Access Grants

NordStruct Access Grants are easy-to-apply for; applicants must fill in a simple one-page form and submit it along with a budget, support letters and a short CV.  Applications must be submitted online using this link. 

You will be asked to submit:

• a simple one-page application using this form
• a simple budget using this form 
• a statement of support from the host of your scientific exchange, detailing how the applicant will be supervised during their visit
• a statement of support from the applicant’s supervisor, detailing what new skills/techniques the applicant will learn
• a one-page CV (education history, employment history, research interests, publications)

There will be four Access Grants calls per year between 2026 – 2030 which will follow the below timeline.

NordStruct Access Grants are open to all junior researchers at all NordStruct partner organisations. 

The lead applicant must be a junior researcher who is employed or enrolled at a NordStruct partner institution (their Home Institution). Junior researchers can include MSc students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Research assistants and assistant professors can also apply – so long as you have not established your own research group. Junior researchers with other job titles are encouraged to contact Lucy Holt (lucy.holt@bio.ku.dk) to check eligibility.

It is a condition of the Access Grants that recipients must travel from their Home institution to a Host institution. Both the Home and Host institutions must be NordStruct partners. The visit must take place no earlier than the application deadline and no later than six months after receiving the decision letter.

NordStruct Access Grant projects must involve the generation or processing of structural biology data. The visit does not have to involve data generation – it is possible for the visit to involve data processing only. In this circumstance, it is expected that data has previously been collected at a NordStruct infrastructure and that the applicant will learn new processing techniques during the Host institution visit.

Click here to see list of NordStruct partner institutions

The application must be supported by two supervisors: the Home Institution Supervisor should be the lead applicant’s normal supervisor at their home institution. The Host Intstitution Supervisor is the principal investigator or facility manager who will supervise the junior researcher during their exchange at the Host institution. The Home institution supervisor and the Host institution supervisor cannot be the same person and PIs with dual affiliation are not eligible to apply for projects between their affiliated universities as Home and Host institutions.

All Access Grants must involve the collection, processing or analysis of data at a research infrastructure located at a NordStruct partner institute.

Below you can read more about the selection criteria for the NordStruct Access Grant application. We suggest that you address these points in your application form.

1. Access to infrastructure, expertise, resources

Applicants must describe what the grant will enable and specify the infrastructure, expertise, or technical knowledge they will gain access to that is not available at their home institution. Priority will be given to applications with the greatest enabling factor – be this through infrastructure access or hands-on training in data analysis.

2. Relevance to structural biology

Applicants must describe the intent of their scientific exchange. The application must identify the infrastructure or group leader to be visited and detail the scientific and practical plans for the exchange. The relevance to structural biology will be evaluated. 

3. Expected outcome of the visit

Applicants must detail how the scientific visit will (a) contribute to ongoing scientific research, (b) strengthen their training and future career prospects, and/or (c) advance methodological and technical knowledge.

4. Cross-border collaboration

Applications involving cross-border access are strongly encouraged and will be prioritized. Cross-border access refers to visits to infrastructures located in a different Nordic country than the applicant’s home institution. Such collaborations strengthen connectivity between infrastructures and research groups across the Nordic region.

5. Feasibility of the proposed project

The scientific, practical, and financial feasibility of the project will be evaluated. Where applicable, the project application should contain adequate evidence that the sample is of sufficient quality to merit data collection at the NordStruct facility. This can include, for example proof of successful protein/protein complex purification (PAGE, gel filtration, mass-spectrometry results), initial NMR spectra, preliminary microscopy data (negative stain or cryo-EM screening images or 2D classes).

A NordStruct Access Grant can cover a maximum of 25.000 NOK expenses. A maximum of 50% of the budget (12.500 NOK) can be used to cover costs related to facility user expenses and experimental consumables. The remainder of the budget can be used for expenses related to travel costs such as air fare, or train tickets, and accommodation. Expense details must be listed in the application budget. N.B.: Expenses usually covered by yourself cannot be reimbursed e.g., insurance and daily transport. Further, salary and per diems cannot be covered.

Reimbursement of expenses will take place after the event as an expense claim. A form for reimbursement will be distributed by the University of Copenhagen and this must be submitted to the University of Copenhagen within three months of the completion of the scientific exchange. Only expenses with digital copies of expense receipts will be reimbursed. Thus, all receipts for the reimbursable expenses must be kept and uploaded when making the reimbursements. For travel reimbursmenets, please keep a photo of boarding passes and train tickets (a screenshot is fine). 

It is a condition of receiving the Access Grants that both the Home Institution supervisor and the Host institution supervisor must both commit to one-week of supervision of the junior researcher as part of the project. This supervision will be reported to NordForsk as in-kind salary contributions.

For the financial report, we will require an itemised list of expenses along with supporting documentation, which will be handled by a financial team at the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen. Grants will be reimbursed after completion and will be dependent on provision of original invoices and receipts. 

For the scientific report, we will require a brief 100-word summary suitable for publication online on the NordStruct webpage, in addition to a SoMe feature (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.) presenting the project and citing both Nordforsk and NordStruct. 

Proper acknowledgement of the funding provided by NordStruct and Nordforsk is expected in scientific publications when results of Access Grants are included.