Data Science Collaborative Research Programme

Data Science Collaborative Research Programme is sponsored by Novo Nordisk Fonden. Aims to support synergistic research collaborations rooted in data science and computational science with immediate or potential future applications within areas of relevance to NNF's strategy.

Data Science Collaborative Research Programme 2026 - Novo Nordisk Fonden Data Science Collaborative Research Programme 2026 3 March 2026 2:00pm (Copenhagen time) December 2026 (non-shortlisted applicants will be notified of the status of their applications in early June 2026) Rules, grant administration and FAQ Up to DKK 40 million per grant Research Leaders (Established/Prof.), Research Leaders (Mid-career/Associate Prof.), Research Leaders (junior/non-tenured) Committee for Data Science Grant Manager, Grant Management Scientific Manager, Technical Sciences The Data Science Collaborative Research Programme aims to support synergistic research collaborations rooted in data science and computational science with immediate or potential future applications within areas of relevance to NNF’s strategy .

The goals of the Data Science Collaborative Research Programme are: To foster research collaborations between data scientists. To support research collaborations between data scientists and experts in other fields, including but not limited to medicine, biology, biotechnology, physics, chemistry, etc. To support an excellent academic research and education ecosystem within data science in Denmark.

To advance education and training courses in data science-related topics in Denmark. Research proposals which are eligible for funding should address: Development of new algorithms, methods and technologies within data science or computational science, artificial intelligence (incl. machine learning and deep learning), statistics, bioinformatics, and other computational sciences (incl.

mathematical modelling, simulations, cybersecurity etc.) Applications of data science and computational sciences to areas of relevance to NNF’s strategy , including life science, biomedical- and health science, public- and global health, infectious disease, sustainability, green transition, agriculture, as well as natural and technical sciences.

For projects mainly concerned with methods development, it is important that the applicants argue convincingly for potential application and impact within NNF’s scientific focus areas. Vice versa, projects that have their primary focus on the application side must describe and explain the novelty and impact of their data- and computational science approach, be it development of novel methods or novel applications of existing methods.

It is recognized that data science application and maturity will differ between disciplines and applicants within biotechnology and natural sciences are also encouraged to apply. In general, projects without potential applications within NNF’s scientific focus areas and/or projects with no novelty in terms of development or application of computational methods will not be funded in this programme.

Projects where the primary focus is on financial or insurance, fraud detection, advertisement, commercial analysis, telecommunication, mass surveillance, defence, cyber security, gaming, etc., are considered outside of scope and will generally not be considered for funding. The main applicant or at least one of the co-applicants must be a data science or computational science researcher.

The main applicant can be either a computational researcher (data scientist) or a researcher from a relevant application domain (medicine, agriculture, physics, etc.), who is associated to/employed at a university or institution in Denmark during the project period. The project may include up to 5 collaborators .

The proposed research project should demonstrate synergistic collaboration between different research groups, typically from different institutions/departments and different scientific disciplines. The co-applicant(s) can be anchored in Denmark or abroad. The total annual grant budget for the 2026 Data Science Collaborative Research Programme is up to DKK 99 million.

Each grant can be up to DKK 40 million over up to 5 years. The maximal size of the grant scales with the size of the collaborative consortia (maximally DKK 14 million for 2 partners, DKK 20 million for 3 partners, DKK 28 million for 4 partners, and DKK 40 million for 5 partners). The application process consists of 2 Phases .

In Phase 1 , a full application, limited to 30,000 characters (including spaces), should be submitted. After review and discussion in the committee, the top ranked applicants are invited for Phase 2 , in which they will present and discuss their proposed research projects with the review committee at the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

The application must be completed and submitted using the foundation’s application system NORMA that can be accessed via the link “ Apply now ”. Please read “ Information and Guidelines for Applicants ” carefully before initiating the application process. The Guidelines provide essential information on the call and the application content and process.

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