NNF LAUREATE RESEARCH GRANT: DKK 50 MILLION AND AN INTERNATIONAL TOP RESEARCHER
"Our ambition is to strengthen research environments, and we would like to supplement this with external top researchers. We also want diversity in our research groups and we have broad recruitment strategies. Therefore, international top researchers with an NNF Laureate Grant are of great interest," says Thomas G. Jensen.
But finding a suitable candidate to apply for an NNF Laureate Grant and who wants to live and work in Aarhus is not something that happens overnight. First of all, you need to identify the candidates that you think can bolster and contribute to the department's research area. You consider researchers in the current networks of AU researchers, but you also look outside these networks. Then it’s time for a lot meetings and conversations.
” At first, this sounds like an attractive option. However, the candidate must be willing to dedicate a lot of time to the application, live in another country, possibly relocate his or her entire family, convince colleagues to join them, etc. There are many ducks to get in a row before the goal is reached," says Thomas G. Jensen.
So there was a great deal of excitement at BIOMED when, for the first time, an international top researcher joined the department via an NNF Laureate Grant. The researcher from Berlin has already taken up his position and things are looking good, says Thomas G. Jensen. And there are two more candidates on the way. So all the hard work paid off. Thomas G. Jensen stresses that many people at AU were involved in the process: Research colleagues, the International Office, HR, the Research Support Office, the Dean's Office, etc. And everyone did their part to ensure that AU now has an international top researcher via an NNF Laureate grant.
About the NNF Laureate Grant
NNF Laureate Research Grants are funding for outstanding and well-established researchers to come to Denmark to strengthen their research. Researchers within any area of biomedicine and/or biotechnology can be recruited to Denmark via the grant. The applicant must be employed at a non-profit research institution outside Denmark and must have carried out independent research as a research director for 7 or more years at the time of application. Researchers with less than seven years of experience can turn to the NNF Young Investigator award.
According to the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Aarhus University is proposing more candidates, and those candidates are excellent. However, the NNF Laureate Research Grant is not widely known among the relevant research environments.