Requirements for proposal submissions – tapping into the research potential offered by universities of applied sciences (UAS)

It is important to the DFG to tap into the specific research potential offered by UAS. For this reason, researchers at UAS are explicitly encouraged to submit proposals.

In order to ensure that competition for funding is fair, the DFG advocates greater appreciation of UAS-specific career paths and competencies in the review and decision-making culture. The basis for this is demonstrating specific research environments, accomplishments, qualifications and career paths that are important in the evaluation of applicants at UAS, thereby enabling DFG reviewers and committees to assess them more accurately. For this reason, particular care should be taken to include UAS-specific details relevant to the review in applicant CVs: the DFG’s CV template provides various fields for this purpose, depending on the details in question (“Qualifications and Career”, “Scientific Results” and “Other Information”, etc.). This information may only be taken into account in the review and decision-making process to the applicants’ benefit. In addition, the DFG also seeks to raise awareness among review boards to consciously approach proposals submitted by UAS.

These goals are reflected in particular in the guidelines and reviewer instructions, as well as in review practice.