Approximately 53,300 researchers cast their votes / 632 positions on 49 review boards / 32.1 percent of elected members are women

The 2019 review board election of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has been successfully concluded. Between 2pm on 21 October and 2pm on 18 November 2019, approximately 150,000 eligible researchers had the opportunity to vote online for their preferred candidates for 632 positions on a total of 49 review boards for the period 2020 to 2023. Four days after the end of the four-week voting period, the preliminary results are now available.

In total, approximately 53,300 researchers participated in the electronic voting process, each casting up to six votes to choose among the 1,659 candidates. Of the 632 members of the new review boards, nearly one in three is female. The proportion of elected female members for this election is therefore 32.1 percent, representing another increase after 16.8 percent in the 2007 election, 20.79 percent in 2011 and 23.5 percent in 2015.

After the preliminary results had been calculated, DFG President Professor Dr. Peter Strohschneider thanked all those who had voted.

"The review boards are key to the qualitative evaluation of funding proposals submitted to the DFG. Unlike the preceding review process conducted by highly specialised peers, the review boards move these funding proposals to a broader horizon of neighbouring disciplines. On the basis of their judgement, they also ensure the quality of the review process and contribute significantly to the acceptance of funding decisions made by the DFG. The self-government of research in Germany is also manifested in the election of review boards' members by the respective specialist communities of researchers," said the DFG President.

Once the final results have been presented to the Senate of the DFG, the new review boards will meet for the first time in spring 2020.

Further Information

Media contact:

• DFG Press and Public Relations, 
  Tel. +49 30 206121-2109, 
  presse@dfg.de(externer Link)

Contact at the DFG Head Office:

• Christiane Burgbacher, 
  Quality and Programme Management division, 
  Tel. +49 (228) 885-2421,
  christiane.burgbacher@dfg.de(externer Link)