Villum Young Investigator

Villum Foundation supports technical and natural sciences embedded in Danish universities and research institutions. The research can be curiosity-driven or aiming at societal challenges. In all cases, it must have a clear scientific objective.

In relation to ERC’s evaluation panels Villum Foundation supports as a rule ”Physical Sciences and Engineering” (PE1-PE10) and parts of “Life Sciences” (LS1-LS3, LS8). Cases may occur where the research falls partly outside the categories.

Projects with a purely commercial focus are not supported.

A Villum Young Investigator grant is expected to be a “defining grant” that enables the grantee to establish the first research group he/she will lead and allows the grantee to demonstrate independent leadership in science.

Applicants are not eligible if they have received an ERC Starting Grant, Sapere Aude Research Leader Grant, Novo Nordisk Hallas-Møller Investigator Grant, Carlsberg Foundation Distinguished Fellowships or similar grant intended to help promising young research leaders fund their own research group and establish their profile.

Applicants must have between two and eight years of research experience since completion of their PhDs.

Associate professors may not have more than two years' standing at the time of the application deadline.

If, at the time of the application deadline, applicants are employed by the university in a tenure-track programme, or have a tenured position, the applicant’s salary, if he/she is later chosen as a Villum Young Investigator, will continue to be paid by the host institution throughout the five-year grant period.

Any leaves of absence, such as working in the private sector, military service or sick leave, will be taken into account when determining how long an applicant has been employed as an associate professor. The extended period is calculated as the actual number of months of leave.

For applicants who have been on maternity/paternity or parental leave after obtaining their PhD, the period after their PhD can be extended by calculating the actual number of weeks of leave and multiplying that by 2.

The period of leave including start date and end date, must be stated in the CV.

The assessment and selection procedure is divided into two steps.

Step 1: The Villum Young Investigator Committee evaluates the applications based on the Terms of Reference and decides which applicants should be invited for an interview. 

Step 2: Based on the application and the interview with the applicant, the Committee recommends to the board of the Villum Foundation which applicants should receive a Villum Young Investigator grant.

• 21 March: Announcement of the call
• 6 June, 14:00/2 pm: Application deadline
• July – September: Applications are reviewed by the scientific committee
• Primo November: Selected applicants are invited for interviews/unsuccessful applicants notified
• 6-8 November: Interviews conducted by the scientific committee

• Ultimo December: Final grant approval/rejection notifications issued

  Unsuccessful applicants will have the opportunity to e-mail Head of Programme, Michel M.H. Kristensen after 1 December to discuss their applications and hear the rationale for not being invited for an interview.

• Chair Klaus Mølmer, Professor, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
• Catherine Heppell, Professor of Physical Geography, Queen Mary University of London
• Mikael Käll, Professor, Department of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology
• Mårten Ahlquist, Professor, Department of Theoretical Chemistry & Biology, KTH
• Owen Lewis, Professor of Ecology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
• Philip John Withers, Professor of Materials Science, The University of Manchester
• Rüdiger Urbanke, Professor, Communication Science Section EPFL   
• Stine Helene Falsig Pedersen, Professor, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen
• Søren Fournais, Professor, Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen

I have applied unsuccessfully for a Villum Young Investigator grant two times. Can I apply in 2024?
No, you can only apply in 2024 if you have not applied previously or applied only once, e.g. in 2022.

Can I apply for only three or four years of research?
No, the duration of the project must be five years.

What is meant by “research group”? 
A research group is made up of at least two researchers in addition to the grant holder/PI (for example one PhD student and one postdoc).

What is meant by “tenure track”?
Tenure track is a classification that relates primarily to a position at the assistant-professor level (assistant professorship/postdoc/researcher) in the running for a permanent position as associate professor/senior researcher. Please refer to the following links for further information:

http://employment.ku.dk/tenure-track/tenure-track-at-ucph/
http://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/faculties/business-and-social-sciences/empl...

If you are not in a tenure-track programme at the time of your application, your department will be asked to state that you have the scientific qualifications required to be considered for a tenure-track programme at a Danish university.    

What is meant by “two years’ standing”?
If you have been employed as an associate professor for more than two years prior to the application deadline, as indicated by your employment contract, you are not eligible for the Villum Young Investigator Programme. Any leaves of absence, such as working in the private sector, military service or sick/parental/care leave, will be taken into account when determining how long you have been employed as an associate professor.

The application system allows me to add co-applicants. Is this required?
No, the Villum Young Investigator Programme is not meant to include co-applicants. Our application system is used for all our programmes, some of which do allow co-applicants.

Is the PI required to spend 80% of his/her working hours on the Villum Young Investigator grant?
No, not necessarily. The PI is required to spend a substantial amount of time on his/her Villum Young Investigator grant project and at least 75% of her/his total time on work related to technical and/or natural sciences and education in general.

Health or veterinary research, i.e. research focused on the health of humans and animals, including nutrition, medicine, biomedicine, pharmacology and research within diagnostics and methods for examination and treatment.

Furthermore, applicants affiliated with departments whose main scientific focus is within these areas (including university health departments, hospitals, the Danish Cancer Society, DTU Health Tech and SDU Health Informatics and Technology) are not eligible to apply and will receive an administrative rejection.

The application must contain the following four documents:

1. Application. The application guidelines can be found below.
2. Budget. The budget template can be found below.
3. CV. The CV template can be found below.
4. Letter of support from your host institution.

Submit the above-mentioned documents as pdf files.