Education and Awareness Grants

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The talent program stimulates the interest of Danish upper secondary school students in chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, geography, and computer science by offering advanced annual competitions. These are open to everyone, and the best proceed to national semifinals and finals, and ultimately international finals. Semifinals and finals are accompanied by intensive training camps at Danish universities and Astra’s facilities in Sorø. The educational material provided for students in training camps is made freely available for teachers on the organizations’ websites. The program strengthens young people’s scientific competencies, increases recruitment to STEM higher education and careers, fosters international scientific engagement, and creates lasting peer networks that support future researchers, innovators and science professionals.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The project aims to develop a STEM education program for Danish upper secondary schools (STX and HTX), using biomimicry as a case for interdisciplinary learning that connects biology, physics, chemistry, and technology. It will develop a web-based teaching platform involving up to 10 teaching modules, related background material, laboratory and field-based activities, and an AI-based digital tool providing guided problem definition and literature research, documentation supported by a bank of “Biocards” that describe biological mechanisms and their potential technological applications, and planning/validation of experiments, all supported by an AI dialogue interface. The purpose is to enable inquiry-based learning with nature-inspired innovation and strengthen students’ curiosity towards interdisciplinary science, sustainable technology development, and potential future STEM education and careers. The educational material will be made freely available on the project website.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The project will develop and expand Biotech Academy’s portfolio of free, research-based teaching materials and classes for lower secondary and high school students within biotechnology, biology, and chemistry in 2026-2029 with new educational videos and courses for learning online and onsite at the Technical University of Denmark. Furthermore, a new lab kit will be developed and the distribution of existing kits increased, and current learning courses revised, for support of biotechnology education across all of Denmark. The aim is to enable a closer link between research and classroom teaching and strengthen curiosity and motivation for STEM learning. Biotech Academy has been driven by students at Technical University of Denmark since 2006 and is hosted by the university’s Department of Bioengineering.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The project aims to create a free educational board game for 2nd-3rd grade STEM classes. The goal is to strengthen the pupils’ curiosity, motivation to learn, and understanding of scientific methods through play, collaboration, and inquiry-based missions. The project targets STEM primary school teachers at large, with an added focus on also enabling qualified STEM teaching for non-specialist teachers. The game may be played in four different thematic variations which are aligned with the curriculum – 1) the human body, 2) technology and resources, 3) organisms, and 4) water, air, and climate. The goal is to distribute class sets of five games each to 400 schools, thereby reaching up to 21,000 pupils annually.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The project aims to strengthen Danish pupils’ understanding of numbers and algebra through novel, research-based didactics. It combines two research approaches, læringsspor (“learning trajectories”) and kernepraksisser (“core practices”) to improve the mathematics teaching at 11 schools in Kalundborg. The project will reach about 200 students in the 5th grade within the municipality as a test case. Their 15 teachers and 8 local math supervisors will co-create educational material focused on fractions and equations together with researchers from University College Absalon. The purpose is to improve the students’ math competencies, support teachers’ professional development, enable peer-to-peer dissemination to other teachers, and contribute to providing a basis for a nationwide initiative. The developed material will become available for digital download for free after the project at www.paa-sporet.dk, and the results will be presented to interested parties at a closing conference in October 2027 and follow-up courses.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

A box of eight illustrated children’s books on the life and research of well-known Danish scientists is distributed to Danish kindergartens. The goal is to spark early scientific curiosity among the 4-6-year-olds and provide pedagogues with age-appropriate tools that are aligned with the STEM curriculum for kindergartens. The researchers are selected to balance concrete and abstract science, historic and modern-day scientists, and diversity in gender and ethnicity. The books are supplemented with educational material introducing preschoolers to hands-on experiments and playful activities related to the presented research fields. More than 3000 Danish kindergartens have already committed to receiving a box, and the municipality of Roskilde serves as a development and test partner.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The university museum Medicinsk Museion will create a new major exhibition exploring precision health through science, culture, and history, including a focus on skin as a visible and personal organ and barrier. The goal is to enhance public understanding of personalized medicine and its ethical, social, and scientific perspectives. Target groups include the general public, students, and health professionals with an expected 500,000 visitors over the exhibition lifetime of ten years.