Evaluation and Monitoring – Centers of Excellence
The center grant is constituted by two periods of respectively six and four years. A midterm evaluation is conducted after five years and a final evaluation is made after 9 years.
Follow-up meetings are held annually with each center and centers are asked to submit annual reports.
Follow-up meetings
The Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) wishes to have a running dialogue with the Centers of Excellence funded by the foundation. Hence, members og the foundation’s board and secretariat visit with each Center of Excellence annually for a follow-up meeting.
Mid-term Evaluation
It is a standard procedure of the DNRF to carry out a mid-term evaluation approx. after five years of the grant’s lifetime.
The evaluation is initiated by the DNRF requesting the centers to submit a self-evaluation report and a research proposal for a new four-year funding period, along with a selection of publications by the center. The center is hereafter evaluated by three international experts within the center’s field(s). It is important that the members of the panel have, besides scientific expertise and status, considerable experience in research management and organization.
The members of the evaluation panel receive the center’s self-evaluation report, the first grant period’s research plan, and the center’s application for a second grant period and a selection of the center’s publications ahead of their evaluation. The evaluation panel members each write an evaluation report.
The material which is produced in connection with the mid-term evaluation will provide an overview of the center’s research results, the ambitions for a second grant period, and an external evaluation of this. The mid-term evaluation forms part of the board’s decision-making on the future of the center.
Final Evaluation
Before the center expires, it is a standard procedure of the DNRF to conduct a final evaluation. The centers up for final evaluation have been funded for a total of ten years, divided into two periods.