The HCAS and seven Institutes for Advanced Study in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden will launch a structured, interdisciplinary training and retention programme for early-career researchers. The programme, which the Novo Nordisk Foundation has supported with €6.5 million over the next six years, will offer 20 two-year fellowships focused on innovative solutions to challenges within health and sustainability.
It is the vision of the programme that the Nordic region is recognised as a world-leading hub for interdisciplinary excellence, where dynamic and collaborative research environments attract, empower and propel the most talented young researchers to pioneer transformative breakthroughs in health and sustainability with a global impact.
“The programme is ambitious. First, it is a collaborative research effort to explore innovative solutions to challenges within health and sustainability from interdisciplinary perspectives. Secondly, as fellows will be working in two‑year fellowships in parallel across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the aim is also to strengthen mobility, talent retention and networking in and across the Nordic countries,” says AIAS Director Andreas Roepstorff.
Strengthening Nordic collaboration with interdisciplinary perspectives
The programme builds on the interdisciplinary experience of the Nordic Institutes for Advanced Study, which host researchers from all academic disciplines and from around the world. By combining this broad interdisciplinary expertise with the goal of strengthening Nordic collaboration, the programme will enhance capacity building across the Nordic research environments that will reach beyond disciplinary and national boundaries.
Senior visiting experts, cutting-edge interdisciplinary activities and extensive network building activities within and across the institutes will ensure the continuity of the research collaboration between the fellows, the Nordic Institutes for Advanced Study and the wider Nordic research environments.
Enhancing excellence
Hanne Appelqvist, the Director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, adds:
“Besides significantly strengthening Nordic collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches to research, this programme builds on the dynamic network of Nordic Institutes for Advanced Studies, united by a shared commitment to academic excellence and interdisciplinarity that, in turn, generate societal relevance. Together, we provide a fertile platform for advancing research in health and sustainability across the region.”
The programme also provides opportunities for HCAS to deepen collaboration with faculties and institutes across the University of Helsinki and beyond, fostering engagement not only with incoming fellows placed at the other Nordic Institutes, but also with local faculty and other HCAS fellows.
Facts about the NNF-IAS Fellowship programme
The first call for fellowships in the NNF-IAS Fellowship Programme on Health and Sustainability will open for applications in the summer of 2026 with an application deadline expected in October 2026. The first five fellows will start their two-year fellowships on 1 September 2027. This first group of fellows will be working on the theme ‘Inequity in Health’ led by AIAS and Professor Christina C. Dahm from the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, in Denmark.
The programme has eight partner institutions
Four main partners:
, AIAS, Denmark , CAS, Norway , HCAS, Finland , SCAS, Sweden
Four associated partners:
, DIAS, Denmark , Sweden , Finland , Finland
Fellowships
- 5 two-year fellowships annually (a total of 20 fellows in four groups)
- Open to all nationalities and all disciplines
- Targeted researchers with a PhD and 2–10 years of postdoctoral experience
- Fellows are employed full-time at one of the four main IAS
- Fellowship includes salary, mobility funds and research/travel budget
Contact
Andreas Roepstorff, AIAS director, Professor & main applicant of the fellowship programme
E-mail:
Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, AIAS
Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Hanne Appelqvist, HCAS director, Professor
E-mail:
Helsinki Collegium
Fabianinkatu 24 (P.O. Box 4)
00014 University of Helsinki
Finland