Novo Nordisk Foundation expands ambitious Challenge Programme internationally
Ella Day | April 30, 2025 | News story | Research and Development | Challenge Programme, Denmark, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacy, international
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Challenge Programme, a leading open competition grant programme, invites researchers outside of Denmark to participate and will significantly increase available grants for its 2026 edition. This reflects the foundation’s ambitions to develop internationally and advance its mission to tackle global issues.
For the first time, researchers in the European Schengen area, Ireland and the UK have been invited to apply. Additionally, the budget for 2026 has been increased by 25%, bringing the overall budget to €80m in total, reflecting its pursuit of international reach and impact.
Reflective of Novo Nordisk’s philanthropic commitment, the programme targets ambitious projects, giving them funding to study major social and environmental issues. Each year, new themes are curated based on applications received. Since its inception in 2014, it has awarded €375m to almost 50 projects. Funding is long-term to encourage ongoing collaboration between researchers.
The four themes for 2026 are ‘harnessing biology for climate-resilient and healthy soils’, ‘unravelling the pathways of human invasive fungal diseases’, ‘modelling human cardiometabolic disease’ and ‘biological systems under non-equilibrium conditions.’
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of Novo Nordisk Foundation, commented: “The expansion of the programme outside Denmark demonstrates that we are deepening our commitment to this global mission.”
Ella Day
30/4/25
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