Current calls and posts
You can receive help with the administrative and economical aspects of applications, grants, contracts and collaboration agreements as a researcher at the School of Communication and Culture.
News
Changes to the ERC work programmes 2026 and 2027
We are awaiting a draft of the next ERC work program for 2026, which will contain some significant changes compared to last year’s work program. Changes both to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply, see the news on ERC’s webpage.
There are delays in the preparation of the work program, which is why process plans for the Starting grant call and the Synergy grant call haven’t been announced yet. Detailed information about the StG and SyG grant will be available once the WP draft is received.
- Read more about the ERC calls.
Expected deadlines for the 2026 ERC work program:
| Call opens | Expected deadline | |
Starting Grant 2026 | 9 July 2025 | 14 October 2025 |
| Synergy Grant 2026 | 10 July 2025 | 5 November 2025 |
| Consolidator Grant 2026 | 25 September 2025 | 13 January 2026 |
| Advanced Grant 2026 | 28 May 2026 | 27 August 2026 |
Circle U.-mobility grant continues for 2025
With the Circle U. mobility grant for 2025 there is once again an opportunity to strengthen international cooperation within both education and research. The faculty management team has decided to continue the programme, so employees at Faculty of Arts can apply for grants for international trips. One can also apply for funding for a study trip for up to 50 students.
- Read more about Circle U. mobility grant. (DK only)
- For more information about the grant, refer to the Circle U. mobility grant 2024.
Support for Open Science: Journal Finder
To support researchers in publishing Open Access, the Royal Library has established Journal Finder, which aims to make it easier and more straightforward to identify journals covered by national licensing agreements for Open Access publishing. Try the service, which is free, here: https://pro.kb.dk/en/open-science/journal-finder
- If you have any questions about Open Access, you are very welcome to contact AU Library's Open Access support: oa@kb.dk
Do you process personal data in your research?
When collecting personal data as a researcher, you generally need to inform the relevant people (data subjects) that you are processing their personal data. This is called the information duty. The purpose of the information duty is to secure transparency for the data subjects about how you will process their personal data.
AU’s templates for information duty, scientific research purposes and informed consent have just been updated. You can find them here:
- Scientific research purposes
- Information duty
- Do you have any questions? Then you can contact the data protection coordinator at Arts, Louise Buchhave (lobu@au.dk).
Social security at the School of Communication and Culture
It is important to factor in social security – understood as the right to benefits such as parental leave and sickness benefits – when appointing international researchers with external grants if they are living and working in countries other than Denmark (including part time), as there could be significant costs associated with such appointments. The school is unable to cover social security costs for employees involved in externally funded projects. In such cases, the costs must be covered by the project, so it is important to take this into account when applying for external funding. Arts HR (in collaboration with Arts Finance) has offered to assist in calculating the costs of social security. The research consultants are responsible for inquiring about and verifying whether social security considerations are relevant when approving budgets. If you have any doubts about social security, you can always contact one of the school’s research consultants.
Workshops, webinars and masterclasses
Do you have an idea for a school workshop?
We would be happy to hear from you, if you have any ideas for research-related workshops to be held at the school. Simply reach out to the research consultant with suggestions and wishes in this regard.
Explorative lunch meetings at the Faculty of Arts
Are you interested in exploring cross-disciplinary themes or issues with researchers from other faculties at AU? Have you got a new, untested, crazy, experimental or inspiring idea for a new angle on research collaboration between ARTS and the other AU faculties (HEALTH, BSS, NAT and TECH)? An explorative lunch meeting at the Faculty of Arts might be exactly what you’re looking for. The Faculty of Arts is inviting its researchers (assistant professors, associate professors and professors) to propose a variety of cross-disciplinary themes which could be explored at a series of lunchtime meetings in 2022 with a view to conducting a broad investigation of the cross-disciplinary potential in various new research ideas or fields. Proposals are welcome on an ongoing basis. You can read more about the procedure here.
Calls for applications - spring 2025
Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF): Inge Lehmann
Notification deadline: 12 May 2025 at 23:59
Deadline: 17 June 2025 at 12:00
The objective of the Inge Lehmann programme is to promote a more even gender ratio in research environments, focusing on the career steps where the unbalance sets in. An Inge Lehmann grant has a budgetary framework of up to DKK 2,500,000 excluding overhead. You must be employed as assistant professor/associate professor, researcher/senior researcher, fellow or similar at a Danish research institution. Note: Employment as a postdoc does not meet the requirements for the applicant’s employment category.
Global Innovation Network Programme 2025
Deadline: 18 June 2025 at 12.00
The overall purpose of the Global Innovation Network Programme (GINP) is to give added value to the research and innovation ecosystem in Denmark nationally and increase the global impact of Danish research and knowledge-based innovation internationally in areas with significant innovation potential by means of institutional cooperation.
AU Connect: funding for collboration with private or public enterprises
Deadline: 6 August 2025
Aarhus University is once again offering AU Connect funding to support researchers at the university who wish to develop or expand specific collaborations with private or public sector organisations. All academic staff, including PhD students, can apply for up to DKK 150,000 to cover relevant expenses related to the collaboration.
