Carlsberg Foundation awards grants for basic research totalling DKK 613 million

How stable is Greenland’s inland ice and how is it moving? How can the use of AI in sentencing be done ethically? What can ancient landslides tell us about the processes that have shaped postglacial landscapes in Denmark? How can microorganisms in the guts of black soldier fly larvae be modified to produce more high-quality protein for use in animal feed? And what does the increasing use of audiobooks and e-books mean for the reading of literature in a digitalised society?

These are just some of the questions behind the broad spectrum of new research projects which will be carried out in the coming years thanks to funding from the Carlsberg Foundation. The projects will be led by both younger postdocs and established professors, all of whom now can convert their research ideas into concrete scientific studies that will give rise to new discoveries and potential solutions to challenges that may not even have been recognised yet.

Important to have high quality in all parts of the science food chain

Of the DKK 613 million awarded for new research activities, just under DKK 132 million is going to humanities research projects, DKK 155 million is being given to social science projects, and DKK 326 million is being awarded to research within the natural sciences.

All the funding has been awarded in open competition based on applications submitted to the Autumn Call 2024.

“The Carlsberg Foundation works to ensure that independent basic research in Denmark is in a strong state,” says the foundation’s CEO, Professor Lasse Horne Kjældgaard. “With our calls for applications for research funding, we therefore strive to maintain quality in all parts of the science food chain, which means ensuring that both younger and more established researchers have the opportunity to explore those basic science problems that they themselves – irrespective of current trends and political agendas – designate as important. So, it’s a great day when we can congratulate new grant recipients on being able to take their ideas a step further to concrete scientific studies.”

11 new Semper Ardens Advance projects

This year, 11 major Semper Ardens Advance grants of up to DKK 25 million have been awarded for the top career stage.

Semper Ardens Advance grants are five-year grants awarded to internationally recognised researchers wishing to carry out extensive and visionary scientific activities at the highest international level. This year, for the first time it was possible for up to four members of a PI team to apply for Semper Ardens Advance funding as a team. Of the 11 new projects, three are led by PI teams.

“This year, we would particularly like to congratulate the new recipients of our substantial five-year Semper Ardens Advance grants, which will enable the researchers to delve deeper into a complex scientific problem,” says Lasse Horne Kjældgaard. “I’m really looking forward to following the projects and seeing the results of the intensive research that I know will be carried out in the coming years.”

The other grants are being awarded under the following instruments:

Key figures on the grants

The autumn grants are based on a total of 818 applications submitted to the foundation by the deadline of 1 October 2024. 524 applications were submitted by male applicants and 286 by female applicants, while eight applicants preferred not to disclose their gender.

In total, the autumn call attracted applications for funding totalling around DKK 4.9 billion.

All applications submitted for funding under the Monograph Fellowship, Semper Ardens Accelerate and Semper Ardens Advance instruments were sent for international, external review prior to evaluation by the Carlsberg Foundation’s board of directors, which makes the final decision on the foundation’s grants.

In all, 188 grants have been awarded; 80 to female researchers, 108 to male researchers. Measured by number of applications where gender was disclosed, this gives an overall success rate of 28 percent for female applicants and 21 percent for male applicants.

DKK 740 million for independent research in 2024

The grants awarded in response to the autumn call 2024 bring the Carlsberg Foundation’s total funding for independent research this year to DKK 740 million.

Of this total, DKK 87 million has been awarded as project supplements under the agreement concluded between Universities Denmark and many of the Danish research-funding foundations in 2023 with a view to covering the indirect costs of foundation-supported research projects at the country’s universities.

Based on the agreement, the Carlsberg Foundation decided to raise the budget for 2024 by a double-digit-million DKK sum. The amount covering indirect costs in 2024 has thus been compensated for by an equal amount for concrete research.