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Information for Researchers, No. 61 | July 8, 2021

African-German Scientific Exchange in the Field of Public Health

Pre-Call Announcement: Initiation of Cooperation in the Area of Public Health Research between Sub-Saharan African und German Researchers

Pre-Call Announcement: Initiation of Cooperation in the Area of Public Health Research between Sub-Saharan African und German Researchers

In close collaboration with the Fundo Nacional de Investigação (FNI) of the Republic of Mozambique and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) of the Republic of Zambia, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) of the Federal Republic of Germany would like to invite researchers to engage in a scientific exchange in the field of public health.

This initiative covers all research questions that are primarily concerned with population health. Subject areas include public health issues relating to infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases; One Health; availability, quality and utilisation of data for health monitoring and surveillance; mental health; prevention strategies; population movement/migration; health policies.

Aim of the Initiative

The aim of the initiative is for participating researchers to identify joint interests in the area of public health and initiate new collaborative ventures.

The partner funding organisations aim to facilitate this exchange by means of the following measures:

  1. An invitation to submit posters reflecting the participating researchers’ expertise, research interests and ideas for collaborative research projects and subsequently to view other participants’ posters.
  2. A subsequent call for DFG proposals for funding of the Initiation of International Collaboration.
  3. A Status Workshop in Bonn/Germany to convene all researchers due to receive funding under this call for the Initiation of International Collaboration.

(1) Invitation to Submit Posters

In order to establish a networking poster platform and participate in the subsequent call, the posters should reflect the profile of the researcher or research group along with their expertise, experience and contact details. At the same time, the posters should highlight current research interests and ideas for joint research projects. Posters that show solely the results of previous research projects are out of scope and will not be considered. Posters must comply with the template provided below. Researchers are required to submit their posters in either English or French by 30 September 2021.

The posters will be screened by the funding agencies for compliance with the eligibility requirements and the scope of the initiative before confirmation of participation and upload to the poster platform. The posters will only be accessible to peers who have submitted an accepted poster and to the partnering funding agencies. When the poster platform goes live, participating researchers will be invited to view all posters, contact potential collaboration partners, develop joint research ideas and prepare a DFG proposal for the Initiation of International Collaboration.

Eligibility: Qualified researchers from all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Germany are invited to submit posters (as a rule they should hold a doctorate and have a track record in their respective research field).

(2) Call for the Initiation of International Collaboration

The call for the Initiation of International Collaboration serves to establish and facilitate collaborative relationships between researchers from Sub-Saharan Africa and Germany. In general, the DFG can only fund bilateral or multilateral Sub-Saharan African/German projects under this initiative. More information regarding the specifics of this call will be provided to the participants of the poster platform in October 2021. For further information on the programme and instructions for proposal preparation, please refer to the “Guidelines on Proposals for Grants to Support the Initiation of International Collaboration” (DFG form 1.813). Proposals must be submitted in English by 28 February 2022.

Eligibility: All proposals must include at least one applicant from Germany and one cooperation partner from Sub-Saharan Africa who have both previously submitted a poster. However, proposals can only be submitted by researchers from Germany. Scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa act as cooperation partners and can also receive funding. German applicants are therefore required to fulfil the DFG eligibility requirements.

(3) Status Workshop

Approved travel funds from the funding for the Initiation of International Collaboration must be used to enable Sub-Saharan African project partners to participate in a Status Workshop in Bonn in the week of 27 to 31 March 2023. This workshop will be organised centrally by the DFG with the aim of assessing the need for a possible joint call for project proposals and collect lessons learnt regarding the frameworks within which such Sub-Saharan African/German collaborations can evolve.

Participation in the workshop will be limited to applicants from Germany and their cooperation partners from Sub-Saharan Africa with funding under the Initiation for International Collaboration.

Further Information

This call for proposals is also available in French:

Poster template:

Platform for poster upload:

Guidelines on Proposals for Grants to Support the Initiation of International Collaboration with Proposal Preparation Instructions (DFG form 1.813):

Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding, which can be viewed and downloaded at:

If necessary, please also forward this information to those individuals whose data will be processed by the DFG due to their involvement in your project.

For questions on DFG collaboration with African countries, please contact:

For questions concerning DFG funding of projects in the field of public health, please contact:

For questions concerning the Fundo Nacional de Investigação (FNI), please contact:

For questions concerning the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), please contact:

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