Information for Researchers, No. 31 | April 23, 2021

German-Korean Funding Programme for Joint Workshops and Research Visits

DFG and National Research Foundation of Korea

DFG and National Research Foundation of Korea

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) are pleased to announce a call for proposals for German-Korean joint workshops and research visits.

This initiative aims to bring together relevant and competitive researchers from Germany and South Korea to establish collaborative scientific relationships and prepare joint projects. Funding is available for the following collaborative measures:

  • exploratory workshops
  • research visits (max. three months)

Both components can be combined if they are in close temporal relationship and if this facilitates especially effective preparation of a joint project. The funding remains available for a maximum of 24 months after the approval date, and the individual collaborative measures must be carried out within this timeframe. Early career scientists holding a doctoral degree are strongly encouraged to participate in the above-mentioned activities.

Each national funding organisation will fund the costs for travel and accommodation of the researchers based in its own country. Organisational costs for workshops and for participants in workshops from third countries are funded by the funding organisation of the host country. Funding is only available for projects which involve a convincing collaboration between the German and Korean partners and for which the anticipated research benefit is clearly outlined.

Proposals must be submitted to both organisations in accordance with the proposal preparation requirements of both sides, respectively. Applicants form Korea submit their documents to the NRF, applicants from Germany to the DFG. Applicants to be funded by the DFG are requested to fulfil the eligibility requirements of DFG Initiation of International Collaboration and use the corresponding application form, see the corresponding guidelines of the Initiation of International Collaboration Programme (DFG form 1.813). The components “exploratory workshops” and “project-related trips abroad” can be funded.

For applicants to be funded by the DFG the “Duty to Cooperate” within Germany for members of non-university institutions with permanent positions applies. All documents must be written in English and must be submitted by 9 June 2021. Proposals arriving late and/or those not fulfilling the national requirements will not be considered. For first-time users of the DFG’s online submission system “elan” pre-registration is necessary by 1 June 2021.

Applicants to be funded by the DFG must upload their proposal via elan, the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system, following the DFG’s guidelines. After logging in, please go to “Proposal Submission” – “New Project” – “Initiation of International Collaboration Programme”. In the field “Proposal for an Initiation of International Collaboration” click the button “Start online form” – “Continue”. There you will find a list of “Calls for Proposals”. Please select “NRF-DFG-Call-2021” to tag your proposal for this specific call.

All proposals will be reviewed by both organisations separately. The results of the review process will be shared between the agencies. Support will be granted for those proposals where both DFG and NRF recommend funding. The selection of the projects will be completed by December 2021.

Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding (see link below: privacy policy). If necessary, please also forward this information to those persons whose data the DFG processes because they are involved in your project.

Further Information

For researchers in Germany:

Detailed information about the collaboration between DFG and NRF can be obtained at the DFG Head Office:

To submit a proposal to the DFG, please follow the “Guidelines for the Initiation of International Collaboration Programme“ (form 1.813) at:

General information for German principal investigators on Initiation of International Collaboration:

The DFG’s electronical portal “elan” can be found at:

Further information on elan:

Further information on privacy policy:

For researchers in Korea: