Funding Initiative to Secure Endangered Data Repositories: Proposal Submission Also Possible in 2027
Community survey: Tell us about your funding and support needs
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) wishes to draw attention to the fact that proposals under the “Funding Initiative to Secure Endangered Data Repositories and Promote Data Resilience” can also be submitted in 2027. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and administered by the DFG, the initiative supports projects that secure endangered data repositories relevant to research in Germany and Europe, ensures their long-term accessibility and helps strengthen resilient research data infrastructures.
Funding may be provided for measures such as the procurement of necessary storage capacity, staff resources for making data accessible, curating it and aggregating it from a subject-specific perspective, as well as legal assessments. Funding is also available for measures to incorporate secured datasets into cross-regional or European structures and to develop frameworks and technologies that help integrate the relevant repositories and infrastructures into cross-regional or European networks.
Proposal Submission and Webinar
The DFG is also inviting researchers and research institutions to submit funding proposals for the year 2027. Proposals may be submitted at any time and should be prepared in accordance with the information provided in the (Download) and the (Download).
A webinar on proposal submission will be held from 3 to 4 pm on 10 November 2026. You can join the webinar (externer Link).
Wide Range of Projects Already Funded
The first 14 projects funded under the initiative illustrate the wide range of possible project focuses: they address data and infrastructures from various fields of research and pursue different approaches to securing research-relevant data repositories and making them sustainably available.
Climate data from international data infrastructures is being secured and curated for further use in research, for example, while other projects focus on securing and integrating data from genomics and structural biology or on establishing resilient structures for geoscientific and environmental data. Data resilience is also addressed by projects that seek to establish resilient research data infrastructures at the national level and connect them at European level.
Further information on the projects funded to date is available on the funding initiative’s (interner Link).
Community Survey: Needs and Framework Conditions for Securing Endangered Data Repositories
Insights into current and future challenges involved in securing endangered data repositories can help the DFG adjust the funding initiative where necessary, potentially at short notice, and ensure that it continues to be closely aligned with the needs of the research community. For this reason, the DFG is asking researchers and research institutions to provide brief feedback on their specific needs and explain why submitting a proposal may currently be unattractive or may not offer a suitable means of resolving the problem concerned. You can take part in the (externer Link) (in German only) here (deadline: 22 November 2026).
Equity and Diversity
The DFG explicitly welcomes proposals from researchers of all genders and sexual identities, from different ethnic, cultural, religious, ideological and social backgrounds, and at different career stages, types of higher education institution and research institution, as well as from researchers with disabilities or chronic illnesses.
Good Research Practice
According to a resolution of the DFG General Assembly, DFG funding may only be awarded to research institutions that have implemented the guidelines laid down in the (externer Link) in their own regulations. The management of your institution is responsible for implementing the guidelines in a legally binding manner. In order to avoid delays in the disbursement of funding, please verify implementation within your institution in good time. For information regarding the implementation, please refer to the (externer Link). If you have any questions on this subject, please contact the (externer Link) at the DFG Head Office.
Further Information
Further information on the (interner Link)
Contact Persons at the DFG Head Office
Programme contact:
Dr. Kathrin Winkler, Scientific Library Services and Information Systems, Tel. +49 228 885-2201
Dr. Alexandra Panzert, Scientific Library Services and Information Systems, Tel. +49 228 885-2238
Administrative contact:
Tanja Buhrandt, Scientific Library Services and Information Systems, Tel. +49 228 885-3385,
(externer Link)
Privacy Policy
We, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), take the protection of your personal data and its confidential treatment extremely seriously. Therefore, please refer to the DFG’s (interner Link). If you intend to transmit personal data of third parties, please make sure to do so only if the necessary legitimation under data protection law exist. Before transmitting data of third parties to the DFG, please forward the DFG’s Data Protection Notice to the individuals affected (data subjects). If there is a legitimate interest not to inform individuals beforehand (e.g. for reasons of secrecy or in case of a nomination or candidate proposal), these individuals should be informed no later than at the time of publication.