In order to apply for a two-year 50%-financed Strategic Partnership postdoctoral fellowship, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

• Only postdoctoral candidates may apply for a postdoctoral fellowship. We encourage applications from both candidates affiliated with a Danish research institution and candidates affiliated with research institutions abroad.
• You must have a PhD degree or the PhD thesis must be accepted for defense at the time of grant notification*.
• Any previous employment as a postdoctoral fellow must not have exceeded three years in total at the time of application**.
• Your principal investigator can be associated with a Danish research institution*** or a research institution abroad. However, if your principal investigator is from a research institution from abroad, you must also include a co-principal investigator that is associated with a Danish research institution.
• For some part of your postdoctoral fellowship, you must be employed at a Danish research institution. Please also consult our Funding Terms.
• You must possess high-level English language skills (oral as well as written).

Please also consult our Funding Terms.

* 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 grant notification, which will be 11 December 2024. Within two weeks of grant notification, you must submit documentation from your PhD school verifying thesis acceptance for defense and the scheduled defense date. You must submit your PhD degree certificate to the DDEA Secretariat within six months of grant notification. Failure to obtain the PhD degree within this period, or if the PhD is not awarded, will result in withdrawal of the fellowship.

** For candidates to be employed at Danish research institutions, 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 new postdoctoral period at the same university.

*** Your principal investigator(s) must be employed at the research institution(s) where you will be employed and carry out your project.

Applications must be written in English and submitted via our online application form.

Please note that you must have a user login to the DDEA Grant Website before you can submit an application. 

You can edit and review your data before the final submission. After submitting your final 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.

Applicants are required to detail the contributions of the partnership and clearly delineate the collaboration between the Danish and the international partners in their application (see item 5). Documentation for collaboration agreements should be included (see item 11).

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, project title, names and affiliations of principal investigator and strategic partner

1. Abstract in English (half A4 page)

2. Lay abstract in Danish (half A4 page) (if you do not speak Danish, please ask your principal investigator 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
• Time schedule
• Literature cited

The page limit for the project description is five pages (font size 12, single spacing), including figures and tables, but excluding references. We will not consider applications with research plans exceeding the page limit.

4. Motivation letter (half A4 page), including an explanation of why you are the right candidate to complete the project and your 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.

5. A short description (one to two A4 pages) on how your research project relates to the four DDEA funding focus areas*: Internationalisation, interdisciplinarity, collaboration across sectors, and patient and/or public involvement (as four separate paragraphs). Importantly, the reviewers will also assess this part.

In the paragraph regarding ‘internationalisation’ you must include a description of the partnership between the two institutions involved in the project (the Danish research institution and the institution abroad), including the purpose of the partnership and why it is important for the project, a description of the commitment of each partner (e.g. lectures, access to facilities or specific technologies), how the partnership contributes to career development for you as a postdoctoral fellow, and how it supports and fosters a strategic partnership in the short term and the long term. Additionally, it is essential to obtain a formal endorsement, via a signature from the relevant departments, affirming that their department/ institution is committed to participating in the strategic partnership. Documentation for collaboration agreements should be included (item 11).

6. Recommendation letter and acceptance from your principal investigator and your co-principal investigator/strategic partner (i.e. from both the national and international partner), including:

• Description of the research environment where you will carry out the postdoctoral project and how this will contribute to a clear plan for career development for you as a postdoctoral fellow.
• Confirmation that you can carry out the postdoctoral project at the department where your principal investigator is employed and at the strategic partner institution.

7. 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 A4 pages).

8. Your publication list including journal impact factor and number of first author publications (no page limit).

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

10. Copy of your PhD diploma or statement from your principal investigator

11. Short Curriculum Vitae of your (main) principal investigator (max. two A4 pages).

12. Other relevant documents e.g. documentation for collaboration agreements between the two partners (email correspondance is sufficient documentation).

* The four funding focus areas of 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.
• Patient and/or public involvement (PPI): The application should include a separate paragraph that reflects on and outlines explicit plans and strategies for PPI in the study. It should be discussed how PPI can improve and contribute to this particular study and detail the benefits and relevance of the study for patients/users and society. PPI requires different approaches in various contexts, such as basic research, epidemiological research, and clinical research. Given the diverse nature of research disciplines and methodologies, the extent and manner of meaningful PPI will vary in applications from different research areas. However, it is imperative that all applications adhere to a baseline level of PPI, as outlined in our guidelines. Please see our guidelines for integrating meaningful PPI into your project proposal.

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 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 four funding focus areas: internationalisation, interdisciplinarity, collaboration across sectors, and patient and/or public involvement.

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.

We will inform you about the decision by 11 December 2024.

Funding Terms

We will fund the postdoctoral fellowship up to an amount of DKK 600,000, partly covering your salary during the two-year project (in 2025-2026).

Please note that we do not cover overhead or operating expenses. However, the postdoctoral fellowship also includes a travel grant of DKK 100,000 (specific funding terms will be outlined in the grant notification letter) and an opportunity to co-organise a DDEA education and networking activity (funded by DDEA).

We grant a 50%-financed Strategic Partnership postdoctoral fellowship provided that the funding for the remaining 50% financing is assured. The documentation of the remaining 50% financing in terms of a grant letter or the like (e.g. signed guarantee from principal investigator or head of department), must be submitted to the DDEA Secretariat at the latest 12 months after grant notification. Otherwise, the fellowship grant will be withdrawn.

If you receive another grant covering salary for the same project as described in your application to DDEA (except for the remaining 50% that you must find other funding for), we reserve the right to withdraw your postdoctoral fellowship grant or part of it.

Employment

Employment can take place at a research institution in Denmark or abroad and must take place within 12 months after grant notification. However, at least some part of your employment throughout the postdoctoral fellowship must be at a research institution in Denmark. Your host institution will be responsible for the employment of you as a postdoctoral fellow. We will have no influence on the employment other than allocating the grant to your host institution.

Of Importance, you cannot transfer the DDEA postdoctoral fellowship into an assistant professor or an associate professor position at any time.

Commitment to DDEA

As a DDEA grant recipient, we expect you to be an ambassador for DDEA, teach at courses and seminars offered by DDEA, participate in the DDEA activities in general, and submit an annual reporting of activities and research results deriving from the project.

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

For information about user login to the DDEA Grant Website, please contact the DDEA Secretariat at ouh.ddea@rsyd.dk or tel. +45 2466 9802 (Office Assistant Mette Roed).