Apply for Serendipity Grants
About Serendipity Grants
With the Serendipity Grants, we seek to enable our active grantees to perform explorative investigations of novel and unexpected, also known as serendipitous, ideas or discoveries, which have emerged as a consequence of investigations performed during a current LEO Foundation-funded project.
The discovery or idea should be outside the scope of the original project and may even reside outside the primary research focus of the grantee. The discovery or idea should be at an early stage of maturity where it would be unlikely to receive support via other LEO Foundation funding instruments.
A Serendipity Grant can last for up to two years and has a limit of DKK 4 million, including administrative costs.
How to apply
The Serendipity Grants program is announced once a year in open competition.
In 2025 the application deadline is 24 June (16:00 CEST).
Please read the application guide for the full call text and further information about the eligibility criteria, evaluation process, and requirements for the content of the application.
Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens)
The evaluation process
All Serendipity Grant applications submitted will be administratively screened for eligibility and mandatory requirements.
If approved as eligible, the application will undergo external review by a panel of independent reviewers. Based on this evaluation the LEO Foundation Board of Trustees will make the final decision and applicants will be notified of the results.
Application deadlines
Application deadlines for all of our grant programs are listed below. Calls are announced on an ongoing basis.
| Grant | Opens | Deadline | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Research Grants in open competition (round 1) |
13 Nov 2024 | 08 Jan 2025 | Apply now | |
To support the best dermatology research projects worldwide. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. DEADLINE: 8 January 2025 (16:00 CET) |
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LEO Foundation Award – Region Americas |
14 Nov 2024 | 09 Jan 2025 | Apply now | |
The LEO Foundation Award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers. Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000. DEADLINE for self-nomination: 9 January 2025 (16:00 CET) NB: The content of the application guide may be subject to change. Changes relevant for a given call will be implemented prior to opening of that call. |
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Education and Awareness Grants (round 1) |
27 Nov 2024 | 22 Jan 2025 | Apply now | |
To strengthen the pipeline of future researchers within the fields of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy, and to raise awareness about science, including skin and skin diseases. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. DEADLINE: 22 January 2025 (16:00 CET) |
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LEO Foundation Dr Abildgaard Fellowships |
16 Jan 2025 | 02 Apr 2025 | Not open | |
For talented, emerging research leaders with ambitions to establish or expand an independent research group at a Danish institution, and to pursue novel and important research questions within skin and skin diseases. Grants of DKK 12 million are awarded for a five-year period. DEADLINE: 2 April 2025 (16:00 CEST) Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens) |
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Research Grants in open competition (round 2) |
05 Feb 2025 | 02 Apr 2025 | Not open | |
To support the best dermatology research projects worldwide. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. DEADLINE: 2 April 2025 (16:00 CEST) |
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LEO Foundation Award – Region EMEA |
06 Feb 2025 | 03 Apr 2025 | Not open | |
The LEO Foundation Award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers. Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000. DEADLINE for self-nomination: 3 April 2025 (16:00 CEST) NB: The content of the application guide may be subject to change. Changes relevant for a given call will be implemented prior to opening of that call. |
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Education and Awareness Grants (round 2) |
10 Feb 2025 | 07 Apr 2025 | Not open | |
To strengthen the pipeline of future researchers within the fields of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy, and to raise awareness about science, including skin and skin diseases. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. DEADLINE: 7 April 2025 (16:00 CEST) |
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LEO Foundation Visiting Researchers (round 1) |
11 Feb 2025 | 08 Apr 2025 | Not open | |
To stimulate a cohesive and agile skin research ecosystem by supporting temporary embedment of skin researchers in a foreign research environment with the aim of fostering genuine international collaborations and strengthening the exchange of knowledge, ideas, methodology, and technology between Danish and international skin research communities. DEADLINE: 8 April 2025 (16:00 CEST) Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens) |
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Research Networking Grants (round 1) |
11 Feb 2025 | 08 Apr 2025 | Not open | |
Through our Research Networking Grants, we seek to enable knowledge-sharing and facilitate networking and collaborations within the skin research community by providing researchers and students with opportunities to present and discuss the newest research within their field. DEADLINE: 8 April 2025 (16:00 CEST) Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens) |
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Serendipity Grants |
29 Apr 2025 | 24 Jun 2025 | Not open | |
For novel and unexpected, also known as serendipitous, discoveries made by current LEO Foundation Grants of up to DKK 4 million are awarded for a two-year period. DEADLINE: 24 June 2025 (16:00 CEST) Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens) |
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LEO Foundation Award – Region Asia-Pacific |
01 May 2025 | 26 Jun 2025 | Not open | |
The LEO Foundation Award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers. Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000. DEADLINE for self-nomination: 26 June 2025 (16:00 CEST) NB: The content of the application guide may be subject to change. Changes relevant for a given call will be implemented prior to opening of that call. |
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Research Grants in open competition (round 3) |
31 Jul 2025 | 11 Sep 2025 | Not open | |
To support the best dermatology research projects worldwide. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. DEADLINE: 11 September 2025 (16:00 CEST) |
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Education and Awareness Grants (round 3) |
04 Aug 2025 | 30 Sep 2025 | Not open | |
To strengthen the pipeline of future researchers within the fields of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy, and to raise awareness about science, including skin and skin diseases. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. DEADLINE: 30 September 2025 (16:00 CEST) |
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LEO Foundation Visiting Researchers (round 2) |
05 Aug 2025 | 01 Oct 2025 | Not open | |
To stimulate a cohesive and agile skin research ecosystem by supporting temporary embedment of skin researchers in a foreign research environment with the aim of fostering genuine international collaborations and strengthening the exchange of knowledge, ideas, methodology, and technology between Danish and international skin research communities. DEADLINE: 1 October 2025 (16:00 CEST) Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens) |
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Research Networking Grants (round 2) |
05 Aug 2025 | 01 Oct 2025 | Not open | |
Through our Research Networking Grants, we seek to enable knowledge-sharing and facilitate networking and collaborations within the skin research community by providing researchers and students with opportunities to present and discuss the newest research within their field. DEADLINE: 1 October 2025 (16:00 CEST) Application guide (NB: the 2025 application guide will be published before the call opens) |
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Get inspired from projects granted
Ya-Chieh Hsu, Professor, Harvard University
Pursuing an interesting hypothesis may indeed lead to new insight. Yet sometimes, as frequently experienced in science, pursuing a hypothesis may also lead to the discovery of something completely unexpected and intriguing. Something serendipitous, calling for further exploration.
And that’s exactly what happened in early 2024 to Ya-Chieh Hsu, Professor at Department of Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology at Harvard University.
