Dara Open Fellowship Call - Winter 2026/27
Dara Open Fellowship Call - Winter 2026/27
grant amount
Up to 2,157,000 DKK
Period
Winter 2026/27
Application deadline
February 10, 2027
06 January 2027
Register for the Call Information MeetingIntroduction
The Danish Advanced Research Academy (DARA) is pleased to announce its Winter 2026/27 Call for PhD Fellowships. In this round, DARA will grant a total of 48 fellowships.
The aim of the DARA Fellowships is to support outstanding candidates in pursuing curiosity-driven research within areas of the technical, natural, and medical sciences.
The premise of the DARA Fellowship is to fund projects challenging prevailing assumptions, probing new scientific directions, or pursuing creative hypothesis. An eligible project should encompass a transformative idea with the capacity to spark new directions within fundamental research areas covered by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
A DARA Fellowships cover salary, tuition fees, indirect costs and travel expenses. Beyond financial support, DARA provides a dynamic setting that nurtures scientific development. Awardees will join an academy of PhD fellows drawn from Danish research institutions and from a wealth of scientific disciplines, offering relevant educational and networking activities with the ambition of cultivating a community of collaboration and scientific advancements.
Important Dates
Application deadline: 10th of February 2027, at 2 pm (CET)
Notification: Expected early July 2027.
Earliest start date: 1st of September 2027.
Latest start date: 1st of November 2027. Failure to comply will result in retraction of the fellowship unless an agreement is in place with DARA.
Scientific Scope
With this call, DARA will grant fellowships in two categories
- Open Fellowships - projects within the scientific scope of DARA in general
- Thematic Fellowships - projects within the predefined scientific themes
Open Fellowships (18 fellowships available)
The Open Fellowship category embraces proposals within fundamental areas of natural, medical, and technical sciences. Eligible scientific areas include research across:
- Fundamental Bioscience and Biotechnology – including biochemistry, molecular biology, synthetic biology and modelling of biological systems, enzymology, microbiology, environmental and industrial biotechnology, bioproduction, bioprocess engineering, agriculture sciences and plant-based food systems.
- Biomedical and Health Sciences – including cellular and organismal biology, developmental biology, genetics, pharmacology, experimental physiology and nutrition.
- Natural and Technical Sciences – including physics including biophysics, chemistry, mathematics, nanotechnology, material sciences as well as technical sciences.
- Data and Computer Sciences – including development of new algorithms, methods and technologies within data science or computational science, artificial intelligence, statistics, bioinformatics, and other computational sciences, as well as application of data science and computational sciences to areas like life science, biomedical- and health science, public- and global health, infectious disease, sustainability, green transition, agriculture, as well as natural and technical sciences.
The following non-exclusive list of research themes lists topics that are not within the scope of the DARA:
- Projects within social sciences or humanities
- Aquatic and marine research
- Cosmology and astrophysics
- Zoology
- Psychiatry and psychology
- Projects with an exclusive clinical focus in e.g. clinical trial(s) without follow-up fundamental research
- Urban planning, housing, engineering, and architecture
- Research on livestock and livestock derivatives
- Aquaculture and derived commodities
- Projects with primary focus on finance, insurance, fraud detection, advertisement, commercial analysis, telecommunication, mass surveillance, defense, cyber security, gaming, and similar
- Projects with a primary retrospective focus or of historical value
- Didactic research in science education and science communication
Applicants may pursue either mono- or interdisciplinary projects. In keeping with DARA’s mission, proposals should exhibit transformative potential, whether by opening new scientific frontiers, refining existing paradigms, or leading to tangible benefits for people and society.
Thematic fellowships (30 fellowships available in total)
With the thematic fellowships, DARA seeks to fund projects in prioritised scientific areas. In general, thematic fellowships must address an important research question within either of the themes and must at the same time adhere to the same scientific boundaries as the Open fellowships.
For each of the prioritised theme, a set number of fellowships has been allocated. The themes and the number of allocated fellowships are listed below:
- AgriFood – including proposals that seeks to promote the development of a plant-based food value chain by encouraging interdisciplinary research and innovation at the crossroads of agricultural and food sciences, aiming to reduce the need for land and natural resources while ensuring taste, nutrition, and affordability as well as sustainability - (4 fellowships)
- Cardiovascular Research – including proposals within cardiovascular research that advance fundamental, translational, and clinical understanding of cardiovascular diseases as part of the broader cardiometabolic disease spectrum, with the potential to improve prevention, diagnosis, clinical application and treatment for better short and long-term health outcomes. Of note, clinical research projects are welcome for the thematic fellowships within cardiovascular research - (9 fellowships)
- Data Science – including proposals within data science and computational science that advance new algorithms, methods, models, and technologies — including artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, bioinformatics, mathematical modelling, simulation, and related computational approaches — with the potential to generate new insights and solutions across areas life science, biomedical and health science, public health, infectious diseases, sustainability, and the green transition – (9 fellowships)
- Infectious Biology – including proposals within infectious diseases research that advance fundamental and translational understanding of human infectious diseases, including antimicrobial resistance, host–pathogen interactions, immune responses, and pandemic preparedness, with the potential to generate new tools, strategies, or technologies for prevention, detection, and treatment – (4 fellowships)
- Nutrition - including proposals within nutrition research that advance fundamental, or translational understanding of how diet, nutrients, food environments, and nutritional interventions influence health and disease – (4 fellowships)
The applicant will upon submission select if the proposed project falls within the Open category or within the Thematic one. In case of the later, the applicant must also choose which theme.
