Best Research Practice

Lundbeck Foundation’s general criterion for allocating research funds is that the scientific content of the application, the applicant’s qualifications and the scientific environment at the host institution are of a high international standard and that the research makes a difference to people’s health and lives. We aim to ensure that all applications are evaluated on an equal basis.

Basically, the foundation endeavours to ensure that all applications are subjected to peer review by a majority of impartial experts. The foundation has established two permanent evaluation panels with a majority of external and foreign experts to evaluate project applications on a regular basis. Evaluation panels of international experts are convened on an ad hoc basis to evaluate major personal and strategic applications. All members of the evaluation panels must comply with the foundation’s rules on impartiality.

All evaluations result in a recommendation to Lundbeckfonden’s board of directors, which then decides on allocation of funds in accordance with legislation. Evaluation procedures for applications and recommendations are regularly adjusted to keep pace with developments and implementation of new measures.

In 2014, our board of directors adopted “Lundbeckfonden’s Code of Best Research Practice”, which is now incorporated into the foundation’s General Terms and Conditions for Research Grants. Our codes support basic principles for best research practice, such as research integrity, transparency and accountability. All grant recipients must sign this document before they can receive the grant.

Lundbeckfonden’s terms and conditions for research grants refer, for example, to the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s Code of Conduct for Research Integrity from 2014.

We also expect grant holders to conduct their research in accordance with Responsible Research and Innovation, cf. the EU’s HORIZON 2020.