Under the Research Grants Programme, the D-A-CH and D-Lux agreements were superseded in 2021 by the Weave Lead Agency Procedure(interner Link).

As far as the coordinated programmes are concerned – Priority Programmes and Research Units – the Lead Agency Procedure continues to apply under the D-A-CH and D-Lux agreements. See here(interner Link) for details of which funding organisation participates in which coordinated programme and in what capacity.

There is no separate proposal form for proposals submitted under the Lead Agency Procedure. Detailed guidance on preparing proposals with partners in Austria, Switzerland or Luxembourg is to be found in the supplementary instructions for the Lead Agency Procedures.

• Supplementary Instructions for D-A-CH(interner Link) (currently available in German only)
• Supplementary Instructions for D-Lux(interner Link) (currently available in German only)

The proposal is submitted via the elan portal(externer Link) under the relevant DFG programme. Please note the following:

• D-A-CH and D-Lux proposals submitted under Research Units and Priority Programmes must be identified by additionally selecting “D-A-CH Project (LAV)” or “D-Lux Project (LAV)”.
• Proposals for FWF Specialized Research Groups are submitted by selecting the call “Austria-FWF-DFG-Spezialforschungsgruppen- YEAR”. 

No. Your cooperation partners are not listed as applicants on the elan portal(externer Link), but need to be entered as cooperation partners under “Participating individuals”.

Under the D-A-CH and D-Lux Lead Agency Procedure, the “main” proposal must be submitted to the Lead Agency. However, a “formal proposal” must also be submitted to the respective partner organisation. As the requirements for this vary between the different funding organisations, please contact the relevant funding organisation for details.

Proposals to the DFG must also be submitted via the elan portal.

• To the elan portal (externer Link)
• Information provided by the FWF on cooperation with Austria(externer Link)
• Information provided by the SNSF on cooperation with Switzerland (externer Link)
• Information provided by the FNR on cooperation with Luxembourg(externer Link)

Under the DFG’s coordinated programmes (Research Units and Priority Programmes), the DFG is always the Lead Agency.

In the case of FWF Specialized Research Groups or Special Research Areas, the FWF is always the Lead Agency.

Proposals must be prepared in English.

Subject to prior agreement with the relevant DFG programme officer and the partner organisation, exceptions may be made in the fields of linguistics and literary studies under the D-A-CH and D-Lux Lead Agency Procedure.

The standard funding available under the relevant DFG programmes may be requested(interner Link). There are no upper funding limits.

When the DFG is the Lead Agency, the review process follows the standard procedures applicable to the respective programme. When a partner organisation abroad is the Lead Agency, the review is conducted exclusively in accordance with that organisation’s rules. Once the review has been completed, the reviews are made available to all participating partner organisations for a final decision in accordance with their respective national procedures. Only if all participating partner organisations reach a positive decision can the overall project proceed and funding be awarded for each individual national project by the responsible partner organisation.

Although the funding decision is taken separately by each partner organisation, it is based on the same reviews and coordinated among all parties involved. Unilateral funding is not possible.

As a rule, proposals submitted under the Lead Agency Procedure take around two months longer to be processed by the DFG than the average for other individual grants programmes.

This is possible in exceptional cases. For details, see the information on the Lead Agency Procedure.(interner Link)

Up to two individual German projects may be included in an Austrian Specialized Research Area or Special Research Group(interner Link).

No, participation under the Lead Agency Procedure is not possible in this case.

Detailed information on this subject is available on the web page Funding in an International Context(interner Link).

For general questions relating to coordinated programmes under the D-A-CH Lead Agency Procedure with Austria and Switzerland or the D-Lux Lead Agency Procedure with Luxembourg, please contact:

Maria Borre
Tel.: 0228 / 885-2715
E-mail: maria.borre@dfg.de(externer Link)

Christina López Castillo
Tel.: 0228 / 885-2295
E-mail: christina.lopezcastillo@dfg.de(externer Link)

If you have subject-specific questions or would like information on the status of the review of a proposal you have submitted, please contact the relevant programme officer(interner Link).