NNF-IAS Fellowships in Health and Sustainability 2027–2029: First Call on Inequity in Health

NNF-IAS Fellowships in Health and Sustainability 2027–2029: First Call on Inequity in Health

The first call in the Novo Nordisk Foundation–supported NNF-IAS Fellowship Programme offered five full-time research fellowships across four Nordic institutes. Its theme was Inequity in Health, and its 23-month appointments were scheduled to run from 1 September 2027 through 31 July 2029. The application deadline was 1 October 2026 at noon CEST. The official AIAS call page now marks that call closed, so this page is a historical reference and cannot be used to submit an application.

The programme itself is planned to run through 2032 and comprise four calls. The official programme material describes this first call as the first of four, but does not publish an application deadline or complete terms for a later call. Researchers interested in a future cohort should check the official programme page for an announcement rather than treating the first call’s rules or dates as current for a later round.

First-call facts

What the first call offered

The award was a salaried employment position rather than a stipend. Fellows were to work full time at one of the four main partner Institutes for Advanced Study: Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Centre for Advanced Study (CAS), Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS), or Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS). Salary and employment conditions depend on the host country’s rules and collective agreements, and the applicant guide describes the arrangements by institute. There is no single salary figure applicable to all five fellows.

The research-cost allocation was up to EUR 20,000 for the full fellowship. The official applicant guide says the budget should cover research-related expenses and mobility visits, with examples including data collection, travel, conference attendance, and publication costs. A budget proposal in euros had to be included in the application, justified against the project and work plan. The guide excludes salaries for research assistants from this budget and notes that a proposed amount would be negotiated if an award were offered. Applicants therefore needed to cost the planned work, rather than treat the maximum as unrestricted personal funding.

Relocation support was separate from that research budget. The programme described one-way relocation travel as subject to prior approval from the hiring institute and also offered relocation assistance. The fellowship was residential: the guide says fellows were expected to relocate to the host country for the duration. It also describes mandatory mobility stays at another NordIAS institute, typically lasting two to four weeks, and asks applicants to indicate partner or associated institutes for those stays.

Fellows were expected to join a collaborative theme group as well as the community of their host institute. The first group was to meet regularly and work across the four main partners, with the wider eight-institute network involved in mobility and programme activities. This structure matters when interpreting the call: it was designed for a defined individual research project that could also benefit from cross-disciplinary exchange, not for a remote grant with no participation expectations.

Research theme and fit

The call invited proposals from all disciplines that addressed health disparities or inequities, or the broader relationship between health and environment. Its examples included structural and social determinants of health inequities from Nordic and global perspectives, health innovations and technologies, equal opportunities, and health challenges connected with environmental developments. These examples were explicitly non-exhaustive. The applicant guide says a project did not have to study the Nordic region itself, but applicants had to explain the added value of doing the work in a Nordic research context, at an Institute for Advanced Study, and as part of a collaborative thematic group.

That requirement calls for a clear intellectual connection, not simply the insertion of health-equity terminology into an unrelated proposal. A strong fit would explain what inequality or environmental-health question the project investigates, what evidence or methods it uses, and why the IAS setting or the theme group would improve the work. A project based outside the Nordic countries could fit, provided the proposal made a credible case for the programme context and collaboration. The official list leaves room for work in the humanities, social sciences, health sciences, technology, and natural sciences when it connects substantively to the theme.

The first theme group had four leads associated with the main institutes: Christina C. Dahm at AIAS, Svenn-Erik Mamelund at CAS, David Schlosberg at HCAS, and Valbona Muzaka at SCAS. The host institutes provide different academic settings, so the guide encouraged applicants to consider each institute’s profile and relevant collaborations. Applicants had to identify two preferred hosts and justify both choices in relation to the project. The mobility test applied to both preferences, making the order of preference a substantive part of planning.

Eligibility rules in the closed call

Applicants could be of any nationality and come from any academic discipline, provided their research profile and proposed project fit the theme. The first call required between two and ten years of postdoctoral experience at the deadline. The guide defines this as time after award of the PhD, excluding doctoral training, and gives the eligible award-date interval as 1 October 2016 through 1 October 2024, inclusive. It also explains that documented career interruptions can affect the calculation: parental leave is weighted by a factor of 1.5, while other specified breaks such as sick leave or compulsory military service are deducted by their actual duration. The guide required applicants to record relevant breaks in the application materials.

