10 th Call for new Centers of Excellence. Professor Søren-Peter Olesen, CEO, professor

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1 10 th Call for new Centers of Excellence Professor Søren-Peter Olesen, CEO, professor May 2018

2 Overview 10 th application round 2

3 Life Cycle of a Center of Excellence Call Letters of Interest Center start Selected, peer-reviewed applications. Large, flexible grants (6+4 years). Max. 2 grant periods. Midterm evaluation After 5 years, the board decides which centers will continue Final evaluation After 9 years Prequalification Submission of full applications 1 ST PERIOD 2 ND PERIOD Potential embedment at host institution Year Annual follow-up meetings 3

4 What is a Center of Excellence? Group of researchers jointly pursuing an ambitious scientific idea Coherent research environment forming a physical community Center leader of high international standing Research training sites Clear center identity International Spillover to education/host institution 4

5 Center of Excellence No fixed formula The size of centers varies from 15 to +60 persons The size of grants varies from 36 to 65 million DKK for a 6-year period (incl. 44 % overhead for universities) The centers are based at Danish research institutions. International institutions can be included Most centers are interdisciplinary 5

6 Centers distributed among scientific fields 6

7 Selection and Assessment of New Centers of Excellence 7

8 Criteria The idea The center leader The team The structure/organization 8

9 The idea The research must have high scientific quality must be ambitious, visionary must be original and novel potentially ground-breaking research within all research fields DNRF wants to support bottom-up driven dream projects 9

10 The center leader an excellent and outstanding scientist with high international standing a visionary leader capable of fostering a creative and dynamic research environment someone who can build the right team and inspire others to deliver their best performance Leadership is essential! 10

11 Female scientists are very welcome to apply! Gender of proposed center leader in % at outline proposal, full proposals and grants th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th Outline Female Outline Male Full Female Full Male Grant Female Grant Male 11

12 The dream team 14 The average distribution of Full time Equivalent for the different staff groups in a CoE in Faculty Postdocs/Assist. Prof Ph.D. students Guest Scientists Research assistant Technical Personnel Admin Other 12

13 International hubs Center members from abroad (%) 100% 90% 80% 70% Guest scientists Postdocs 60% 50% 40% 30% PhD stud. Faculty 20% 10% 0% Faculty Postdocs Ph.D. students Guest Scientists 13

14 Outline proposals - 5 pages only An argument (1,500 characters) How will the proposed endeavor redefine the research field? Which new insights and results may it produce? Why this proposed team? A short description (1,500 characters) To be used to identify peer reviewers Presentation of the research idea compared with state of the art and a strategy for how to reach the goals (10,000 characters) Organization Competences/capacities incl. roles of co-applicants Methodologies and approaches How to establish a creative and dynamic research environment 14

15 Outline proposals CV for proposed center leader CV for co-applicants Description of institutional affiliation References to relevant literature Keywords International collaboration and recruitment Budget 15

16 Overview 10 th application round 16

17 Full proposals 15 pages peer review The outline proposal is developed into full proposal 15 pages In-depth peer review 3 written peer reviews are collected. The peers are chosen based on recommendations from external or internal sources. One of the peers is proposed by the applicant. The applicant is heard on the list of proposed reviewers professional complementarity and again on the reviews. 17

18 Peer review - basic principles Fairness Equal treatment of all proposals No overlap in peer reviewers Quality True peers Well argued reviews (not reduced to numbers, ranking/grading) Transparency Double open Extensive consultation procedure 30

19 Interview with applicants 25 minutes Center leader gives a presentation (~10 min) Discussion How will the research center change the scientific field, and what kind of impact can be expected? What are the great challenges and the corresponding high risk/high gain areas in the field? Why is the proposed team the right one to address these challenges? How will the proposed center leader make sure that the center will constitute a creative and inspiring scientific environment, in particular for its post-docs and Ph.D. students? How will the center relate to similar efforts, nationally and internationally? In particular: Which groups are the main collaborators and/or competitors? If you were granted a DNRF center would you then have other professional obligations than being a center leader? 19

20 Contract negotiation - inauguration The DNRF and the center leader negotiate with the host institution on co-financing and on plans for embedding the center after the end of the DNRF grant. New centers start in first half year of

21 Tips The DNRF board is your target group at first Explain how the project will redefine science and why exactly your outline proposal/application should get funded Be ambitious, daring and original Be concrete envision daily life in the center Ask advice from present and former center leaders Do not hesitate to contact the DNRF secretariat for advice 21

22 A strong international board Liselotte Højgaard, Chair Jesper Ryberg Christina Moberg, Sweden Minik Thorleif Rosing Bart De Moor, Belgium Morten Overgaard Ravn, United Kingdom Eero Vuorio, Finland Temporarily Vacant Anne Scott Sørensen

23 23 maj 2018

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