Examples of eligible activities include:
- Testing an idea for a product or service in collaboration with a company
- Further development of a technology or service within a company
- Collaborating with a public sector organisation on, for example, analytical reports
VELUX FONDEN: HUMpraxis 2026
Notification deadline: 16 June 2025 at 12:00
Deadline (expressions of interest): 14 August 2025 at 14:00
VELUX FONDEN is once again seeking projects where practitioners and humanities researchers from universities work together in close, equal, and mutually engaging collaboration to develop and test new sustainable solutions in practice, while also achieving new fundamental scientific insights and theoretical advancements.
- Read more about the call (DK only)
ERC Advanced Grant (AdG)
Notification deadline: 7 April 2025
Deadline: 28 August 2025
Are you an established, leading principal investigator who wants long-term funding to pursue a ground-breaking, ambitious project? The ERC Advanced Grant could be for you.
- Sign up by sending an email to ERC.FSE@au.dk.
VELUX FONDEN: The value of voluntary social work 2025
Deadline: 1 September 2025 at 14:00
With this call, VELUX FONDEN invites actors from civil society or municipalities, in collaboration with researchers in the humanities and social sciences, to submit applications for projects in which researchers and practitioners together explore and shed light on the value of voluntary social work.
- Read more about the call (DK only)
Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF): Thematic call on Arctic Research
Deadline: 3 September 2025 at 12:00
With this call, DFF aims to strengthen Arctic research and contribute to sustainable development in the Arctic through a greater understanding of climate change and its impact on biodiversity, ecosystems, cultural heritage, and living conditions in the Arctic. The research may, for example, focus on climate change, biodiversity, or social and cultural changes and conditions in Arctic communities. Applications must include collaboration between different research institutions and support capacity building in the Arctic, including a focus on the involvement of local populations and Indigenous peoples.
- Read the full call (pdf)
- For budget help, please reach out to Arts Finance/Thor Fris Jespersgaard, thor.jespersgaard@au.dk
- Please remember that if your project includes a named PhD student, a pre-qualification is needed (via Research Consultant Helle Breth Klausen, hbk@cc.au.dk)
- Remember to send the budget for approval via research consultant Helle Breth Klausen, hbk@cc.au.dk, by 20 August 2025.
Partnership for Children’s Research 2025
Deadline: 16 September 2025
The Partnership for Children’s Research is now open to applications for research projects that contribute knowledge about the lives and development of children aged 0-6 years. Projects can apply for up to 6-8 million DKK, including overhead, depending on the focus area. The projects are expected to start in 2026.
For 2025, funding can be applied for within three focus areas:
- Organization, Leadership, and Framework Conditions – Research on how structures, organization, and leadership affect children's lives and the professional quality in early childhood education.
- Living Conditions of 0-6-Year-Old Children – A large survey of the living conditions of young children in Denmark, focusing on well-being, health, relationships, and daily life.
- Knowledge in Practice – Studies on how research and practice can enrich each other and strengthen pedagogical professionalism.
Currently the 2025 call is only available in Danish, for English refer to the 2024 call for now.
ERC Starting Grant (StG) and Synergy Grant (SyG)
Notification deadline: 30 June 2025
Expected deadlines: 14 October for StG and 5 November for SyG 2025
The Starting Grant is for researchers with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD. Applications can be made in any field of research and applicants may be awarded up to € 1.5 million for a period of 5 years.
The Synergy Grant is for researchers wanting to address a research problem so ambitious, they cannot deal with it alone. A group of two to maximum four Principal Investigators (PIs) can apply, and will work together, bringing different skills and resources to tackle research problems. Applications can be made in any field of research and applicants may be awarded up to € 10 million for a period of 6 years.
- There have been changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals, compared to last year’s work program. See the news on ERC’s webpage.
- To sign up for support from an RSO ERC advisor, send an email to ERC.FSE@au.dk by 30 June 2025.
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2025
Deadline for RSO support: 12 August 2025
Call deadline: 25 November 2025
The call for MSCA Doctoral Networks 2025 will be published 28 May 2025, but already now researchers planning to coordinate a MSCA Doctoral Network should begin the proposal preparation. Please see below for a short description of the instrument.
The Research Support Office support AU coordinators of MSCA Doctoral Networks that has signed up before 12 August. The support includes:
- Planning meeting (overview of proposal material and draft of process plan)
- Set up proposal in the Funding & Tenders platform, invite partners, monitor and quality check admin, technical and capacity input from partners.
- Detailed feedback on project description, abstract and ethics description
- Instructions on call requirements, including the budget and the need to allocate management funds to the coordinator
PIs that participate as partners in proposals for Doctoral Networks are only offered instructions on call requirements and quality check of the A form for AU.
- If you wish to sign up for RSO coordinator support, please send an e-mail to ina@au.dk (Inge Andresen) before 12 August.