The mobility condition was country-specific, not a ban on Nordic experience in general. Applicants could not have resided or carried out their main activity, such as work or studies, in the country of either preferred institute for more than 12 months during the two years immediately before the deadline. Parental-leave periods were deducted from that mobility calculation on a one-for-one basis. Applicants had to disclose the relevant countries and periods in a mobility statement and confirm its accuracy. Failure to meet the requirement for either selected host could result in disqualification.

The fellowships were full-time, onsite, and not divisible into part-time segments. Selected fellows were expected to reside in the host country for the appointment, take an active part in the Inequity in Health group, and join the wider programme activities. The guide also states that only one application per applicant was permitted for the call.

Application process and materials used for the first call

Applications were submitted through GrantOne. The call is closed, and the official page does not indicate that late applications are accepted. For the historical record, the applicant guide divided the form into applicant details, project/application content, and consent. The required uploads and key fields included:

1. Applicant and eligibility details. Applicants entered identity and contact information, nationality, current or most recent institution, department, academic title, and the exact PhD award date matching the diploma. They also supplied a short academic trajectory and a mobility statement, each with a 1,000-character limit, and described any relevant career breaks in the requested fields and CV.
2. Host preferences. Applicants selected a first and second preferred host from AIAS, CAS, HCAS, and SCAS. The form asked for a justification of up to 1,000 characters explaining the academic fit of both institutes and relevant potential collaborators. Applicants had to satisfy the mobility condition for both preferences.
3. Research summary and statements. The application included a project title, a short abstract of up to 600 characters, and short statements on novelty and relevance to the theme, benefit from participation in the theme group, planned Nordic mobility, ethical considerations, and any use of generative AI. These text fields had their own character limits in the guide.
4. Project description. A mandatory PDF of no more than three pages, including references, had to explain the research question, methods, plan, feasibility within the fellowship period, interdisciplinary and collaborative value, and expected outcome. The guide specified 11-point font and 2 cm margins.
5. Project plan and budget. Applicants uploaded a mandatory one-page timeline or Gantt chart that included planned mobility stays. A separate mandatory PDF budget in euros set out justified research and mobility costs up to the EUR 20,000 maximum. Salaries for research assistance were not eligible budget items.
6. CV and degree evidence. The mandatory PDF CV and publication list could be no more than ten pages and was to include education, career history, career breaks with periods where applicable, and selected recent or project-relevant publications. The PhD diploma was also mandatory; a certified English translation was required when the diploma was not written in the Latin alphabet.
7. Consent and declarations. The GrantOne consent step confirmed the applicant’s information, mobility statement, ethics information, and declaration of any AI assistance. The applicant remained responsible for the proposal and its accuracy.

The guide is the definitive historical source for page limits and application details. Applicants preparing for a later cohort should use that cohort’s own call and guide if published; they should not assume that its materials or eligibility conditions will be identical.

Published timeline and selection

The first call opened in June 2026. Applications were due by 12:00 noon CEST on 1 October 2026. The official timeline listed peer review and selection from November 2026 through February 2027, notification in March 2027, and the fellowship start on 1 September 2027. The appointment was scheduled to finish on 31 July 2029. The call page now states that the call is closed.

According to the applicant guide, applications first underwent an administrative eligibility check. An internal panel considered project quality, theme relevance, host preference and its justification, and the interdisciplinary dimension before deciding which applications moved to international double peer review. External reviewers assessed proposals in the relevant research areas. The guide lists scientific quality, methods, feasibility, impact, applicant qualifications and potential, collaboration, and fit with the theme and host environment among the assessment considerations. Shortlisted candidates could be invited to interview about their ability to collaborate across disciplines and their match with the theme group.

Programme status and where to verify updates

The official call page was revised on 1 October 2026 and marks the first call closed. The separate NNF-IAS programme page describes a programme running from 2027 through 2032 with four calls and four two-year groups, but publishes no dates, theme, eligibility conditions, amount, or application link for a later call. A planned multi-call programme is not evidence that a subsequent round is accepting applications. Accordingly, this archive keeps the first call’s actual 1 October 2026 deadline in the metadata and marks the page as historical; check the official pages below for any later announcement.

For programme status, check the official AIAS call page and the NNF-IAS programme page. AIAS coordinates the programme with the Nordic Institutes for Advanced Studies and is the organisation responsible for the official call page. The first-call guide and call PDF are linked from that page. General questions about the first call were directed to the programme manager at AIAS; institute contacts for CAS, HCAS, and SCAS are also listed there.