Membership Period 2020 - 2024

The 49 review boards elected at the end of 2019 were constituted during individual inaugural meetings held between March and July 2020, thereby marking the beginning of their term of office.

You can find further information below:

Interner LinkList of Members of the Review Boards
Interner LinkFramework Rules of Procedure for the Review Boards
Interner LinkSections and Expert Forums
Link auf PDF-DateiInformation for Newly Elected Members of the Review Boards (in German only)

Election of Members of the 2019 Review Boards

Almost 140,000 researchers were invited to participate in the 2019 review board election between 21 October and 18 November 2019. 38.2 percent of them voted in order to elect their preferred candidate for 632 positions on a total of 49 review boards, resulting in a slightly higher voter turnout compared with the 37 percent voter turnout of the 2015 election. The proportion of female candidates in the newly elected review boards has also increased: It now accounts for 32.1 percent compared with 23.5 percent in 2015.

The final result of the 2019 review board election was ascertained by a notice sent to the DFG Senate on 17 February 2020. It was published on the DFG website on 18 February 2020, and replaced the preliminary election result published there shortly after the election deadline.

Link auf PDF-DateiNumbers for the 2019 DFG Review Board Election (in German only)
Link auf PDF-DateiFinal Election Result of the 2019 DFG Review Board Election (in German only)

The work of the DFG Review Boards

The review boards are made up of researchers from the German research system who perform their responsibilities either in face-to-face meetings or through a written process.

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The main responsibility of review board members is to scientifically evaluate funding proposals in their respective subject areas and thus ensure that all proposals within a given subject area are assessed using a common standard. The review board members write a final recommendation which is submitted to the relevant decision-making body of the DFG together with the proposals. – Photo: Meeting of the review board "Non-European Languages and Cultures..."on 18 February 2013 in Bonn.

The review boards also advise the DFG's statutory bodies on strategic issues relating to research funding. The review boards also work on an interdisciplinary basis, both in terms of research funding and on strategic matters. For example, the meeting of the spokespersons of all review boards on 18-19 June 2013 at the DFG's Head Office in Bonn provided an opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion.

The review boards are made up of researchers from the German research system who perform their responsibilities either in face-to-face meetings or through a written process.

All 48 review boards work in accordance with the framework rules of procedure approved by the DFG Senate. On this common basis, some review boards work mostly face to face or through teleconferences, while others mainly use a written process or a combination of these methods. Individual review boards come together for joint meetings on average four times a year. – Meeting of the then acting Education Sciences review board on 21 January 2011 at the DFG's Head Office in Bonn.

The DFG's Head Office prepares meetings and distributes meeting documents electronically. Documents can also be accessed during the meeting by means of the electronic proposal processing system "elan".

Login interface for the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system (elan).

Discussions on funding decisions in review board meetings usually focus on proposals for which a unanimous decision has still not been reached after the review process is complete. To this end, each proposal is assigned a rapporteur from among the review board members who will present the research project and appraise the review situation. The review board then discusses the proposal and formulates a recommendation.Photo: Impression on "What counts in science" from the Heisenberg meeting on March 1, 2017 in Bonn

Researchers frequently collaborate on interdisciplinary projects. For the optimum evaluation of interdisciplinary proposals, different review boards also work together. In order to reach a decision in cases like these, guests from other review boards might be invited to meetings or two review boards might present their views on a proposal one after the other.

Meetings are not only concerned with funding decisions. Review board members also receive information about changes to funding processes and may discuss strategic issues affecting their review board. The results may enter the Joint Committee. Foto: Meeting of the DFG's Joint Committee on March 5, 2017 in Bonn

In the DFG's coordinated programmes, which involve reviews by panels, review board members are also at the on-site evaluation. This ensures that all DFG funding programmes are based on the same quality standards. On average, each member of a review board is required to perform this duty one or two times per year. On-site reviews generally last one to two days and allow the review group not only to speak directly to the applicants and the proposed project team, but also to see the research environment.

A picture of the hands during a discussion

All review board members are elected for a period of four years and serve on a voluntary basis. The DFG's research funding is based on the principle of self-governance and relies on the valuable support of the elected review boards in the evaluation of funding proposals.

The work of the DFG Review Boards

The review boards are made up of researchers from the German research system who perform their responsibilities either in face-to-face meetings or through a written process.

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Facts and Figures

Membership Period 2020 - 2024

You can find further information below:

Election of Members of the 2019 Review Boards

The work of the DFG Review Boards