The document summarizes information about the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) and its Centers of Excellence program. It provides details on the philosophy, funding, selection process, requirements and timeline for establishing new Centers of Excellence. The primary goals of the program are to strengthen Danish research environments through flexible long-term funding and by supporting ambitious, innovative projects led by top international researchers.

1. 8 Call for New
th
Centers of Excellence
Excellence – Trust - Transparency
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
Fall 2012

2. Præsentation:
- Head of Manuscript Department, The Royal Library
- Head of Research, The National Museum
- Director, Danmarks Humanistiske Forskningscenter
- Professor, dr.phil., The Danish National Archives,
and affiliated The University of Copenhagen
- Chair of research board, The Ministry of Culture
- Vice president of board, The University of Aalborg
- Board member, The Danish Research Foundation
2 6. sep 2012

3. Danish National Research Foundation
Focus on people
Excellence
Trust
Transparency
3 6. sep 2012

4. Philosophy of DNRF: Focus on people
Let the best people grapple with the problems
they are passionate about, and you set the
stage for real scientific breakthroughs.
DNRF calls for ‘dream projects’
4

5. Finance
 The Danish parliament, Folketinget, established the Danish National
Research Foundation in 1991 with capital of 2 billion DKK (≈ 265
million Euros).
 In 2008 the foundation was given an extra 3 billion DKK (≈ 400 million
Euros) and the capital will be entirely spent by 2026.
 The foundation annually distributes up to 400 million DKK (≈ 53
million Euros).
 Since 1991 the DNRF has committed itself to supporting Danish
research environments with 6 billion DKK (≈ 800 million Euros).
5 6. sep 2012

6. The DNRF Activities
The DNRF’s primary means to strengthen Danish research:
Centers of Excellence (CoE)
Other DRNF activities:
Niels Bohr Visiting Professorships
DNRF Professorships
International collaboration with
Max Planck Society, NSFC, CNRS, NSF
International Talent Recruitment Program
6 6. sep 2012

7. Centers of Excellence
7 6. sep 2012

8. Forskningen - generelt
 Må have den højeste videnskabelige kvalitet
 Må være ambitiøs
 Må være original og videnskabeligt nytænkende
 Kan inkludere en anvendt forskningsdimension (skal ikke)
 Kan have vægt på enten teoretisk dimension eller empirisk
 Skal være potentielt nybrydende grundforskning (alle
videnskabsområder)
8 6. sep 2012

9. Forskningen – Leder og idé
 Centerlederens drømmeprojekt
 Centerleder: ambitiøs, internationalt anerkendt, stærk
publikationsprofil, erfaren / nytænkende forskningsleder
 Forslaget skal være drevet af:
 den gode idé, nysgerrighed og originalitet
 spørgsmål og hypotese, ikke beskrivelse
 substans, klarhed – og relevans
 et klart afsæt i ‘state of the art’
 tværvidenskabelighed
9 6. sep 2012

10. Forskningsteam – og organisation
 Centerlederen vælger de folk, han/hun har brug for til at løse
forskningsspørgsmålene, ikke andre
 Hvis kompetencen ikke er på institutionen, så tænk i rekruttering
 2 – 5 gruppeledere, hver med delprojekt, som danner kerne-
styregruppen
 Tværfaglig ‘gitterstruktur’ (forskellige fag-kompetencer på samme
projekt)
 Klar ledelsesstruktur med en entydig beslutningskompetence
 International rekruttering: Post.docs og Ph.d’er
 Fysisk center med samarbejdsrelationer
 Advisory Board
10 6. sep 2012

11. Størrelse og placering af Center of Excellence (CoE)
Ingen fast model
 Størrelsen varierer fra 15 til 60 personer
 Bevillingen varierer from 36 to 64 mio d.kr. incl. 44 % overhead for en
6-års periode (cf. 7th Call)
 Centrene placeret på danske forskningsinstitutioner, som ofte
inkluderer andre danske og/eller internationale institutioner
 De fleste centre er inter- og tværdisciplinære
11 6. sep 2012

