UCPH handles DKK 11.6 billion – so why are its finances under pressure?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nIn 2025, external funding, mainly research grants, accounted for 38 per cent of UCPH\u2019s total income.<\/p>\n
A loss for society<\/h3>\n
Besides three out of four researchers finding that the current system limits their research, 78.4 per cent say their research interests would change to some extent if they received two years of funding without the usual restrictions.<\/p>\n
According to Maria Toft, creativity and innovation in Danish research suffer under the current system. She wants researchers to have more room to test ideas before having to describe a specific plan and demonstrate the likelihood of achieving a particular outcome.<\/p>\n
If grants steer research towards particular solutions to a societal problem, she argues, there may be less room to ask whether an entirely different problem should be addressed in the first place.<\/p>\n
But is it not reasonable for those funding the research to have a say in how the money is spent?<\/em><\/p>\n\u00bbOf course, but the problem is that society ultimately loses out. It is a collective loss when the potential for critical ideas and solutions from universities is restricted,\u00ab Maria Toft replies.<\/p>\n
An annual grant for researchers<\/h3>\n
Earlier this year, Movement for a Free Academia presented its proposal \u2018Universities for the Present\u2019, which calls, among other things, for reducing the influence of foundations on research in Denmark.<\/p>\n
The movement does not want to abolish foundations or competitive research funding, but wants to give individual researchers a basic level of funding.<\/p>\n
It therefore proposes giving permanently employed associate professors and professors an annual research budget that they can spend at their own discretion.<\/p>\n
Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen, an associate professor at UCPH\u2019s Department of Biology, explains the proposal. He is a board member of Movement for a Free Academia and served on its working group on foundation funding.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIf there is one thing to do, I think this kind of annuum (annual grant, ed.) should be the priority, and it should come first,\u00ab he says, suggesting that an annual grant of 100,000 kroner would be appropriate.<\/p>\n
According to Universities Denmark, Danish universities employed just over 7,000 associate professors and professors in 2024. At 100,000 kroner each, the scheme would cost around 700 million kroner a year.<\/p>\n
The money is not intended to fund large research projects, Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen stresses. It could, for example, be used to test new ideas with students supervised by the researcher.<\/p>\n
\u00bbAnd you could pay for absolute essentials such as a research trip, a new computer or simply an important academic book. Incredibly, many colleagues cannot even afford those things today,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
A researcher with an idea would therefore not have to go straight from having no funding to applying for several million kroner. A small initial experiment could establish whether the idea is worth pursuing.<\/p>\n
The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters has also argued for a fixed annual sum for researchers, allowing them, among other things, to test ideas that are not yet sufficiently developed for a major grant application.<\/p>\n
The role of competition<\/h3>\n
Foundation funding also serves another purpose, however: it creates competition among researchers.<\/p>\n
When researchers compete for grants, their applications can be assessed by other researchers, and the money can go to the projects judged to be of the highest quality.<\/p>\n
There is no shortage of money in Danish research. There is plenty of money in Danish research. The problem is how it is distributed<\/p>\n
Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen, associate professor at the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen and board member of Movement for a Free Academia<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen acknowledges this argument too.<\/p>\n
\u00bbCompetitive funding is a good thing. It helps improve quality. But we are talking about large sums there. This annuum is a small amount that provides basic funding for people who have already been selected as the best in their respective fields,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
But according to Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen, a fixed annual grant would have another advantage: it would reduce the number of applications researchers submit each year.<\/p>\n
He argues that some of the pressure to apply stems from researchers lacking a basic level of funding.<\/p>\n
With a smaller amount available for their everyday research, he believes more researchers could wait to apply for large grants until they actually have a project that requires one.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIt would ease all that bureaucracy by removing the pressure for everyone to keep applying all the time,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
Fresh negotiations over billions in research funding<\/h3>\n
For Movement for a Free Academia, the upcoming negotiations on the research reserve offer an opportunity to change the balance of research funding.<\/p>\n
Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen believes more government funding should enable individual researchers to pursue ideas without first having to make them fit a foundation\u2019s call for proposals.<\/p>\n
But increasing core funding for universities does not in itself guarantee that freedom, he stresses. University management would need to prioritise allocating the money to researchers, or politicians would need to attach conditions to new funding.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThere is no shortage of money in Danish research. There is plenty of money in Danish research. The problem is how it is distributed,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and subsequently reviewed by a member of the editorial staff.<\/em>
