Application guidelines
Application
The project group must consist of at least one Danish research institution. Aage V. Jensen Naturfund (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 2-7 million 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 evaluation committee assesses the applications and recommends the projects to be funded.
The Board of Directors receives the committee’s recommendations and makes the final decision on which applications will receive funding.
Further information on the evaluation criteria and process can be found in the section Review process for applications at the end of this document.
Application formalities
The application guideline is 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 (through the ‘Apply’ button on the left side) 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 GrantOne.
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 during the review of the annual reporting if the progress of the project is considered too vague/non-existing. The decision lies with the AVJNF Executive Board.
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
Following the decision by the AVJNF Executive Board, the Director communicates the outcome to the PIs and subsequently schedules an initiation meeting with the PI.
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 will 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 project ambitious and innovative and does it create new state-of-the-art?
- How excellent and novel is the methodology?
- To what extent are expertise and methods from different disciplines integrated?
- How are the PI’s experience and competences assessed in relation to the project?
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’s 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?
- To what extent does the work plan demonstrate quality and effectiveness, particularly regarding deliverables and milestones?
- To what extent are the allocated efforts for each work package— including timing and duration — appropriate and clearly outlined in a Gantt 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?