The category “Forum” brings together instruments that support collaborative research that follows a coherent research programme addressing an overall main topic over a set funding duration. To achieve this, these projects provide open platforms designed to facilitate scholarly discussion and dialogue, which enables them to be relatively open with regard to the work programme and proposed research methods. The proposal is not required to describe the structure of the proposed work in detail with respect to research content, duration or personnel. Evaluation of proposals focuses on the overall research idea, the anticipated knowledge gain and the applicants’ research and leadership expertise.

• Centres for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences
  Centres for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences are a special type of funding instrument specifically tailored to the working methods used in these particular fields.
• Scientific Networks
  Scientific networks offer researchers at all career stages the opportunity to engage in multi-year scientific exchange and cooperation on a topic area of their choice across locations, with the aim of achieving a specific outcome.
• Workshops for Early Career Investigators
  Workshops for early career investigators are a strategic funding instrument. These are aimed particularly at established researchers seeking to address a perceived lack of early-career researchers in their field by holding workshops for early career investigators on specific topics.
• Project Academies
  The aim of project academies is to enable professors from universities of applied sciences to engage in research projects based on DFG third-party funding at an early stage in their careers.
• International Scientific Events
  The DFG provides funding to conduct scientific events in Germany.