Villum Investigator

Villum Investigator

Funds internationally experienced Danish university researchers to advance long-term strategic research projects.

The Villum Investigator 2026 program is a biennial large-scale research grant from the Villum Foundation — the technical and natural sciences arm of the VELUX FONDEN group in Denmark — offering individual awards of up to DKK 30 million over a six-year period to experienced researchers at Danish universities or GEUS (the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland). The 2026 cycle has a total budget of DKK 300 million. The application deadline is 20 August 2026 at 14:00, with peer reviews forwarded to applicants on 15 January 2027, applicant response due 22 January 2027, interviews scheduled 2–4 February 2027, and final funding decisions in March 2027. Applications are accepted in English only.

Eligibility requires current employment at a Danish university or GEUS, a demonstrated track record of groundbreaking research for ten or more years, and a commitment to devote at least 75 percent of total effort to the direct conduct of research and education. Health and veterinary research — including medicine, biomedicine, pharmacology, and nutrition — is explicitly excluded; applicants affiliated with health-focused departments receive automatic administrative rejection. Researchers who applied in the 2024 cycle and were not invited for an interview are ineligible for the 2026 call. Grant funds cover postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, equipment, technical assistance, and customary project expenses, plus DKK 200,000 reserved for the mandatory Villum Footsteps leadership programme. The investigator's own salary and the salaries of permanently employed scientific staff cannot be charged to the award.

The two-step evaluation process has the Foundation's Working Group for Technical and Natural Sciences conducting an initial review, selecting applications for external peer review, and then conducting interviews before recommending funding decisions to the board. The required application package includes an application form, a CV with a ten-year publication list, a detailed budget, and an institutional letter of support. The biennial schedule means the next opening after 2026 will be 2028, making this cycle time-sensitive for teams working in engineering, computer science, materials, energy, climate, and adjacent technical fields.