Research is, by its nature, conducted through international collaboration across national borders. Therefore, the Carlsberg Foundation is committed to ensuring that early-career researchers in Denmark are given the opportunity to spend time abroad and engage in research activities within academically strong international environments. However, this requires that a stay abroad does not entail a risk of losing one's connection to the Danish research environment once the research stay has ended.

With the awarding of Internationalisation Fellowships worth DKK 80 million, 32 emerging research talents now get the opportunity to combine a research stay abroad with a period at a Danish research institution. Both abroad and at home, they can immerse themselves in fundamental scientific questions and work on precisely the research ideas that they themselves identify as relevant and important.

The foundation received a total of 220 applications for the Spring Call 2026, distributed as follows: 126 within the natural sciences, 39 within the humanities, 44 within the social sciences, and 11 in the category of interdisciplinary research. This is a significant increase in the number of applications compared with last year’s 116 applications for the Internationalisation Fellowship.

CEO of the Carlsberg Foundation, Professor Lasse Horne Kjældgaard, says:

“I would like to congratulate all new recipients of an Internationalisation Fellowship, who are now being given the opportunity to conduct research in an international research environment without risking disconnection from the Danish research community. The assurance of being able to return to a Danish research institution was a cardinal point for us when, in 2025, we decided to add a period in Denmark to the period during which a postdoctoral researcher is based at a foreign research institution. It is therefore very gratifying to see a significantly higher number of applications for our Internationalisation Fellowships.”

From the biology of the malaria parasite to citizens’ perceptions of political engagement

The 32 Internationalisation Fellowships awarded are distributed across 15 fellowships within the natural sciences, seven within the humanities, seven within the social sciences and three within the category interdisciplinary research. Of the DKK 80 million awarded, DKK 38 million has been allocated to natural science projects, DKK 18 million to social science projects, DKK 18 million to humanities projects and DKK 6 million to interdisciplinary projects.

The projects will run for a period of two to three years, and will, among other things, address:

• development of a new AI-driven method for early detection of chemical degradation in composite materials used in wind turbine blades
• studies of Danish and Swedish reconstruction efforts in post-war Europe between 1944 and 1950
• development of a framework for understanding how citizens perceive political discussions, and how these perceptions influence whether people engage in or avoid political conversations
• investigations into how so-called microsatellites affect gene function in the malaria parasite and the role they play in the parasite’s biology
• development of new mathematical methods for understanding and identifying the reasoning underlying decisions made by AI systems

The Internationalisation Fellowships have all been awarded in open competition in relation to the Carlsberg Foundation’s Spring Call 2026.

The 32 awarded grants are distributed equally between female and male researchers, with 16 grants awarded to each group. Measured against the number of applications received, this results in a success rate of 12.4 per cent for male applicants and 18.2 per cent for female applicants. The overall success rate for the Spring Call 2026 is 15 per cent, measured against the number of applications received.