to the DDEA Secretariat at the latest six months after receiving the grant notification letter. Otherwise, the scholarship grant will be withdrawn.

Please note that the DDEA does not cover overhead or operating expenses.

If you receive another grant covering salary for the same project as described in your application to the DDEA, the DDEA reserves the right to withdraw your PhD scholarship grant or part of it.

For further information about the PhD scholarships, please contact Managing Director Tore Christiansen: tore.christiansen@rsyd.dk, tel. +45 2964 6764 or Head of Administration Tine Hylle: tine.hylle@rsyd.dk, tel. +45 2374 1691.