Current Projects and Programmes

The section gives an overview of the DFG's various information services which provide up-to-date details on projects and programmes currently funded by the DFG.

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.

Research Training Groups
are established by universities to promote early career researchers that are funded by the DFG for a period of up to nine years. Their key emphasis is on the qualification of doctoral researchers within the framework of a focused research programme and a structured training strategy.

Priority Programmes
A particular feature of the Priority Programme is the nationwide cooperation between its participating researchers. The DFG Senate may establish Priority Programmes when the coordinated support given to the area in question promises to produce particular scientific gain. As a rule, Priority Programmes receive funding for a period of six years. Once the Senate has established the programme, the DFG announces a call for proposals.

Research Units
A Research Unit is made up of a team of researchers working together on a research project which, in terms of thematic focus, duration and finances, extends beyond the funding options available under the Individual Grants Programme or Priority Programme.

Clinical Research Units
provide outstanding researchers the opportunity to carry out close, medium-term cooperation in a special research project from the field of disease or patient-oriented clinical research.

Centres for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences
Centres enable particularly distinguished researchers to collaborate for the purposes of further developing a research topic in the humanities and social sciences in a certain location.

DFG Research Centres
The primary objective of this programme is to establish a limited number of internationally visible and competitive research centres at German universities. The centres should be an important element of a university’s strategic planning, serving to enhance the research profile and further research priorities.

Clusters of Excellence (Excellence Strategy)
The aim of the Excellence Strategy is to strengthen Germany’s position as an outstanding place for research in the long term and further improve its international competitiveness. It continues the development of German universities successfully begun with the Excellence Initiative by supporting research of the highest standard, enhancing research profiles, and facilitating cooperation in the research system.