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Movement for a Free Academia: Give researchers fixed grants to pursue their own ideas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/forskerbevaegelsen-giv-forskere-faste-beloeb-til-at-forfoelge-egne-ideer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Movement for a Free Academia: Give researchers fixed grants to pursue their own ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new study shows that many researchers feel the conditions attached to research funding restrict their work. 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foretr\u00e6de i Folketingets Uddannelses- og Forskningsudvalg. Billedet her er af bev\u00e6gelsens ene initiativtager, Maria Toft, der taler til foreningens stiftende generalforsamling p\u00e5 Christiansborg i maj 2024.","name":"maria-toft-1-of-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":163838,"date":"2024-05-15 12:58:54","modified":"2026-09-16 08:14:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1645,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-480x308.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":308,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-768x493.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":493,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-1280x822.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":822,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-1536x987.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":987,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-2048x1316.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1316,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-290x186.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":186,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-700x450.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":450,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-990x636.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":636}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"\u00bbDer er sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5l, man slet ikke f\u00e5r lov til at stille, og interesser, man slet ikke f\u00e5r mulighed for at forf\u00f8lge,\u00ab siger Maria Toft, stifter og bestyrelsesmedlem i Movement for a Free Academia, om forskernes afh\u00e6ngighed af eksterne midler. Her taler hun til foreningens stiftende generalforsamling p\u00e5 Christiansborg i maj 2024."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Fondsstyret","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Foundations have played an increasingly important role in Danish research over the years. The billions of kroner they provide allow universities to hire researchers and launch new projects.<\/p>\n<p>But the money also comes at a price. Foundations want clear rules on what researchers can use the funding for and how their work should be organised.<\/p>\n<p>These are precisely the conditions examined by the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy at Aarhus University in a new study of research funding. In the survey, 75 per cent of researchers say that current funding arrangements limit, to at least a moderate extent, how they would ideally conduct their research.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The problem is that society ultimately loses out<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Maria Toft, founder and board member of Movement for a Free Academia<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The new findings come as no surprise to Maria Toft, founder and board member of <em>Movement for a Free Academia<\/em>, a movement working to strengthen academic freedom.<\/p>\n<p>She believes that the need for external funding leads researchers to adapt their ideas to the funding opportunities available. As a result, she says, much research never sees the light of day.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThere are questions you are never allowed to ask, and interests you never get the chance to pursue,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<p>The growing importance of external funding is also evident at the University of Copenhagen. Between 2015 and 2025, external income rose from around three billion to just over 4.4 billion kroner in constant prices, while government research funding remained broadly stable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ucph-handles-dkk-11-6-billion-so-why-are-its-finances-under-pressure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>UCPH handles DKK 11.6 billion – so why are its finances under pressure?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 2025, external funding, mainly research grants, accounted for 38 per cent of UCPH\u2019s total income.<\/p>\n<h3>A loss for society<\/h3>\n<p>Besides three out of four researchers finding that the current system limits their research, 78.4 per cent say their research interests would change to some extent if they received two years of funding without the usual restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>According to Maria Toft, creativity and innovation in Danish research suffer under the current system. She wants researchers to have more room to test ideas before having to describe a specific plan and demonstrate the likelihood of achieving a particular outcome.<\/p>\n<p>If grants steer research towards particular solutions to a societal problem, she argues, there may be less room to ask whether an entirely different problem should be addressed in the first place.<\/p>\n<p><em>But is it not reasonable for those funding the research to have a say in how the money is spent?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOf course, but the problem is that society ultimately loses out. It is a collective loss when the potential for critical ideas and solutions from universities is restricted,\u00ab Maria Toft replies.<\/p>\n<h3>An annual grant for researchers<\/h3>\n<p>Earlier this year, Movement for a Free Academia presented its proposal \u2018Universities for the Present\u2019, which calls, among other things, for reducing the influence of foundations on research in Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>The movement does not want to abolish foundations or competitive research funding, but wants to give individual researchers a basic level of funding.