12. Forskningen – forslaget til ansøgning (prækvalifikation)
 Klar vinkling (skal kunne læses og forstås på 10 minutter)
 Klar identifikation af den innovative idé og hvorfor netop du/I kan
udføre den
 Begrundelse for, hvordan du/I bliver en del af den globale top 10
på 6 år
 Klar begrundelse for, hvorfor DG-bestyrelsen gør en forskel med
bevilling til netop dig/jer
 Journalistisk skrivemetode: Gem ej det bedste til sidst!
 Give 5 – 20 faglige nøgleord
 Husk du/I skriver til DG-bestyrelsen, ej til fagfæller
12 6. sep 2012

13. Life Cycle of a Center of Excellence
Center start
Selected, peer-reviewed
applications. Large, flexible
grants (6+4 years). Max. 2 Midterm evaluation
grant periods. After 5 years, the board
Call decides which centers will
continue
Outline proposals Final evaluation
After 9 years
Prequali-
fication Potential
Submission of full
applications embedment
at host
1ST PERIOD 2ND PERIOD
institution
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Year
Annual follow-up meetings
Annual reports
13 Sep 6, 2012

14. Call and Prequalification
Outline proposals
1. Outline proposals are submitted
electronically: www.dg.dk
2. The DNRF board processes the letters
of interest.
Preparation of
outline proposal, 3. A number of qualified applicants are
approx. 5 pages selected.
Board processing
14 Sep 6, 2012

15. The Selection Process
Call
Outline proposals
Inauguration
Applications
Processing
Preparation of Preparation of Peer review
outline proposals, applications, 3 international Contract
approx. 5 pages approx. 15 peers per phase
pages application
Board processing Board processing
15 Sep 6, 2012

16. The Application Phase
Application
The outline proposal is developed into a real
research plan for a 6-year period at a maximum of
15 pages, according to the guidelines set by the
DNRF.
Preparation of The application must contain:
applications, • a description of the scientific problem and the
approx. 15 scientific and social relevance of the problem
pages
• budget
• CVs for core workers
• an organizational plan
• a commitment from the host institution
16 Sep 6, 2012

17. The Processing Phase
Processing For each application, 3 written peer reviews are
collected. The peers are internationally recognized
within their fields of research.
The international peers are chosen following
counseling from national and international research
grant-awarding organizations (Danish research
councils, ESF and NSF). Applicant may suggest one
Peer review peer.
3 international
peers per
application The applicant is heard on the composition of
the panel and again on the reviews, with an
option to comment on them.
Board
processing
17 Sep 6, 2012

18. The Selection Phase
The DNRF board
chooses the Centers
Contract phase
When processing the
applications, the board
includes:
Inauguration
 the application
 the peer reviews
 the applicant’s comments In the contract phase, the
on the peer reviews DNRF and the center leader
 an interview with the negotiate with the host
applicant institution on co-financing and
on plans for embedding the
center after the end of the
DNRF grant.
18 Sep 6, 2012

19. DNRF board: A B C P scores
A) should be supported;
B) should be conditionally supported, further discussed, clarified,
etc;
C) should be rejected; or
P) shows the potential to deliver real transformative or
groundbreaking research, even though the proposed endeavor may
be considered very risky.
19 6. sep 2012

20. Number of Applications and Success Rates
 Approx. 140 outline proposals responding to the 5th and 6th call
(198 to the 7th call)
 Success rate on outline proposals ~ 20%
 27 applicants invited to submit full applications in the 7th round
(29 in the 6th round and 23 in the 5th round)
 Success rate on full applications/final decision ~ 30%
 11 new centers have been selected for funding in the 7th round
 Overall success rate ~ 6 %
20 Sep 6, 2012

21. 15-20 % 30-40 %
success rate success rate
6%
success rate
21 6. sep 2012

22. The primary criterion is
scientific excellence – peer reviews
22 6. sep 2012

23. Basic Principles in Peer Review
 Fairness
 ’Equal treatment’ of all proposals
 No overlap
 Quality
 ‘True peers’
 Well argumented reviews (not reduced to numbers, ranking/grading)
 Transparency
 ‘Double open’
 Extensive consultation procedure
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24. Transparent Process
Transparent and open process ensures that:
 the peers have the right scientific profile
 conflict of interests are exposed
 the evaluation is high quality and legitimate
But…
 it is time consuming
 the wording of the peer reviewers’ opinions are not as direct as in
anonymous reviews.
24 Sep 6, 2012

