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Questions and answers to the Danish Council for Independent Research's call 2012

Here you can find answers to a number of the questions most frequently asked regarding the preparation and submission of applications under the 2012 Call for Proposals of the Danish Council for Independent Research.

Questions related to preparing an application

How do I locate funding opportunities?

You will find them in the section "What can be applied for?" in the Call for proposals.

How do I locate the mandatory appendices required for submitting an application?

By clicking "appendices" in the section 16 of the e-application form you will be guided to a list of mandatory appendices.

Am I allowed to apply at more than one research council, and how do I apply?

Yes you are. You may apply for funding of your project from several research councils, but you are only allowed to submit one application, including all the required appendices, to the research council which you deem be the central or main council for your application, based on the call’s description of the councils’ different scientific fields and delimitations. Please note the description on how to apply for funding of your project from several research councils in section 4.3 of the call.

Is it possible to submit more than one application for the same research council or the same instrument?

If you wish to apply for more than one instrument at the same deadline, you must fill in and submit a separate application form, including all mandatory appendices, for each instrument. This is also the case if you want to submit more than one application for the same instrument.

Will my chances for funding improve, if I submit other  appendices, deemed relevant by me but not required by the council in the call?

No they will not. You should only forward the appendices asked for in the call. Other material is irrelevant and will not be beneficial to your application.  

Must the Danish "popular science description" be included in the project description?

No, you only need to insert it in section 9 of the e-application form.

What happens if I am not able to produce a Danish "popular science description"? Am I allowed to produce it in English?

Yes you are, though the council prefers it to be in Danish.

Is there an economical upper limit when applying for Individual postdoctoral grants?

No there is not an economical upper limit, but there might be specific and different requirements from the five research councils.

Is it possible to apply for support for a ph.d. scholarship?

No, The Danish Council for Independent Research does not directly support ph.d. students. However experienced researchers may apply for funding of research projects where salary for ph.d. students may be included.

Is it necessary to fill out the council's mandatory budget template? How detailed must the information be??

Yes, it certainly is necessary. The information is used by the councils to assess whether the expenses that you have indicated are justified or not. It is difficult to define how detailed the information has to be, as it depends on the individual project.

The information has to be sufficiently detailed to allow the councils to evaluate whether all expenses are directly attributable to the proposed project, and are relevant and necessary in order to carry out the project. Conversely, the budgets should not account for every single Danish Krone spent.

Your application will be rejected without prior substantive consideration if you do not submit a detailed budget, see section 4.2 of the Call.

According to the call the detailed budget must include information about academic staff for whom VIP salary is not applied for. Why is that necessary? I find it hard to figure out the precise details of salary and operational costs of one or more of the participants.

The councils use the information to gain an overview of the project scope and to get an idea of the individual participants contribution to the project.

If participants are that important to the project that you choose to mention them in the application, the cost related to them  should also be reflected somehow in the budget. Therefore you should as a minimum have an estimate of their salaries and operational expenses.

Shall I include cv and publication lists for VIP's for whom salary is not applied for?

This varies in between the research councils and in between the various instruments. Please be referred to section 3 of the calls.

Where do I locate information concerning scientific/academic salaries? There are no exact figures in the call.

The previous calls did have standard rates for academic salaries. The Danish Council for Independent Research has chosen not to continue that practice. Instead the council refers to "overenskomsten mellem AC og Finansministeriet gældende for videnskabeligt personale, der aflønnes af Det Frie Forskningsråd".

Therefore please contact your (intended) employer for assistance regarding a precise salary estimate and read section 5.3 of the call. 

When will my application be processed?

The expected dates of processing is mentioned in section 3 of the call and a seperated webpage linked to below.

 

Am I allowed to apply for funding if I am not a Danish citizen?

Yes you are. Referring to section 2 of the call the council’s aim is to promote and strengthen Danish research, understood in a broad sense. Therefore, there are no requirements as to applicants’ citizenship, the location of research institutions or the specific venue for carrying out the research activities in question. In all cases, the assessment of your application will be based on the extent to which the project applied for will benefit Danish research. However, please note that a grant must always be administered by a hosting institution/unit.

Is it possible for me to apply for support even though my project is only carried out outside of Denmark?

Yes it is. However, the assessment of your application will be based on the extent to which the project applied for will benefit Danish research.

Please note that a grant must always be administered by a hosting institution/unit. Thus, all applications should include overhead according to the level that the administering entity is entitled to, see section 5.7 of the call.

If you want your grant administered by an institution/entity abroad, you should seek the approval from the foreign institution / entity, that it is willing to administer the grant according to the regulations of the Danish Agency of Science, Technology and Innovation.

What is overhead/administration expenses and how do I calculate it?

In section 5.7 of the call overhead/administration expenses and how they are calculated is explained. 

Find the calls here 

How do I contact the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation with questions regarding my application?

I section 7 of the call you will find the relevant contact information.

Please note that on days with application deadlines, you may call this number until 10:00 p.m.: (+45) 3392 9190. In addition to this, you can find answers to some of the typical questions about the e-application system in the FAQ section at our website: www.fi.dk/e-ansoegning.

Please contact your hostinstitution/host entity with questions regarding the content of your budget.

I have a question regarding tax. Can the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation advice me on that topic?

No it can not. Please contact the Danish tax authorities or a private company, as the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation does not have the competence on this matter.

When is my project allowed to start?

DFF does not grant funding retroactively, and therefore you can not apply for funding for activities already carried out at the time when the council makes its decision. All grants are awarded with effect from the date of the council’s decision or a later date. Please see section 3 of the call regarding dates of processing.

How many budget signature forms must I submit, if the grant is distributed to several institutions?

If the grant is distributed to several institutions, but administered by one institution only, then the administering institution must fill out the form "Budget Signatures".

Questions after submitting the application

How will I know if I have received a grant?

A list of granted projects is published on www.fi.dk as soon as grant decisions are approved by the council. Prior to the announcement the secretariat of the council is unable to inform you of the outcome.

I have received a grant letter. How do I ask for changes regarding the grant, for example regarding budget, project period etc. ?

You must fill the relevant forms availble on the webpage of the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation:

The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation will then process your request and, if necessary, contact the relevant scientific research council.

Questions should be directed to the Grant Administration Unit by e-mail () or by phone (+45) 3392 9200 on weekdays between 8.30 og 12.00 a.m.

Is it really true that applications received after the application deadline or applications without a CV as appendice will be rejected without prior substantive consideration? ?

Yes it is. Applications will be rejected without prior substantive consideration if they fail to meet the formal requirements listed in section 4.2 of the call. The research councils are obliged to treat applicants equally and among other things secure that no individual applicant has more time than another to submit his or her application.

For the same reason, the formal requirement in section 4.2 should all be met in order for the council to secure that competing applications are treated as equally as possible.

What happens after the council has made it's decision?

You will as the main applicant receive an e-mail containing either a grant letter or a letter of rejection. The grant letter will stipulate the conditions attached to your grant. In the rejection letter you will find  a brief refusal reasons that explain why your application has not led to a grant.