<\/p>\n<p>It therefore proposes giving permanently employed associate professors and professors an annual research budget that they can spend at their own discretion.<\/p>\n<p>Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen, an associate professor at UCPH\u2019s Department of Biology, explains the proposal. He is a board member of Movement for a Free Academia and served on its working group on foundation funding.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIf there is one thing to do, I think this kind of annuum (annual grant, ed.) should be the priority, and it should come first,\u00ab he says, suggesting that an annual grant of 100,000 kroner would be appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>According to Universities Denmark, Danish universities employed just over 7,000 associate professors and professors in 2024. At 100,000 kroner each, the scheme would cost around 700 million kroner a year.<\/p>\n<p>The money is not intended to fund large research projects, Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen stresses. It could, for example, be used to test new ideas with students supervised by the researcher.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAnd you could pay for absolute essentials such as a research trip, a new computer or simply an important academic book. Incredibly, many colleagues cannot even afford those things today,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>A researcher with an idea would therefore not have to go straight from having no funding to applying for several million kroner. A small initial experiment could establish whether the idea is worth pursuing.<\/p>\n<p>The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters has also argued for a fixed annual sum for researchers, allowing them, among other things, to test ideas that are not yet sufficiently developed for a major grant application.<\/p>\n<h3>The role of competition<\/h3>\n<p>Foundation funding also serves another purpose, however: it creates competition among researchers.<\/p>\n<p>When researchers compete for grants, their applications can be assessed by other researchers, and the money can go to the projects judged to be of the highest quality.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There is no shortage of money in Danish research. There is plenty of money in Danish research. The problem is how it is distributed<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen, associate professor at the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen and board member of Movement for a Free Academia<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen acknowledges this argument too.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbCompetitive funding is a good thing. It helps improve quality. But we are talking about large sums there. This annuum is a small amount that provides basic funding for people who have already been selected as the best in their respective fields,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>But according to Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen, a fixed annual grant would have another advantage: it would reduce the number of applications researchers submit each year.<\/p>\n<p>He argues that some of the pressure to apply stems from researchers lacking a basic level of funding.<\/p>\n<p>With a smaller amount available for their everyday research, he believes more researchers could wait to apply for large grants until they actually have a project that requires one.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt would ease all that bureaucracy by removing the pressure for everyone to keep applying all the time,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<h3>Fresh negotiations over billions in research funding<\/h3>\n<p>For Movement for a Free Academia, the upcoming negotiations on the research reserve offer an opportunity to change the balance of research funding.<\/p>\n<p>Jes S\u00f8e Pedersen believes more government funding should enable individual researchers to pursue ideas without first having to make them fit a foundation\u2019s call for proposals.<\/p>\n<p>But increasing core funding for universities does not in itself guarantee that freedom, he stresses. University management would need to prioritise allocating the money to researchers, or politicians would need to attach conditions to new funding.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThere is no shortage of money in Danish research. There is plenty of money in Danish research. The problem is how it is distributed,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and subsequently reviewed by a member of the editorial staff.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with upcoming events and news from University of Copenhagen in your inbox weekly.","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":840,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":470,"name":"External funding","slug":"external-funding","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":470,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":8470,"name":"forskerbev\u00e6gelsen","slug":"forskerbevaegelsen","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":8470,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":426,"name":"funding","slug":"funding","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":426,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":8471,"name":"jes s\u00f8e pedersen","slug":"jes-soee-pedersen","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":8471,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":5549,"name":"maria toft","slug":"maria-toft-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5549,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"}],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11545,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":700,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mariatoft1of1-1280x822.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194373"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194391,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194373\/revisions\/194391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}