DKK 149.8 million for new research academy
The Novo Nordisk Foundation is awarding almost DKK 150 million to the new NEXUS Research Academy, which will strengthen support for researchers in the post-PhD phase and promote collaboration across the cardiometabolic research field.
The Faculty of Health Sciences at Aarhus University will host NEXUS, a national academy that will bring together researchers across areas including diabetes, metabolism, endocrinology and cardiovascular disease.
A central part of the initiative will be support for researchers in the years following completion of a PhD. Approximately DKK 100 million of the grant has been allocated to two-year postdoctoral fellowships and flexible, part-time clinical postdoctoral fellowships. In addition, courses, workshops and scientific meetings will strengthen researchers’ competencies and create new collaborations across universities, hospitals and disciplines.
“Talented early-career researchers need better opportunities to develop their own ideas and establish independent research profiles. At the same time, they need access to strong scientific communities. It is precisely this combination of research funding, talent development and collaboration across disciplines that lies at the heart of NEXUS,” says Anne-Mette Hvas, Dean of Health and lead applicant for NEXUS.
“NEXUS reflects a growing recognition that cardiometabolic diseases are best understood as interconnected conditions. By bringing researchers together across disease areas and research disciplines, we hope to generate new knowledge that can benefit people living with – or at risk of developing – cardiometabolic diseases,” says Rasmus Borgquist, Director, Health, Novo Nordisk Foundation.
The academy will also strengthen collaboration with research communities in the other Nordic countries and involve, among others, patient organisations, clinical research environments, professional societies and the life science industry.
NEXUS builds on the experience and networks of the Danish Diabetes and Endocrine Academy (DDEA) and the Danish Cardiovascular Academy (DCA), which jointly developed the concept behind the new academy.
Work to establish NEXUS will now begin. The first call for applications for postdoctoral fellowships will open in 2027.
Contact
Dean Anne-Mette Hvas
Aarhus University, Faculty of Health Sciences
Telephone: 87 15 20 07
Email: dean.health@au.dk