The Danish Heart Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation are excited to launch a new open call for research proposals on cardiovascular health in women. The initiative aims to close critical knowledge gaps in women’s cardiovascular health and address sex-specific differences, paving the way for equitable prevention, treatment, and outcomes for both men and women.
Funding Overview
- Number of grants: Three
- Funding per project: DKK 2.0–2.5 million
- Grant period: Up to three years.
The call for Letters of Intent is open from February 6. The deadline is March 21, 2025, at 2:00 PM.
Research themes
With this call, the Danish Heart Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation aim to address critical knowledge gaps in women’s cardiovascular health and foster innovation and transformative research. The goal is to drive meaningful change in care, clinical practice, policies, and health outcomes for women by focusing on areas of unmet medical need.
Researchers are invited to explore factors through the entire value chain of the life science ecosystem that contribute to better cardiovascular health in women– from biological mechanisms and diagnosis to treatment and prevention.
We invite proposals aligned with one or more of the following three themes:
- Theme 1. Cardiovascular disease in women, with a focus on clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and care.
- Theme 2. Basic, physiological, mechanistic, and translational perspectives of cardiovascular health in women.
- Theme 3. Future directions for prevention of cardiovascular disease in women.
Supported research may include, but is not limited to:
- Risk factors for cardiovascular disease across different stages of a woman’s life.
- Development of prevention strategies, such as sex-specific risk estimation tools.
- Biological and physiological factors influencing the development of cardiovascular disease in women, including molecular mechanisms, puberty, peripartum complications, menopause transition, genetics, and inflammation.
- Sex differences in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that are more prevalent in women or associated with worse outcomes among women.
- Describing and understanding sex-based differences in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy to improve cardiovascular health in women.
- Sex differences linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease in different geographical regions or ethnicities.
Frequently asked questions
Who can apply?
- The main applicant must have documented research competence (obtained PhD degree or higher) and have a strong research track record.
- The main applicant must be affiliated with a Danish research institution or hospital.
What expenses are eligible?
Applicants may apply for funding for the following types of expenses:
- Salary of the main applicant: Funding the cost of an existing position, such as a professorship, during the grant period. Budgets disproportionately weighed towards these salaries will be viewed unfavorably.
- VIP and TAP salaries: This includes scientists/researchers, research assistants, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, project coordinators, and employees paid hourly, such as transcribers, pre-graduate scholars, and statisticians.
- Operating expenses and utilities.
- Equipment required for the project: Limited to a maximum of 20% of the total budget.
- Travel expenses: This includes accommodation and registration fees for international scientific conferences directly relevant to the project, up to DKK 20,000 per project year.
- Collaboration activities.
- Advisory board and Patient and Public Involvement activities: Expenses such as travel costs.
- Publication costs: Including fees for scientific articles in Open Access journals, posters, and other knowledge dissemination related to the project.
What expenses are not covered?
Funding does not include:
- IT equipment, computers, and commonly available software: However, funding may be applied for IT equipment specific and relevant to the research project, such as specialized software or tablets for involving patients/citizens in the project.
- Administrative fees or other types of "overheads" at state, regional, or municipal institutions, including PhD fees and publication fees. However, funding for fees for scientific Open Access journals is allowed.
- Conference participants invited or funded by the pharmaceutical or medico industry.
- Certain medical doctor supplemental salaries: The following supplemental salaries are not funded: supplemental salary for being enrolled in the PhD study, PhD clinical assistant salary, supplemental salary related to specific functions, supplemental salary for being a PhD supervisor, decentralized- and disadvantage supplementary salary.
- Commercial activities.
Application process and deadlines
The application process consists of two steps:
- Submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) by March 21, 2025, at 2:00 PM.
- If your LOI is approved, you will be invited to submit a full application by June 20, 2025, at 2:00 PM.
Responses to applications will be provided by the end of 2025, with funding available starting in January 2026.
All LOIs and applications must be submitted through the Danish Heart Foundation’s online grant management system, SmartSimple. You may submit multiple LOIs, but only one full application as the main applicant.
In your application, please clearly identify one primary research theme from the three listed under ‘Research Themes’, even if your project addresses multiple themes.
For more details on the application process and SmartSimple, click the link ‘How to apply’ below.
Assessment criteria
All LOIs undergo an administrative review to ensure they meet the basic criteria of the call. If approved, applicants are invited to submit a full application. The applications are then evaluated by the Danish Heart Foundation’s external committees.
More details about the assessment process and criteria can be found by clicking on ‘Assessment of applications’ below.
Terms and Guidelines for Grant Recipients
If your application is approved for funding, your grant will be administered by either the Danish Heart Foundation or the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which will handle fund disbursement and project follow-up.
The frequency and method of project follow-up may vary between the two funding organizations. Detailed funding terms will be specified in a grant agreement with one of the funding organizations.
For more information about the general terms and guidelines from the Danish Heart Foundation, click the link below. More information about the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s terms can be found here.