Inge Lehmann Research Programme (Denmark)
With only about 23% of professors in Denmark’s universities being women, in 2020 the Ministry for Higher Education and Science initiated a dedicated research programme to address gender imbalances in academia and promote more women in scientific research. The Inge Lehmann Programme was launched, with an initial disbursement of DKK 19.7 million (ca EUR 2.6 million ). Its latest Call for Proposals allocated DKK 80.6 million (ca EUR 10.8 million) by June 2024.
The programme is handled by Denmark’s Independent Research Fund (DFF) and, while being open to both male and female scientific researchers, it prioritises women over men in case of equal qualifications. DFF has decided to focus the Inge Lehmann programme on the early stages of the research career, as studies and data show that this is where the imbalance in the gender ratio in research environments sets in.
Gender considerations lie at the core of the Program and the DFF Call for Proposals guidelines clearly spell out that “DFF encourages applications that, to the extent possible, demonstrate an approach to scientific practice that can act as a driving force for professional diversity and equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, in research.”
The programme is named after the Danish seismologist and geophysicist Inge Lehmann (1888 – 1993) who determined in 1936 that Earth must have a solid inner core and a molten outer core, based on calculations she made while analysing seismic wave measurements.
