EFSD and Novo Nordisk A/S Programme for Diabetes Research in Europe

Deadline for submission of applications: 3 February 2025

Background

The European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) was created by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) to provide funding initiatives in all areas of diabetes research. The aims of EFSD are to encourage and support research in the field of diabetes, to rapidly diffuse acquired knowledge and to facilitate its application.

Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company, founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark. Our purpose is to drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases, built upon our heritage in diabetes. We do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to our medicines and working to prevent and ultimately cure disease. Novo Nordisk employs about 69,00 people in 80 countries and markets its products in around 170 countries.

Programme and Research Focus

To achieve the goals and objectives of this Programme, EFSD and Novo Nordisk invite applications by issuing this “Request for Applications” (RFA). The Programme is supported by Novo Nordisk through a donation.

The EFSD/Novo Nordisk Programme for Diabetes Research in Europe will accept applications from all fields of diabetes research including both basic and clinical research.

Mechanisms of Support and Review

Research will be supported through the award of grants generally up to Euro 100,000 for basic and/or clinical research projects. The definition of clinical research is a study performed in vivo in human individuals with focus on clinically relevant and diabetes-related topics.

Projects requiring higher funding than that specified above are also invited to apply to this Programme, i.e. applications may be submitted to complement funding for a larger project.

All projects need to provide comprehensive justification of their budget and a clear description of both, the requested amount from EFSD as well as the avialable funding for the project from other sources, if applicable (see Review Considerations).

In exceptional cases, applications for funding in an amount larger than Euro 100,000 and up to Euro 250,000 may be considered for funding. Here the additional relevant financial requirements need to be clearly justified and applicants should also indicate which part of the study will be feasible in the case of a Euro 100,000 award.

The duration of each award may be one year or longer, depending upon the needs of the project and as justified in the application.

Applications for an EFSD/Novo Nordisk grant are invited from single non-profit institutions or groups of such institutions from Europe and associated countries (for detailed country list, please see here). The Principal Investigator and any Co-Investigators must be employed at a non-profit institution in Europe or associated countries and the study must be performed at their place of work.

Applications will be subject to a scientific review by a specialised and independent ad hoc committee. It is anticipated that applications will be received, reviewed and approved for funding by May 2025.

Prior to any final decision on funding, and in order to offer applicants the opportunity to benefit from the review process, EFSD reserve the right to request revision to applications in accordance with the recommendations of the Review Committee.

EFSD may, at the suggestion of the Review Committee, recommend an award in a different amount from that requested, but which is considered more appropriate for the proposed studies.

Research Grant Applications

Applications for research grants may be subjected to pre-review (or triage) procedures. In this event, any application rejected at pre-review will not be subject to a complete scientific review, and no feedback report will be provided to the applicant.  

The deadlines for receipt of research grant applications for funding is 3 February 2025.

All budgets are to be prepared in Euro. For countries in which the Euro is not the common currency, the exchange rate (between the Euro and the local currency in the country where the work is to be performed) used for calculating the Euro budget must be mentioned under “Budget Justification”.

Application forms may be downloaded here:

Application Form

All applications must be prepared on the official forms and completed in strict accordance with the detailed instructions to be found on these forms. Applications which do not comply with the instructions given in the application form will not be considered for review.

Please send your application as one complete PDF email attachment to foundation@easd.org by 12:00 midday (CET) on the deadline date 3 February 2025.

Review Consideration

Completed applications will be evaluated in accordance with the criteria stated below for scientific/technical merit by an appropriate scientific committee.

Review criteria are as follows:

• Significance: Does the study address an important problem?  If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge be advanced?  What will be the effect of the proposed studies on human disease understanding and on the concepts or methods that drive this field?
• Innovation: Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches or methods?  Are the aims original and innovative?  Does the project challenge existing paradigms or develop new methodologies or technologies?
• Approach: Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the project?  Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
• Investigator: Is the investigator appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work?  Is the work proposed appropriate to the experience level of the principal investigator and other researchers, if any?
• Environment: Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success?  Do the proposed experiments take advantage of unique features of the scientific environment or employ useful collaborative arrangements?  Is there evidence of institutional support?
• Budget: Is the requested budget appropriate for the proposed study? Is the requested duration suitable for completion of the project?
• Contribution towards a larger research project: Is the work described in the application intended as part of a larger project? If so, is there any overlap? Is there a clear explanation how the new work will contribute towards the overall success of that larger project? Can financial feasibility be assessed (was a clear description given of the total costs of the whole project, the funding from other sources and the amount and purpose of the requested EFSD funding)?

Reporting Requirements and Approval of Funding

All funded applications will receive initial funding instalment upon confirmation of the approval of the Review Committee as appropriate. For one-year project 90% of the funding will be provided at the start of the programme while the remaining 10% will be paid upon submission of final scientific and financial report. For those projects where funding is distributed over a period of more than one year, the initial instalment will be 50%. A second 40% instalment will be paid upon submission of an interim progress report with the final 10% paid upon submission of the final scientific and financial report. All reports will be subject to assessment prior to the release of any further funds.

Investigators must provide EFSD with copies of papers accepted for publication and must acknowledge the support of the Programme in all written material by use of the phrase: "supported by an EFSD/Novo Nordisk research grant".

Funded investigators are expected to be willing to serve as reviewers for EFSD in the future.

Competitive Renewal

Applications for renewal of a research programme award will be accepted on a competitive basis, with the same review process as described in this Announcement. Such applications will therefore be considered in the same fashion as all other new applications received for review and without any special priority.

Schedule

Announcement: September 2024

Application Deadline: 3 February 2025

Anticipated Award: May 2025

Enquiries

Enquiries should be directed to foundation@easd.org.