LF Fellows 2023: Seven rising research group leaders receive grants worth millions to lead their own projects
The Lundbeck Foundation has selected the recipients of this year’s fellowship grants. Seven talented young scientists will each receive DKK 10 million to pursue their projects and develop as group leaders over the next five years.
This is the 17th consecutive year the Lundbeck Foundation has awarded the popular fellowship grants. The aim is to strengthen Danish health science research environments and encourage more young scientists to become group leaders and lead their own teams.
The LF Fellows programme supports talented young scientists, providing the financial freedom and stability to pursue their scientific visions and develop into international research leaders.
In recent years, the programme has increasingly focused on preparing grant recipients for leadership roles and setting up their own teams. ‘The idea has been well received by the many grantees,’ says Peter Thostrup, Scientific Programme Director, who oversees talent programmes for the Lundbeck Foundation’s Grants & Prizes team.
‘We introduced our new management-development programme in 2022. The evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive, so we decided to offer it to all future fellows,’ he continues.
‘The programme seeks to prepare the fellows to lead research teams for the first time. It provides a valuable opportunity for deeper reflection on their role as a leader and creates a stronger team environment that promotes well-being, motivation and research quality. The two-year programme is tailored to the individual fellows and allows participants to discuss specific leadership challenges with their coach and others in their LF Fellows network.’
The seven recipients have been selected from a wide field of excellent applicants representing various health-research disciplines.
They demonstrated that they possess the expertise, creativity and potential to make significant breakthroughs in their respective fields: cancer research, genome analysis, liver fibrosis, risk factors for depression, sleep research and breast implants.
The Foundation received 65 applications from 39 men and 26 women. Of those three men and four women were selected to receive the fellowship.
Subsequently, Na Cai has decided to decline the grant.