All proposals within the Open and Thematic categories will be evaluated in equal terms, and the reviewers have the right to change the distribution between the two categories according to quality of the submitted applications.
Eligibility
The DARA PhD Fellowships are open to all qualified candidates irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, nationality, or religion, in keeping with DARA’s commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive research community and to attract global talent.
Eligibility criteria:
• Applicants must be qualified for admission to a PhD program in Denmark under either the 5+3 model or the 4+4 model. Recent graduates as well as current students are eligible, provided they meet the admission criteria of their enrolling university. Future admission of the applicant is affirmed through a hosting letter from the head of department at the host institution.
• Candidates must have an agreement with a principal supervisor, holding a position of associate professor, professor, or equivalent at a research institution in the Danish Kingdom, including Greenland and Faroe Islands. It is the responsibility of applicants to identify and secure a principal supervisor; DARA does not act as a broker in this process. It is possible to name co-supervisors from the same or other institutions (including international ones). Co-supervisors should only be named in the project description or research environment description, as appropriate.
Important restrictions
The following restrictions apply to the applicant and the principal supervisor.
• Applicants can apply with one application per call.
• Applicants can submit up to three applications across DARA’s calls in total.
• The applicant cannot have started their PhD study at the time of applying.
• A supervisor can only act as principal supervisor for one applicant in each round. If a principal supervisor supports more than one application, only the first application submitted will be evaluated, while any subsequent applications will receive an administrative rejection.
• Principal supervisor may hold only one active PhD fellowship funded by DARA at any given time. This limitation does not apply to co-supervisors.
Funding and Fellowship Benefits
The DARA PhD Fellowship Winter 2026/27 Call will award forty-eight fellowships covering 80% the costs of a PhD enrolment in Denmark.
Each fellowship includes:
• Salary:
Up to 1,300,000 DKK to cover the PhD fellow’s salary for the duration of the PhD appointment (according to standard Danish PhD employment terms). Specific terms depend on the fellow’s host institution and enrolled PhD model.
• Tuition Fee:
Up to 190,000 DKK to cover PhD enrolment fees at the host institution.
• Travel costs:
67,000 DKK to cover international scientific travels, including conference participation and research stays.
• Indirect costs:
For Danish Universities:
Each fellowship includes a project supplement of 600,000 DKK, aligned with the agreement between Danish universities and selected private foundations in Denmark. The project supplement contributes to the coverage of indirect costs at Danish universities, and replaces budget posts such as administrative costs, bench fee and parental leave. More information on the joint model for project supplement can be found here.
Research institutions not part of the agreement on the project supplement:
- Up to 8.000 per month of employment covered by the grant or a total of 230.000 DKK in bench fee – please note that bench fee cannot cover rent, administrative support, representation, social contributions etc.
- Up to 5% of the total budget for administrative support.
Important rules
- The host institution must at the time of applying guarantee that the remaining 20% costs for the applicant’s salary and tuition fee are covered.
- DARA does not cover project-specific running costs. The supervisor should state how these will be covered from other sources.
In addition to the financial support, DARA fellows will
• have priority access to the academy’s educational and networking opportunities.
• be paired with an international mentor—an accomplished researcher in a relevant field from outside Denmark.
This structure is designed to ensure that each fellow has both the resources and the professional support required to conduct high-quality research.
Application Requirements
All applications must be submitted through the DARA online application portal. Applicants will need to create an account and fill out the online form as well as upload required material. The applicant is expected to play a leading role in the project development and application writing.
Please note that for a proposal to be eligible, it is also mandatory for the principal supervisor to upload documents in the portal upon invitation by the applicant.
Upon submission, the applicant must choose the primary scientific area relevant to the proposal, with the option to indicate additional secondary areas if relevant. In addition, should the proposal fit within one of the prioritised themes, the applicant is asked to pick which one.
Email or paper submissions are not accepted. Failure to comply with the restrictions given below may result in an administrative rejection.
It is strongly recommended to begin the application process early to account for any technical or documentation issues.
