Support letters for academic staff
Guidelines for academic staff support letters, which have to be signed by the Dean
Support letters, declarations of intent, expressions of interest in a broad sense in connection with applications within the following areas:
- Major research applications, for example the Centres of Excellence (Danish National Research Foundation), the Novo Nordisk Foundation's Laureate Research Grant or unsolicited research applications to private foundations, for example TrygFonden and A.P. Møller Foundation.
- Internal round of applications at AU, for example AUFF Recruiting Grant.
- The educational area, for example strategic applications to NordForsk.
Template for a letter of recommendation
- Title of the letter
E.g. Letter of recommendation - An introduction
State that you with great pleasure recommend the applicant (and specify his/her name) for the specific call, e.g. an AUFF Associate Professor Starting Grant, and that you to support his/her project. Write the name of the project on a separate line. - Qualifications
A brief paragraph about the applicant’s qualification that could include information about previous positions, number of publications, highlights in top journals, h-index, how the applicant is affiliated with Health and AU, etc. - Outcome and departmental support
A brief paragraph about the quality of the project, perspective and expected outcome if the grant is yielded and how you would support the applicant by offering an office, equipment, facilities, etc. - Concluding words
A brief, final ending of your degree of recommendation.
Procedure
An enquiry is sent to health@au.dk five work days before deadline.
- The enquiry must contain information whether the Head of Department support the application or not. Be aware that the support letter must be signed by both Dean and Head of Department. Applications with a rolling deadline must be submitted as soon as possible.
- A draft of the support letter must be in a Word document enclosed the call and the application. If there is no call, the enquiry must contain a brief description of the purpose of the application.
- Questions about co-financing from the Faculty must be settled before the signing of the support letter, and this must be evident in the enquiry.
- The Dean reds through the handed in material and takes a decision, whether he can meet the enquiry.
- If the Dean supports the application, the support letter will be signed by the Dean and the Head of Department, and the support letter will be sent to applicant with a copy to the Head of Department.
