The ANR-DFG NLE call applies to projects funded under the Research Grants Programme. It does not apply to other funding options (e.g. Clinical Trials, Research Units or Package Proposals).

The Lead Agency organises the review process and forwards the results of the review and a recommendation for a decision to the Partner Agency. The respective committees of all funding organisations involved in the proposal in question then make a decision on this basis. As far as the DFG is concerned, this decision is made by the Joint Committee. 

A project proposal can only be funded if all participating funding agencies agree to approve it; otherwise, all parts of the proposal must be rejected. As a rule, however, the Partner Agencies follow the Lead Agency's recommendation.

The guidelines for the Research Grants Programme apply here (see DFG form 50.01(interner Link)).

The ANR and the DFG exclude commercial companies, industrial technical centres and associations known as technical and/or technological centres.

Yes, the duty to cooperate applies (DFG form 55.01(interner Link)). It cannot be fulfilled through international cooperation.

Generally, there is no formal limitation as to how many proposals for research grants can be submitted to the DFG in parallel. However, if you have already applied for or started a project with funding for your own position, please contact the DFG Head Office before submitting a proposal for a new project. A proposal may be possible in exceptional cases.

Further information can be found on the web page Temporary Positions for Principal Investigators(interner Link).

No particular number of applicants is defined. However, proposals under the ANR-DFG NLE call are for research grants in which both the French and German project elements are well justified and interlinked, possibly even of equal weight. Under the Research Grants Programme, there are usually no more than four applicants (on the German side).

If there are multiple applicants on the German side of a proposal, only one of them should submit the proposal and enter the relevant information (e.g. requested funds) for all applicants in Germany.

The role of a coordinator does not exist as such from the point of view of the DFG. In the event of approval, all applicants are equally responsible for the implementation of the project. If the ANR asks at some point for the name of the coordinator in Germany, please enter the person who submitted the proposal via the DFG’s elan system.

No, the DFG does not require pre-registration.

Please use this template(Download) for the project description and this template(Download) for all the applicants’ CVs (France and Germany). Additional documents resulting from points 4.1.1 – 4.2. might be required if relevant to your project proposal.

Please note:

A budgetary data sheet (annexe budgétaire obligatoire) is requested by the ANR for the French partners detailing the requested resources broken down into major expense categories, so as to enable analysis of the consortium’s budget. This document is mandatory for the project proposal to be eligible. The document template is available for download on the AAPG 2026 web page.

No, the DFG does not impose any formal limits on the amount of funding requested.

No, the amount of funding requested from the DFG does not have to match the amount requested from the ANR. However, it should be an integrated project in which all elements have a well-defined purpose. If you require more information on the funds requested from the ANR, please contact them accordingly.

Overheads for the German part of the project are automatically added to the funds in the case of a DFG grant, so these should not be applied for. Please consult the ANR’s regulations for details of the rules relating to the French part of the project.

All modules can be applied for under the Research Grants Programme(interner Link).

If a statement by an ethics committee is required for the German or French part of the project, it must be submitted along with the proposal. By way of an exception, however, a statement issued by the local German ethics committee can be submitted no later than three months after proposal submission. Otherwise the funding organisations may stop processing the proposal.

Please note that, since the project is collaborative, the submission of a statement by the local German ethics committee is also necessary if only the part of the project to be conducted abroad is affected.

These rules may change in the future.

• Please submit your proposal under Proposal Submission – New Project as a “Proposal for a Research Grant” under “Individual Grants Programme”. In so doing, select the call “Frankreich-ANR-DFG (Year) NLE”.
• Please indicate an acronym of max. 13 characters; this must be the same for Germany and France.
• Please note that on elan there is a limit of 300 characters for the project title and a limit of 3,000 characters for the abstract. The acronym, title and abstract should be such that they can be used in the same way by both funding organisations.
• Please do not select “General int. cooperation” as a “Supplemental Classification” on the elan portal.
• Please enter the applicant(s) in France as the cooperation partner(s).