25. Composition of review ‘panels’
 High scientific standing, complementary
competencies
 One reviewer who has been proposed by the
applicant
 Extensive consultation process (external sources)
Some statistics:
To get 1 reviewer we need to ask 2-3. 1% declines due to open process
60% of all reviews considered A – only 4% C by board in 6. round
25 6. sep 2012

26. Centers and Board
26 6. sep 2012

27. Centers of Excellence:
Strengthening the Organization of Danish Research
The DNRF Centers of Excellence work as role
models for increasing the level of:
 organization
 talent nursing
 talent recruitment
 training
 professional administration
 professional management
in publicly funded research in Denmark

28. Annual follow-up meetings – keeping in close contact
Each center is visited annually by:
 Chairman, 1-2 board members, director and research adviser
 Research progress, financial and administrative/organizational matters
etc. are discussed
 Every other year informal meetings with postdocs and/or PhD students
 Selected topics (internationalization, fraud, scientific communication,…)
Annual meetings for all center leaders and board members etc.
Annual reports
28

29. The DNRF board
Klaus Bock,
Eivind Hiis Hauge
Chair
Bo Honore Svend Erik Larsen
Birte Svensson Birgitte Possing
Kirsten Hastrup Gunnar Öquist
Pirjo Nuutila
Thomas Sinkjær
Director
29

30. List of active Centers of Excellence
 Centre for Quantum Optics  Centre for Autobiographical Memory Research
 Nordic Centre for Earth Evolution  Centre for Particle Physics & Origin Mass CP3 – Origins
 Centre for Individual Nanoparticle Functionality  Centre for Particle Physics – DISCOVERY
 Centre for Inflammation and Metabolism  Centre for Symmetry and Deformation
 Centre for Genotoxic Stress  Centre for Materials Crystallography
 Centre for Social Evolution  Centre for GeoGenetics
 Centre for mRNP Biogenesis and Metabolism  Centre for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces
 Centre for Insoluble Protein Structures  Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate
 Centre for Oxygen Microscopy and Imaging  Centre for Star and Planet Formation
 Centre for Viscous Fluid Dynamics  Center for Medieval Literarure
 Dark Cosmology Centre  Center for Dynamic Molecular Interactions
 Centre for Language Change in Real Time  Center for Permafrost Dynamics in Greenland
 Centre for Textile Research  Center for Frictional Finance
 Centre for Models of Life  Center for Nanostructured Graphene
 Danish Arrhythmia Research Centre  Center for International Courts
 Centre for Molecular Movies  Stellar Astrophysics Centre
 Centre for Research in Econometric Analysis of Time Series  Copenhagen Center for Glycomics
 Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signalling  Center for Vitamins and Vaccines
 Centre for DNA Nanotechnology  Center for Quantum Devises
 Centre for Epigenetics  Center for Geomicrobiology
 Centre for Ice and Climate
 Centre for Massive Data Algorithmics
 PUMPKIN, Membrane pumps in cells and disease

31. Centers Distributed Among Scientific Fields
The DNRF has so far funded 88 centers. At the moment 49
centers are active. The centers are funded for up to 10 years,
typically with grants of 50-100 million DKK for a 10-year
period.
31 Sep 6, 2012

32. www.dg.dk

33. 8th Call – Summary
8th Call. Deadline for outline proposals:
End November 2013
Inauguration of new centers January 1st, 2015
 Stiff competition/get through the eye of a needle
 Big effort
 The organizational plan must match the research projects
 Ambitious and original research (potentially ground-breaking)
 Basic research/frontier research
 Adequate and flexible funding with long-term time frame
33 Sep 6, 2012

34. Tips for Outline proposals/Application
 The DNRF board is your target group at first
 Explain how the project will redefine science and why exactly
your outline proposal/application should get funded
 Should be ambitious and original
 Ask advice from present and former center leaders
 Do not hesitate to contact the DNRF secretariat for advice
34 Sep 6, 2012