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 staysin 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 esearch 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:
- Smart city water management
India is facing rapid urbanisation with an expectedincrease in the urban population of 400million by 2040. The Government is tackling this challenge by upgrading a hundred citiesthrough a smart cities programme, which includes water management. Strategic sectorcooperation (SSC) entails working with thecity authorities of Udaipur in the state of Rajasthanin efforts to improve urban water management by identifying efficient strategies and plans in anintegrated and sustainable manner. Danish partners are Aarhus Municipality and the waterutility AarhusVand A/S. The focus is on several sub-sectors including efficient and safe watersupply, non-revenue water remediation, sustainable waste water management including sewagetreatment and the remediation of lakes and rivers (in Udaipur). It is also intendedto use theexperiences and lessons from Udaipur to reach the national policy level. Research into smartcities water management would be appropriate.
- Renewable energy
Towards 2040 India is expected to account for 30 percent of the total global increase inenergydemand. In accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement (UNFCCC) on climate change, theIndian government has developed an ambitious nationally determined contribution (NDC)which includes: 40 percent of cumulative power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel basedenergy sources by 2030, and reduced emissions intensity of GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030from 2005 level. The renewable energy capacity in India is around 71 GW but the governmenttarget for 2022 is 175 GW and for 2030, 500 GW. Strategic sector cooperation (SSC) aims atassisting with the rapid rolling out of renewable energy. The focus will be on the developmentof offshore wind (5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030) while simultaneously offering assistanceto increase grid integration of renewable energy. In addition areas such as waste-to-energy,biomass energy, energy efficiency, on-and offshore wind R&D and testing, energy storagesolutions, electric mobility and fuel cells are high priority topics where there is considerablescope for research.
More details on this scheme here.