(16.05.12) To further strengthen early career support for researchers in Germany, the DFG has approved the establishment of a new Research Training Group. This was decided by the responsible Grants Committee at its meeting on 11 May 2012 in Bonn. The new Research Training Group offers doctoral researchers the opportunity to earn their degrees in a structured research and qualification programme at a high scientific level.
(09.05.12) A total of ten new Priority Programmes were established by the DFG Senate at its 2012 spring session in Bonn. They are set to launch at the beginning of 2013 and leverage the combined scientific expertise of researchers from Germany and beyond who work in particularly current or emerging fields. Research topics cover a wide interdisciplinary spectrum, from ultrafast data transfer to climate engineering to novel materials.
(02.05.12) The decision on the establishment of the new DFG Research Centre on Integrative Biodiversity Research has been made. The Joint Committee selected the joint proposal by the three universities of Leipzig, Jena and Halle-Wittenberg. The objective of the seventh DFG Research Centre is the exploration, and thus the protection, of the natural foundations of life. The centre will initially be funded for four years and receive about €33 million during this period. It will be based in Leipzig.
(07.05.12) The establishment of six new Research Units and one Clinical Research Unit has been decided by the Joint Committee of the DFG. These networks will offer researchers the opportunity to address current and pressing issues in their fields and to pioneer innovative approaches. As all DFG Research Units, the new institutions will work across locations and disciplines. Clinical Research Units combine clinical, applied and basic research.
(25.04.12) A special exhibition is set to tour Poland in the coming months. Under the title “Wissenschaft – Planung – Vertreibung”/“Nauka – Planowanie – Wypędzenia” (Research – Planning – Expulsion), the DFG and its Polish partners will remember the “General Plan East” devised by the National Socialists, which was designed to advance the “Germanisation of Eastern territories” after 1942 and which would have robbed millions of Polish citizens of their livelihoods. The exhibition will be displayed in Warsaw from 17 April to 30 May, after which it will tour Lublin, Wrocław, Poznań and Gdańsk until the beginning of October.
(16.04.12) Experts in business information systems Professor Erwin Pesch from Siegen and Professor Jacek Błażewicz from Poznan have been awarded the Copernicus Award by the DFG and the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) for their achievements in German-Polish collaboration in science. The Copernicus Prize includes prize money of 100,000 euros and will be presented on 17 September 2012 in Warsaw by the Presidents of the DFG and FNP, Professor Matthias Kleiner and Professor Maciej Żylicz.
(23.03.12) The 2012 Communicator Award, conferred by the DFG and the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany, will be awarded to Jürgen Tautz. The Würzburg-based apiologist and behavioural biologist has been selected in recognition of his outstanding, sustained, and innovative efforts to raise the public profile of his work and the scientific study of bees. The Communicator Award is the most important prize for science communication in Germany and will be presented to Jürgen Tautz on 3 July at the DFG's Annual Meeting in Dortmund.
(20.03.12) The new recipients of the most important prize for early-career researchers in Germany have been announced. The selection committee has chosen three young men and three young women to receive this year’s Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes. The award recognises outstanding scientific work to date and serves as an incentive for researchers to continue their scientific careers.
(13.03.12) How does research trigger new discoveries? How do ideas become research projects and eventually turn into knowledge? As part of the travelling exhibition “Von der Idee zur Erkenntnis” (“From an Idea to Discovery”), the DFG is showcasing ten research projects which are funded through its individual grants programme. The exhibition will be on display at the Paul-Löbe-Haus in Berlin until 30 March, when it will begin a tour of the German states.
(16.02.12) The first eleven projects to be awarded funding through the DFG’s “Core Facilities” initiative have been announced. The initiative will provide support to pilot projects dedicated to professionalising the use and management of infrastructure at instrumentation centres across Germany.
(17.02.12) Following acknowledgement by the DFG’s Senate, the results of the Review Board Election are now final. A total of 606 researchers have been elected to 48 review boards. The newly elected review boards will hold constitutive meetings beginning in March 2012 and thereby replace the current review boards.
(16.02.12) The DFG has approved the establishment of four new Research Units. This decision was taken by the DFG’s Senate at its February meeting in Bonn. As with all DFG Research Units, the new groups will collaborate across locations and disciplines. Their main topics are computer-aided knowledge representation, the structure and dynamics of ecological networks, new statistical procedures and nano innovations for optoelectronics.
(21.02.12) With an expanded presence and in a new environment, the DFG aims to further strengthen research cooperation between Germany and Latin America. In São Paulo – the most important research and business location in Latin America – the German House of Science and Innovation (DWIH) has just opened. The opening ceremony by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and the president of the Brazilian Research Council CNPq, Professor Glaucius Oliva, is also the start signal for a new DFG Office in Latin America, which is based in the DWIH.
(09.02.12) The DFG has imposed sanctions against researchers for scientific misconduct, excluding one researcher from the right to submit proposals for a period of two years and issuing another with a written reprimand. In both cases the researchers were found to have included third-party material in their proposals which they failed to properly identify. The Joint Committee ruled that these acts of plagiarism amounted to scientific misconduct. One researcher was also found to have breached the trust of his superior, further aggravating the circumstances of his case.
(01.02.12) The DFG Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area has evaluated the state of research and provided scientific advice in the field of occupational health and safety since 1955. The publication of the MAK Collection under open access marks an important step in providing free access to electronic information resources. The database, which contains detailed data and scientific documentation on over one thousand chemical compounds, can now be accessed online free of charge.
(31.01.12) In February and March 2012, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Fraunhofer join forces and organise events to present German innovation and research in India. The purpose of their joint effort "One Month in India" is to strengthen and expand R&D collaboration between Germany and India and to foster the mobility among scientists from both countries.
