The Beckett Foundation - The Beckett Foundation Research

The Beckett Foundation grant

You receive a one-off grant to fund a specific project. There is no fixed upper or lower limit. You name the exact sum you need in your application and back it up with a budget. In 2025 the average grant was about 82,000 DKK (around 11,000 EUR). For medical projects the average was close to 100,000 DKK (around 13,400 EUR). The money comes from the Beckett Foundation (Beckett-Fonden), a Danish non-profit foundation set up in 1989 that supports art and culture, medical research and nature conservation.

Who can apply

• Who you are: You can apply as an individual, a group, an institution or an organisation.
• What you can fund: A specific project in one of the following three areas: art and culture (including teaching and research), medical and scientific research, or nature conservation research. This also includes equipment for hospitals, clinics and rehabilitation centres.
• Medical topic for 2026/2027: If you are applying for a medical research grant, your topic must relate to the relevant annual theme. For applications submitted in the year 2026, the theme is ‘gastrointestinal diseases’. For applications submitted in the year 2027, the theme is ‘biomarkers’. There are no thematic restrictions in other specialist areas.
• Where the project runs: Projects may take place in Denmark or abroad. Foreign projects carried out in Denmark are also eligible for funding.
• Nationality: Any nationality can apply.
• Timing: Your project must not have taken place yet. The date that counts is the date of the premiere, the book’s publication, the exhibition opening or the start of a short study trip. Preparations in the run-up to the event are fine.
• Not covered: Running costs and overheads, grants passed on to other foundations, and sport and leisure. For applicants from the medical sector, the following items are also excluded: their own salary, scholarships for doctoral or postdoctoral students (a scholarship is a grant intended to cover living costs), conference travel and study visits abroad.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted online via the Foundation’s application system. Applications sent by email or post will not be accepted. There is no application deadline, so you can apply at any time and will receive a reply within five months. Please write your application in Danish, keep it brief and include a clear financial plan. A separate application is required for each project.

How realistic are your chances?

In 2025 the foundation received 2,325 applications and funded 387 of them, totalling about 31.9 million DKK. That means fewer than one in five applications gets money.

Our guide Scholarships in Denmark brings together funding options that may suit you if this grant does not cover your project.