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Collaborative Research Centres
- Collaborative Research Centres
Collaborative Research Centres
Collaborative Research Centres are institutions established at universities for a period of up to 12 years that enable researchers to pursue an outstanding research programme, crossing the boundaries of disciplines, institutes, departments and faculties.They facilitate scientifically ambitious, complex, long-term research by concentrating and coordinating the resources available at a university. Universities submitting a proposal are expected to provide appropriate core support. The CRC programme should, thus, contribute towards defining the profiles of participating universities. Gender equality and early career support are additional goals of a Collaborative Research Centre.
Collaborative Research Centres may also incorporate projects at neighbouring universities or non-university research institutions and collaboration with industry and business within the research programme, provided they serve to further the core research area. In addition, CRCs maintain scientific relations with universities and other research institutions outside of Germany.
Programme Variations
There are two variations in the Collaborative Research Centre programme:
The traditional Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) is generally applied for by one university and led by that university's researchers. It facilitates a comprehensive research programme by bundling the available resources at the given university.
The CRC/Transregio is jointly applied for by several (generally up to three) universities. The contributions of the cooperative partners are essential, complementary and synergetic to the joint research objective. Funding facilitates close, nationwide collaboration among the participating universities and researchers, as well as networking and shared use of resources.
Both programme variations serve to build capacity and sharpen profiles at the participating universities. The participation of non-university research institutions is welcome.
Further Information
In addition to Collaborative Research Centres, the DFG offers other coordinated programmes designed to fund large, cooperative research projects and build capacity at universities:
