Application guidelines

Application

Project group has to consist of at least one Danish research institution. Aage V. Jensen Naturfond (AVJNF) appreciates projects with collaboration across several research institutions or with other professional or private organisations as well as international collaboration. AVJNF appreciates projects including training of students at all levels. Project proposals are submitted as a ‘Letter of Intent’.

Each project can expect a grant of DKK 4-7 over 2-5 years. The grant can finance PhD (including tuition fee) and postdoc’s and to a lesser extent (max. 10%) salaries of permanent scientific staff.

Application process – a 2-step process

Step 1: Letter of intent

The Letter-of-intent must contain the research idea, the connection between the research idea and the content of AVJNF’s research call. A template is provided.

Applications must be sent to the AVJNF through the application portal “GrantOne”. Subsequently, the Letter-of-intents are evaluated by an internal review panel. A selection of approx. 10-15 proposals will be invited to submit a full application.

Step 2: Full application

The full application must contain an extended description of the research idea and a description of the connection between the research idea and the themes of the AVJNF’s research call. The proposal will be evaluated based on the project description, the expected impact of the project, the plan for implementation, public outreach and the c.v. of the project participants. Further details on the expectations to the call are given below (Review process for applications).

Data collected in the project must be structured to accommodate an ongoing transfer to GBIF.

The applications must be sent to the AVJNF through the application portal “GrantOne”. Subsequently, the applications are forwarded to an external and internal review panel for evaluation.

Decision on the winning application

The external and internal review panel evaluates the applications and recommends the winning applications.

The Executive board will receive the review panel’s recommendation and decide on the winning applications.

You can read more about the evaluation criteria and process in the section about Review Process for the Applications at the bottom of this document.

Application formalities

Application guideline are found in the Application templates for Letter-of-intent (Step 1) and for Full application (Step 2). The applications must comply with the requirements specified in the template and must be written in English. The applications must be uploaded in GrantOne (accessible through AVJNF’s webpage) before the application deadlines:

• Letter-of-Intent deadline is 30 June 2026.
• Full application deadline is 10 November 2026.

Invitations for submission of full applications for Step 2 are expected medio September 2026.

Reporting to AVJNF

The project must report on progress annually in the lifetime of the project. The reports will be evaluated by AVJNF. The report must be filled in a reporting template and uploaded to GrantOnemailto:.

The annual report relates to:

• The progress of the project, i.a. cf. the predefined work packages and milestones, if any.
• Expenses of the project until now compared to the budget in the application.
• The results and output of the project such as publications, lectures, public outreach etc.

It is possible to stop the project at the review of the reporting if the progress of the project is considered too vague/non-existing. The AVJNF executive board makes this decision.

The PI must send a status about the publications and other project outputs to AVJNF two years after the final reporting. The status must be uploaded to Grantone.

Review process for applications

Establishment of the external and internal review panel

AVJNF will establish a review panel.

In the selection of the panel members, AVJNF will focus on the panel’s ability to cover the topics of the applications and with specific expertise in the themes of the research call.

The work of the review panel

The panel members use a scoring sheet for evaluation of the applications (see below).

Feedback and communication about the decision

After the AVJNF executive board decision on the winning applications, the director passes on this decision to the PI’s. Afterwards, a start-up meeting between the director and the PI will be planned.

The review panel’s evaluation of the applications: Scoring sheet

Each member of the panel must give scores to applications based on the below evaluation criteria and scoring sheet. The applications must be scored on a scale from 1-6, where 6 is the best. Project description is weighted 50%, Impact is weighted 20%, Implementation is weighted 20% and Outreach is weighted 10%.

Project description (weighted 50%)

• To what extent is the proposed work ambitious and goes beyond the current state-of-the-art in the field?
• To what extent is the proposed methodology excellent and goes beyond the current state-of-the-art in the field?
• To what extent will expertise and methods from different disciplines be brought together and integrated?
• How are the quality and appropriateness of the PI’s existing professional experience in relation to the research proposal?

Impact (weighted 20%)

• To what extent is the contribution and the expected outcome of the project contributing to the expected impact of AVJNF?
• To what extent will the project outcomes contribute to the development of novel research as well as economic and societal?

Implementation (weighted 20%)

• To what extent do the proposed PIs have the capabilities to successfully implement the proposed project?
• To what extent are the participants complementing one another?
• How is the quality and effectiveness of the work plan (including deliverables and milestones)?
• To what extent are efforts assigned to work packages (including timing and duration of the different work packages) appropriate and outlined in a GANNT chart?

Public outreach (weighted 10%)

• To what extent do the participants have experience with public outreach?
• How is the quality and innovation of the outreach to the public on the results of the project?
• To what extent are efforts assigned to outreach activities?

Finally, the overall strengths and weaknesses of the application are provided along with a conclusion.

Enclosures for applications

• Application template
• CV template
• Gantt chart
• Budget template