After submission, candidates will receive confirmation via email.
If you have questions, you can likely find your answers in our FAQs. We have one for PhD applicants and one for Supervisors. You can find them here:
If the FAQs didn't help, you're welcome to contact the DARA Secretariat for assistance (info@daracademy.dk).
Required Application Materials:
A complete application must include the following documents (in English). Please note all character-limits include spaces!
Provided by the applicant!
Summary of Research (up to 1,500 characters, including spaces)
Provide a concise summary of the proposed PhD project in layman’s terms. Emphasise the central research questions, hypotheses, methods, and potential impact. The abstract should be comprehensible to a non-expert audience.
Project Description (up to 12,500 characters, including spaces but excluding figures/tables and references)
The project description should in general describe the novelty and quality of the project and explain how the project aligns with scientific scope of DARA.
The project description must address the following:
- Scientific background
- Research objectives
- Methodology (including any experimental or analytical approaches with milestones and deliverables)
Please note that applications will be assessed by international experts with relevant knowledge but may not necessarily be experts in your given scientific field.
References
List of scientific literature cited in the Project Description.
Illustrations (optional)
It is possible to include a maximum of 3 illustrations with each proposal. Short, descriptive figure legends are allowed as part of the illustrations but should not be used as an extension of the proposal. DARA welcomes graphical abstracts and Gantt charts as part of the illustrations, but these are not mandatory.
Scientific and potential societal impact (up to 1,000 characters, including spaces)
Explain the expected outcomes and the scientific impact on your research field - and where possible, the potential societal impact on human and/or planetary health.
Research Environment Description (up to 2,000 characters, including spaces)
Describe the department or research unit where you plan to conduct the project, including a brief account of the environmental exchange if in place at the time of submission. The description should focus on facilities, infrastructure, or collaborations that will support your research, jointly addressing the feasibility of the project.
Motivation Letter (up to 3,000 characters, including spaces)
Describe your aspirations for this exact doctoral project, and how the DARA fellowship will contribute to your career development. Also, explain how you will contribute to the DARA community.
CV of the Applicant (up to 5,000 characters, including spaces)
Summarise your academic background, key achievements and relevant skills or training.
The CV must adhere to the following structure:
- Education
- List in what, from where and when you got your BSc and – if graduated – you MSc. Include your Grade Point Average (GPA) as well as the maximum possible GPA. Also, include grade of your BSc and – if applicable - MSc thesis.
- Where possible, list your % ranking relative to others in your class.
- Mention distinctions achieved during your education.
- Relevant Professional experience
- Any employments of relevance to the proposed research projects
- Skills
- Attained skills relevant to the methodologies in the research project
- Publications and/or conference abstracts
- If applicable, list your scientific outputs. Clearly state if publications are published, accepted, submitted or in preparation.
- Awards and honours
- Other relevant achievements
Appendices uploaded by the applicant.
Academic Transcripts
Upload official transcripts for your bachelor’s and master’s degrees, including individual grades (or equivalent). Applicants who have not yet completed their master’s degree should provide current transcripts and a note on expected completion from the master’s supervisor, confirming the expected completion date.
Transcripts should preferably include a concise overview of the grading standard used. In addition, we encourage non-Danish applicants to convert local grades into the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) grading scale, using the following table.
Budget
The budget should indicate the amounts applied for in project years. You must use the DARA budget template available for download here, with the 4th project year is reserved for applicants pursuing a 4+4 fellowship.
To warrant the budget, it should be signed by the head of department or another person with delegated financial responsibility from the host institution.
You can find an example of a filled-in budget sheet here.
Hosting Letter
Official letter of endorsement provided by the hosting institute/department and signed by the head of department. The letter should confirm that
- the remaining 20% of fellowship’s costs is guaranteed by the department.
- the candidate is eligible for admission to a PhD study at the host institution.
CV of International Mentor (optional)
If an international mentor has been identified, provide a short CV (max. two pages). The CV will not be considered in the fellowship’s evaluation.
Additional uploads
Applicants have the possibility to include additional uploads but keep this to a minimum and only include concise material pertinent to the scientific evaluation of the candidate. Previous publications, extensions of the project description, and expanded CVs are not allowed and will not be considered.
Appendices uploaded by the principal supervisor!
Principal supervisor Support Letter
The principal supervisor (associate professor, professor, or equivalent), located at a Danish research institution, must provide a letter endorsing the project. This letter should outline
- the planned training and mode of supervision provided to the student
- the available resources including co-funding of possible project-specific running costs
- the alignment between the proposed research and the hosting environment
- the number of active PhD students, currently under their supervision
If the project has co-supervisors or is part of a larger research group, these can be mentioned, but only the principal supervisor’s letter is mandatory.
The letter should remain concise (maximum 2 pages).
