‘It’s fantastic to be allowed to dream big’
With a boost of DKK 500 million, the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) is set to create a national PhD academy that strengthens research education in Denmark. We have spoken to Marianne Holmer, Susanne Mandrup and Philip Hallenborg about the new venture.
Just before Christmas last year, Marianne Holmer, Susanne Mandrup and Philip Hallenborg at the Faculty of Science received some very good and significant news.
The Board of Directors of the Novo Nordisk Foundation had generously granted DKK 500 million for the establishment of a new national PhD academy at SDU for PhD students from across all Danish research institutions.
The Danish Advanced Research Academy (DARA) will strengthen research education throughout Denmark by creating a first-class educational environment – in networks with globally leading research environments – that equips PhD students to create groundbreaking interdisciplinary research that can solve major societal challenges. DARA is to be based at the Faculty of Science.
From free-flowing thoughts to million-kroner grant
The good news in December was the culmination of months of hard work on preparing the application in an intense co-creation between the Dean, the Professor and the Team Leader for the Faculty’s research support.
In the process, big ideas, free-flowing thoughts, new perspectives and urgent challenges were distilled into a focused application to do something extraordinary for talent development in Danish research. And the co-creation yielded results in the form of a considerable grant of DKK 500 million.
- It has been a fantastic experience to be part of building such an ambitious venture, which the many different partners could see themselves in. And the collaboration with seasoned veterans like Marianne Holmer and Susanne Mandrup has been incredibly rewarding, says Team Leader for Research Support Philip Hallenborg about the application process.
Dean Marianne Holmer adds:
- And it should be no secret that Philip (Hallenborg) has taken on a huge load and has been incredibly skilled at boiling it all down to very precise formulations about how DARA will strengthen research education in Denmark.
In brief: About the Danish Advanced Research Academy
DARA represents a strategic investment in Denmark’s future scientific capacity. With an annual intake of an average of 40 PhD students, the Academy will educate researchers who can contribute to both the private sector and public research with solutions that are crucial for future technological and scientific progress.
DARA builds on previous experience with academies as a good and effective way to develop the next generation of top researchers. It is therefore the idea that the Danish Data Science Academy, the Danish Diabetes and Endocrine Academy and the Danish Cardiovascular Academy will be integrated into DARA in the coming years.
Initially supported by a grant of DKK 500 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, DARA has been designed so that other foundations and organisations can also contribute to further broaden the research scope of the Academy.
Why is it SDU that will build a national PhD academy?
- We have extensive experience to draw on, and of course we are ambitious and set the bar high. On top of that, Odense has for a number of years been the base for other successful PhD academies in areas such as diabetes and metabolism, and we also have a long-standing and solid collaboration with the Novo Nordisk Foundation on a number of different projects, explains Marianne Holmer about the background for the grant.
What difference will DARA make?
- My hope is that a whole lot of inspiration and creativity will spread like ripples in the water and across disciplines – that we will unleash a passion for science among the future PhD students at DARA, which will spread to other PhD students at the universities. It is important that future research talents are more daring and more remarkable – also in terms of interdisciplinary collaboration – so that they can contribute to raising the quality of Danish research even more, says Professor Susanne Mandrup.
Philip Hallenborg adds:
- It is our clear goal that DARA becomes a focal point for Danish research across disciplines.
And Marianne Holmer emphasises:
- PhD students – together with a supervisor – can apply to DARA with their own topic, rather than being restricted to solving tasks in the project of a head of research. We will offer PhD students something different, and more freedom, than you otherwise see at universities today, she says and elaborates:
- It will be incredibly exciting to build an ecosystem across the university sector, which can raise interdisciplinarity to new levels. DARA will bring people together in such a way that they can inspire each other across disciplines and institutions. By bringing together unique and scientifically diverse PhD projects across Denmark, the PhD academy can be a melting pot of unexpected synergies between the projects.
What challenges are you facing in achieving your ambitious goals?
- We have the considerable and important task of reaching out to and collaborating with all of the universities in the country to create a new and broad-ranging academy. Of course, we are already in the process of doing this, for instance, in the form of distributing board positions and suchlike. We will also have a great deal of focus in the coming years on integrating the existing academies into DARA, says Marianne Holmer.
In this respect, Susanne Mandrup adds:
- Yes, there is no doubt that the other universities will keep an eye on whether we distribute funds and posts equally and do a good job of involving all the partners as well. At the same time, it is incredibly important that we integrate the existing academies, so that the strong networks and collaborations that have been built up over the years are not lost when they become part of something bigger.
DARA opens in June
The new national PhD Academy is currently looking for a director who will lead the DARA secretariat at SDU from 1 May. The Board is almost in place, and in June the centre will officially open its doors and invite the first round of applications from prospective PhD students.
The plan is for the first PhD students to start in the autumn of 2025. See more about DARA here.