Danida Fellowship Centre administers the support of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to research collaboration projects and research capacity development in Danida priority countries and in the emerging economies with which Denmark collaborates under the Strategic Sector Cooperation Facility. We manage the entire project cycle from the announcement of annual calls for applications to the completion of research projects. In this sense 2 calls are open to international cooperation:
Mobility grants
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (MFA) provides grants for development research activities as part of Denmark’s international development cooperation. Within this framework, the MFA invites applications for individual Danida Mobility Grants to facilitate the creation and development of international networks and research collaboration through research stays in Denmark by researchers from the growth and transition countries included in the “Partnering with Denmark” programme: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam.
Applications can be submitted continuously, i.e. no deadline has been set for this Call. The Call will be open in 2019 as long as funds remain.
Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC) manages the application process and the implementation of the mobility grant scheme on behalf of the MFA. The total budget frame for the scheme is DKK 5 million in 2019.
Who may apply? The visiting researcher must hold a PhD or equivalent qualifications, documented clearly in the CV and the researcher must be engaged in research within the country-specific theme selected for the research stay. The application must be submitted by the Danish host institution, i.e. a university or a research-based institution (public and private) in Denmark, or a Danish private company with a strong research profile.
The duration of the mobility grant project can be up to 9 months; however, the duration of a research stay in Denmark covered by the mobility grant must be between 1 and 3 months. The research stay has to start within 12 months after approval of the project. The maximum budget is DKK 200,000 (inclusive of overhead to the Danish host institution) for each grant. The grant can cover only one researcher’s stay in Denmark and only one stay.
More information about this first grant here.
Research grants
While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 constitute an overall thematic framework for development cooperation and research, the overall objective of the Danish support to research cooperation is to contribute to new solutions with new knowledge and new approaches, and to increase the countries’ capacity for creating and applying new knowledge themselves. In accordance with this objective, grants will be awarded to strategic research cooperation which generates new knowledge relevant to the needs and strategies of partner countries, to Denmark’s cooperation with these countries as well as including substantive elements of research capacity strengthening.
Eligible countries: The research must be implemented in a growth and transition country involved in the Strategic Sector Cooperation with Denmark. These are currently Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam
Phase 1 is the first step of a process in which applicants submit project ideas leading to prequalification. Phase 2 is the submission of a full application by those selected (“prequalified”). The deadline for submission of Phase 1 applications is1 February 2019 at 12:00 hrs. (Danish Time). Applications must be submitted in English and electronically via DFC eapplication system (e-fond).
Project duration and grant: The total budget available for this research window is approximately 60 million DKK. The funding is conditional on approval by the Danish Parliament of the 2019 finance bill. The expected duration of the projects is from 18 to 36 months with a maximum grant of 5 million DKK for each project. These initial (pilot) projects may be eligible for a subsequent funding phase on the basis of a competitive application round, assuming approval of a funding envelope for additional grants.
Main applicant: Applications can only be submitted by universities or by a research-based institution (public and private) in Denmark, which will be responsible for the grant. The project coordinator must have an affiliation to the applying institution.
Project participants: The application must list all partner institutions, including partners in growth and transition countries and possibly international and private sector partners. At least one researcher from each partner institution (project participant if private sector partner) must be named in the Phase 1 application. Research collaboration is considered an important means to strengthen research capacity. In order for research partners to benefit from the collaboration, partnerships should be equal, and partners should be able to contribute actively in preparing both Phase 1 and Phase 2 applications.
Research themes: The global 2030 agenda and the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute an important framework for development cooperation and research. Therefore, it is envisaged that research projects and collaboration with respect to the selected research themes will be undertaken within the context of the relevant SDGs and that these will be reflected in the justification for the research proposals. The thematic focus areas of the Call are country-specific and they have been determined on the basis of the focus of Danish strategic cooperation in the countries. The country-specific themes are as follows:
- Brazil:
- Intellectual property rights (IPRs): The overall focus of strategic sector cooperation (SSC) is to build the capacity of the Brazilian public administration within areas such as organisation, innovation, better regulation through quality management and control, as well as digitalisation through the introduction and adaptation of Danish best practices. A particular focus will be on intellectual property rights (IPRs), and will aim to enhance cooperation between the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) and its counterpart in Brazil, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). The handling of an excessive number of patent and trademark cases is a problem that affects the Brazilian economy negatively. Enhancing the capacity of the Brazilian IPR infrastructure and making it easier for companies to protect and enforce their rights in Brazil is important as “knowledge intensive” companies consider this a relevant parameter when deciding where to invest. Further research into intellectual property rights would be beneficial.
- Healthcare management and non-communicable diseases (NCDs): Brazil faces challenges in guaranteeing timely and good quality healthcare for all, not least due to a rapidly aging population and a major transition in terms of disease burden from predominantly infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Strategic sector cooperation (SSC) aims to ensure better, faster and universal access to quality healthcare services and products by supporting the development of more efficient healthcare management, focusing e.g. on improving productivity in the health sector and on initiatives to achieve better patient security and quality treatment, efficient daily operations and optimal long-term design of the different health care activities. Non-exhaustive focus areas are improving healthcare through better use of data and improving healthcare by introducing efficient and transparent approval processes for pharmaceuticals, taking into account the overall licensing principles of quality, safety and security. Further research into these topics could be undertaken.
- Colombia:
- Veterinary and food safety: The aim of the first phase of strategic sector cooperation (SSC) is to assist the Colombian authorities in improving the veterinary and food safety systems within pig value chains thereby contributing to safer production and products, a positive impact on public health, increased national pig production and access to the global market for pig meat. There is an emphasis on issues related to the regulatory framework and technical practices. In the second phase two new topics have been introduced: animal welfare and capacity building of small scale pig producers in post-conflict Colombia. Thus, research encompassing socio-economic dynamics and related to post-conflict areas would be relevant. Within the context of the SDGs, the gender dimension in improved production systems is also important.
- Mexico:
- Primary healthcare and non-communicable diseases: Several major development challenges are currently threatening Mexico’s healthcare system, including inter alia: i) a shift in disease burden from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental illnesses; ii) inequality in access to quality health services deriving from a fragmented healthcare system characterised by multiple providers; and iii) incoherence in primary healthcare. Strategic sector cooperation (SSC) aims at strengthening the primary healthcare system in Mexico in the light of the shared challenges in Denmark and Mexico resulting from a growing burden of NCDs and mental illnesses. Three complementary result areas are included: communication and referral mechanisms; IT-systems and digital communication; and efficient use of data equipment and telemedicine. Further research on these topics would be beneficial.
- Veterinary and food safety: The Mexican government aims to strengthen the pig production value chain with the purpose of achieving greater food safety and job creation, and to increase the supply of pig meat for both the home market and for exports. Mexican pig production is characterized by insufficient use and sharing of production and veterinary data, thus hampering the development of an efficient and safe production. In addition, there is potential for better documentation of the processes within the value chain, in order to facilitate the development of relevant programmes and policies based on information “from farm to fork” (i.e. traceability). In this context the focus of strategic sector cooperation (SSC) with Mexico is to improve productivity and food safety within the value chain for pork production. By strengthening the use of data in the value chain and identifying the relevant data to be produced, collected, managed and used, as well as the dataflow in the farm to fork perspective, the objective is to support the development of a more knowledge-based production and facilitate increased intra-sector cooperation within the value chain. Further investigation of the value chain would be beneficial.
More information about this grant here.