Short CV of the principal supervisor
The principal supervisor must upload a short CV (maximum 2 pages). CVs from potential co-supervisors are not required.
We do not accept materials submitted after the closing date.
Evaluation Procedure
The DARA secretariat will assess submitted applications for eligibility with the call, and eligible applications will then be assessed by specific fellowship committees, each comprised of international experts, covering DARA’s scientific scope.
Applications are assigned to three international experts from the primary committee selected. For applicants having selected an additional committee, one additional reviewer will be assigned from the given secondary committee. You can find an overview of committee members and the evaluation process in DARA here (link).
Reviewers are selected to provide balanced coverage of the scientific disciplines reflected in the proposal. Reviewers assess the proposals independently, focusing on the main criteria described below. There is no interview stage; the assessment relies entirely on the submitted application. Consequently, it is vital that each submission be as clear and comprehensive as possible.
Criteria for Assessment
Each application is evaluated based on two criteria:
Excellence and Potential of the Candidate - weighed 33%
• Assessment of academic achievements and prior training – mobility is not a requirement in DARA, and applicants will not be penalized for the lack of it.
• Where applicable, publication record, conference presentations, awards, or other evidence of research potential should be taken into account.
• Alignment of background and skill set with the proposed research, and the scientific potential of the candidate.
• The motivation of the candidate for pursuing the proposed research and for joining DARA.
Quality, Novelty, Feasibility, and Impact of the Research Project – weighed 67%
• Alignment with the scope, including an assessment of the transformative potential of the research question/hypothesis.
• Originality and innovativeness of the approach, methodology, or proposed solutions.
• Adequacy of the project design, work plan, and timeline.
• Feasibility of the project, both in terms of the right balance between being ambitious and realistic as well as the co-funding of project-specific running costs.
• Suitability of the host institution’s facilities, resources, and infrastructure.
• Strength of the research environment, including the principal supervisor’s expertise.
• Likelihood of generating new knowledge or impact within the given scientific field and/or societally on human and planetary health.
Fellowship Conditions and Expectations
Candidates who are awarded a DARA PhD Fellowship will join the academy as DARA PhD Fellows are expected to actively engage with the DARA community and opportunities.
Key conditions and expectations include
Fellowship and Employment
• Fellows will be employed as PhD students at their host university under the usual terms of that institution (including responsibilities such as teaching duties if required by the local PhD school). Fellows and supervisors must ensure timely enrolment in the PhD program and compliance with any university-specific requirements throughout the fellowship. Also, the PhD project must be conducted in agreement with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme from the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.
• The fellowship can only be used by the candidate and for the project described in the application. Double funding is not permitted, and should the candidate receive additional funding covering the same costs as the DARA fellowship, DARA reserves the right to revoke the fellowship.
• Fellows are expected to be enrolled and begin their PhD projects between 1st of September 2027 and 1st of November 2027, unless otherwise agreed with DARA prior to submission of the application.
DARA community
• Fellows and supervisors are obliged to participate in DARA’s flagship events and core activities. These prime events will include an annual DARA symposium and major workshops that bring together all DARA fellows and supervisors. Attendance at these events is central to networking, training, and building the interdisciplinary community that DARA strives for. Specific dates and details of these events will be provided to awardees well in advance.
• In addition to the major events, DARA will offer a variety of training courses, seminars, and networking activities throughout the year (e.g. specialised technical workshops, career development seminars, social networking meetups, etc.). Participation in these minor or supplementary activities is optional – fellows are encouraged but not required to attend.
• Fellows are expected to contribute to the visibility and branding of the academy by sharing their research, experiences, and achievements through DARA’s communication channels. This could be contribution to and participation in media activities, social media campaigns, and news stories on DARA’s website, as well as written features, interviews, photography, and video content.
• Fellows may suggest preferred mentors in the application (as noted above), but final arrangements will be made by DARA in consultation with the fellow and supervisor. If an applicant is successful and has named a potential mentor, DARA will consider those individuals. If no specific mentor is suggested, or if the suggested mentors are unavailable, DARA will assist in appointing a suitable mentor.
• Fellows will become members of the DARA community and are expected to uphold the academy’s standards of research integrity, collaboration, and professionalism. A code of conduct and fellowship agreement outlining detailed terms will be provided upon award.
By accepting the fellowship, the fellow and the main supervisor agree to fulfil the above conditions. DARA’s aim is to provide a supportive, enriching framework; compliance with the core participation expectations helps maximise the benefits for both the fellows and the broader DARA community.
We encourage motivated candidates to apply for these fellowships and become part of DARA’s cohort of PhD students. This as a unique opportunity to join a vibrant academic community dedicated to excellence and innovation across scientific disciplines. We look forward to receiving your application and wish you the best of luck in the selection process.
