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26 SDU researchers receive grants from Independent Research Fund Denmark

The 26 research projects at the University of Southern Denmark will, amongst other things, investigate whether right-wing governments are in the process of establishing an alternative world order, develop sustainable food packaging that can reduce food waste and plastic consumption, and investigate possible links between exposure to PFAS and the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

By Susan Grønbech Kongpetsak, , 10/23/2026

26 researchers at SDU have each just received approximately 2.5 million Danish kroner (excluding overheads) from Independent Research Fund Denmark to pursue their own ideas that could lead to breakthroughs within their fields of research and advance Danish research.

The grants are awarded through the DFF-Research Project1 funding scheme, which is the fund’s largest funding scheme. In total, more than 584 million kroner is being awarded to 167 projects. This year, the SDU projects account for 15,5 per cent of the total number of grants awarded under DFF-Research Project1.

The 26 research projects are investigating:

In the field of Technology and Production

  • will investigate how electrical methods can become a promising alternative when examining biological tissue.

    Read more about the project

  • will investigate how natural antifungal agents can be developed into safe and effective treatments for resistant fungal infections.

    Read more about the project

  • will investigate how to develop a new generation of sustainable food packaging that can replace plastic while clearly showing when food is still fresh.

    Read more about the project

  • will investigate membrane transporters in cancer cells and how they can be used to slow the growth of cancer cells. 

    Read more about the project

In the field of Humanities

  • will investigate the relationship between rural and urban areas in modern Denmark as part of the research project ‘After the City’.

    Read more about the project

  • will, as part of the research project ‘Charging the Pill’, investigate Danish patient activism, taking as her starting point a high-profile case concerning harm following the use of the contraceptive pill.

    Read more about the project

In the field of Social Sciences

  • will investigate whether a new international order is taking shape amongst right-wing governments.

    Read more about the project

  • will investigate how class and military mobilisation are reshaping social mobility and masculine identity in modern warfare.

    Read more about the project

In the field of Medical Sciences

  • intends to develop a mathematical model, with the aid of artificial intelligence, that can predict an individual woman’s risk of developing precancerous lesions.

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

  • will investigate how the gut’s ability to repair itself following injury or inflammation can be utilised for new treatments and lasting remission of inflammatory bowel disease.

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

  • will investigate how to develop better laboratory models of the liver and support the development of new treatments for metabolic liver disease based on studies of gene regulatory proteins.

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  • will investigate how lung cancer cells survive. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, partly because some cancer cells survive treatment and later return in a more aggressive form.

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  • will identify molecular markers that link early life influences with disease, general health, ageing and mortality. 

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

  • will, amongst other things, investigate how the protein BANF1 regulates bone-forming cells. If the project is successful, it could form the basis for future treatments for osteoporosis and age-related bone diseases.

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

  • will investigate a new strategy to increase gene expression and also establish an online tool to predict pathogenic effects of 5’UTR sequence variants in order to improve molecular diagnostics in clinical genetics.

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  • is to investigate how it might be possible to detect hidden cardiovascular disease at an earlier stage using a simple blood sample.

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

  • will investigate whether there may be a link between exposure to PFAS and the development of Parkinson’s disease using human stem cell models and the brain collection at the University of Southern Denmark.

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

  • will investigate the link between exposure to PFAS and the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in the general Danish population. The researchers will use data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

    Read more about the project (In Danish)

In the field of Natural Sciences

  • is to investigate how chromatin and gene regulation are controlled in healthy and diseased cells. In the longer term, the findings may contribute to the development of new biomarkers and treatment options for cancer and other diseases.

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  • aims, through his project, to help address our ever-growing need to understand quantum phenomena by proving a Local Quantum Index Theorem that can be applied in a number of key cases which lie outside the scope of the local index theorem.

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  • is to develop artificial molecular machines capable of performing useful tasks when activated by electricity. More specifically, he is creating systems that can release small molecules, such as medicines, in a controlled and predictable manner.

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  • will investigate symplectic structures, which play a central role across science and technology. They arise naturally in classical and quantum theory, in quantum optics, and in quantum computing.

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  • aims through his project to provide fundamental new insights into the molecular mechanisms that govern the development of the human brain.

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  • will map the molecular mechanisms that control the expression of the leptin gene. Leptin is a hormone that plays an important role in regulating appetite, energy expenditure and metabolism.

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Brief overview of the Research Project 1 grants

The Independent Research Fund Denmark has received a total of 1,370 applications, and approximately 584 million Danish kroner has been awarded.

The funding has been allocated to 167 projects, and the success rate is 12 per cent based on the number of applications.

The funding has been allocated by the Foundation’s five scientific councils and the cross-council committee, which consists of the chairpersons of the five councils.

The budget for a DFF research project¹ is up to DKK 2,550,000, excluding overheads, and the project runs for three years. However, it may run for up to four years if PhD students are involved in the project.

Editing was completed: 23.10.2026