CHALLENGE PROGRAMME 2027 – Unravelling electron transfer mechanisms in hybrid bio-electrocatalysis
Funds interdisciplinary research to uncover electron transfer mechanisms in hybrid bio-electrocatalysis for advancing sustainable energy and chemical production.
Funder: Novo Nordisk Foundation
Due Dates: October 7, 2026 (Stage 1: Expression of Interest) | February 10, 2027 (Stage 2: Full Proposal)
Funding Amounts: DKK 30–75 million (approx. EUR 4–10 million) per grant; up to 6 years; total call budget DKK 150 million (approx. EUR 20 million)
Summary: Funds interdisciplinary consortia to advance mechanistic understanding of electron transfer in hybrid bio-electrocatalysis for sustainable energy and chemical production.
Key Information: Main applicant must be a tenured/tenure-track research leader at a European institution; at least one applicant must be at a Danish institution.
Description
This program supports ambitious, interdisciplinary research consortia aiming to unravel electron transfer mechanisms between biological and synthetic systems, with the goal of enabling efficient hybrid bio-electrocatalysis. Projects should address fundamental scientific challenges relevant to clean energy generation, resource-efficient manufacturing, and sustainable chemical production—particularly using gaseous feedstocks. The call encourages integration of biology, chemistry, materials science, physics, engineering, and data science to overcome current limitations in catalyst specificity, current densities, and process efficiency. The research should lead to new scientific foundations for electro-biotechnology-based solutions and must focus on technology readiness levels (TRL) 1–3.
