The Honorary Grant was presented for the first time in 2009 as part of the Villum Kann Rasmussen centenary celebrations. The grant is worth DKK 500,000 and is awarded by the VELUX FOUNDATION in association with the VILLUM FOUNDATION. The object of the grant is to recognise the achievements of a Danish researcher of international standing near the close of his or her career, and who has been a distinguished representative of Danish research.

As its first grant recipient, the board selected physicist Jens Als-Nielsen, former professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, for his infl uential achievements in Danish research in fields such as neutron and X-ray scattering.