Who can apply?

In order to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

• You must have a PhD degree or your PhD thesis must be accepted for defense at the time of receiving the grant notification letter*.
  
• Any previous employment as a postdoctoral fellow must not have exceeded three years in total at the time of application. If you apply for a postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution, any previous employment as a postdoc (at the time of application) must not have exceeded two years – but in specific cases this can be negotiated (i.e. in connection with pregnancy or illness). Please note that you can only be employed as a postdoctoral fellow for a maximum of four years at the same institution (including the potential DDEA postdoctoral fellowship) according to the law and regulations by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education regarding job structure for academic staff at the universities for candidates who apply for a second postdoctoral period at the same university. You cannot transfer the DDEA postdoctoral fellowship into an assistant professor or an associate professor position.
• Your principal investigator has to be associated with a Danish research institution** (foreign candidates may contact the DDEA Secretariat that will assist by recommending a potential principal investigator associated with a Danish research institution).
  Please note that your principal investigator can be principal investigator on only one application for a DDEA postdoctoral fellowship (including co-financed DDEA postdoctoral fellowships with co-funding from life sciences industry and DDEA clinical postdoctoral fellowships) (per application round), and that principal 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).
• You must possess high-level English language skills (oral as well as written).

Only postdoctoral candidates can apply for a postdoctoral fellowship (i.e. principal investigators may not apply), and you can only apply for one postdoctoral fellowship per application round (i.e. you cannot apply for both a fully financed two-year DDEA postdoctoral fellowship and a 50%-financed DDEA postdoctoral fellowship with co-funding from life sciences industry or a DDEA clinical postdoctoral fellowship).

Employment

The DDEA has no influence on the employment of the postdoctoral fellow other than allocating the fellowship to the workplace of the postdoctoral fellow in question. Confirmation of the employment will be given by the principal investigator and/or the head of department of the respective institution where the candidate will be employed.

Employment must take place at a Danish research institution and will last for two years (special agreements will be negotiated with the DDEA for part-time positions), respectively.

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

The terms of employment shall be a mutual agreement between the postdoctoral fellow and the institution/university at which the research will take place.

Commitment to the DDEA

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

* If you do not yet have a PhD degree, you should enclose a statement from the principal supervisor of your PhD thesis indicating when the thesis will be handed in and stating when the defense is expected to take place. Your PhD thesis must be accepted for defense at the time of receiving the grant notification letter, which will be 12 December 2023. Within two weeks from receiving the grant notification letter, you will be asked to forward documentation from the PhD school where you are enrolled confirming that the thesis is accepted for defense and stating when the defense will take place. The PhD degree certificate must be forwarded to the DDEA Secretariat no later than six months after receiving the grant notification letter. If the PhD degree is not awarded six months after receiving the grant notification letter or if you are not awarded the PhD degree, the fellowship will be withdrawn.

** Your principal investigator must be employed at the research institution where you will be employed. Please note that a principal investigator can only be principal investigator on one application for a DDEA postdoctoral fellowship per application round (including co-financed DDEA postdoctoral fellowships with co-funding from life sciences industry or DDEA clinical postdoctoral fellowships). Further, please note that postdoctoral fellows whose principal investigator currently hosts a DDEA-funded PhD student or postdoctoral fellow are not eligible for funding under this scheme. Principal 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 investigator of this rule.

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 your principal investigator to help you write this abstract)

3. Research plan 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, studies abroad and/or clinical employment if applying for a part-time clinical position (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 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
• If you plan to continue your postdoctoral studies in the same department/institution as you conducted your PhD studies, please include a description of the advantages of continuing your studies in the same research environment
• Information about current position, place of work and name of principal investigator

6. Your Curriculum Vitae (including teaching experience, oral and poster presentations at important relevant conferences, assessment and review activities, received grants and/or awards, mobility and international experience) (max. two pages)

7. Your publication list with impact factor and number of first author publications (no page limit)

8. Copy of your Master’s degree certificate (including grades)

9. Copy of your PhD diploma or statement from your principal supervisor*

10. Recommendation letter and acceptance from your principal investigator and head of department:

• Description of the research environment where you will carry out the postdoctoral project, including a description of how the research environment will contribute to a clear plan for career development for you as postdoctoral fellow.
• A signed confirmation from the principal investigator and head of department that the project can be carried out at the institution where the principal investigator is employed.

11. Curriculum Vitae of your principal investigator (max. two pages)

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

13. Other relevant documentation (e.g. 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.

* If you do not yet have a PhD degree, you should enclose a statement from the principal supervisor of your PhD thesis indicating when the thesis will be handed in and stating when the defense is expected to take place. Your PhD thesis must be accepted for defense at the time of receiving the grant notification letter, which will be 12 December 2023. Within two weeks from receiving the grant notification letter, you will be asked to forward documentation from the PhD school where you are enrolled confirming that the thesis is accepted for defense and stating when the defense will take place. The PhD degree certificate must be forwarded to the DDEA Secretariat no later than six months after receiving the grant notification letter. If the PhD degree is not awarded six months after receiving the grant notification letter or if you are not awarded the PhD degree, the fellowship will be withdrawn.

*** 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 e-mail 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 that do not fulfil the eligbility criteria and/or the 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 Postdoctoral Fellowship up to an amount of DKK 1,200,000 (DKK 600,000 per year) covering the salary of the postdoctoral fellow for two years, i.e. 2024 and 2025.

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 postdoctoral fellowship grant or part of it. Please note that you cannot hold two grants covering your salary for the same project during the same period of time.

For further information about the postdoctoral fellowships, 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.