Female Heart – Clinical Research Grants

The Female Heart – Clinical Research Grants programme aims to enhance clinical understanding of sex-related differences in cardiovascular disease by fostering global collaborative research projects anchored in the Nordic countries. The programme funds research that seeks to improve early detection, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular disease in women, with particular attention to conditions with relatively higher female prevalence such as spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA), and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The research must involve international collaboration with main applicants anchored at Nordic research institutions and co-applicants from institutions outside the main applicant's country. Projects should address sex-specific or sex-associated risk factors, including pregnancy-related cardiovascular complications, effects of female hormonal transitions, and social determinants of health that impact women's cardiovascular health experiences. Sex-related differences in cardiovascular disease must be the core focus of the proposed research project and directly relate to the research hypothesis.