New Features of the Priority Programmes
The Executive Committee of the DFG has decided on changes to the Priority Programmes. They concern the description of the funding objectives, the review process and the role of the coordinators. In order to ensure the programme is better suited to all scientific disciplines, the objec-tives have been reformulated as follows, though they remain unchanged in essence:
“The Priority Programme is a form of strategic research funding involving an open call for pro-posals. The aim of the programme is to promote work on topics that can be expected to have a formative impact on a field of science or the humanities. This impact can be achieved both by discovering new areas of research and also by rethinking known areas, working on them from a new perspective or based on a new approach, and providing momentum for this to happen. Interdisciplinary proposals offer particular potential here. Under the Priority Programme, individual research projects are funded that contribute to the network as a whole achieving the objectives formulated in the establishment proposal with regard to knowledge gain.
As part of the review process for establishment proposals, the possibility has been introduced for coordinators to briefly present their concept to the review panel via video link.
In addition to the round-table discussion that has already been customary in preparing a pro-posal, it is recommended that a second round-table discussion be held after the call for proposals has been issued under a Priority Programme established by the DFG Senate so as to facilitate better coordination of the content of the planned project proposals. As in the past, both round-tables can be funded by the DFG on request.
The submission deadline for establishment proposals remains unchanged at 15 October each year. The changes will apply for the first time to proposals submitted by the deadline of 15 October 2023.
All forms and guidelines affected by the above changes have been amended accordingly and are available under the heading "Forms and Guidelines” on the DFG website. The amended instructions for peer review will be published there at a later date.
Further information
Access to the DFG’s elan portal is via:
For details of the relevant contacts at the DFG Head Office, see:
Contact at the DFG Head Office:
- Julie Martin
Tel. +49 228 885-2577
julie.martin@dfg.d - Dr. Harald Leisch
Tel. +49 228 885-2862
harald.leisch@dfg.d