Current science policy issues and funding decisions / Focus on growing threats to freedom of research / Formal ceremony and presentation of the Communicator Award

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is due to hold its 2025 annual meeting in Hamburg from 30 June to 2 July. With an annual budget of over €3.9 billion and some 31,000 funded projects across all fields of research, the DFG is Germany’s largest research funding organisation and the central self-governing body for the country’s research community. The annual meeting is being hosted by University of Hamburg, one of its 99 member organisations.

All of the DFG’s statutory bodies will convene during the course of the three-day event: the Executive Committee, the Senate, the Joint Committee and, concluding the event, the General Assembly. The DFG’s liaison officers at member universities will also come together for their annual meeting. There will also be two high-profile individual events: the formal ceremony and the presentation of the Communicator Award, with guests from academia, politics and society.

The sessions of the statutory bodies will address issues such as the curtailment of academic freedom in the United States under the Trump administration and also current science policy issues and developments in Germany and the EU. Funding decisions will also be on the agenda, such as the establishment of new Research Units.  

At the General Assembly on 2 July, DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker and Secretary General Dr. Heide Ahrens will report on the DFG’s funding activities and initiatives since the 2024 General Assembly in Potsdam. The agenda here will also include elections to fill vacant positions on the Executive Committee and the Senate. The DFG’s “2024 Annual Report” will also be presented, containing the main facts and figures on funding work. 

For the formal ceremony on Tuesday, 1 July, starting at 6 pm at Altonaer Fischauktionshalle, guests include Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär and Hamburg’s Senator for Science, Maryam Blumenthal. In her speech, DFG President Katja Becker will also take the opportunity to address the growing global threat to the freedom of research.

Prior to this on Monday, 30 June, Professor Dr. Petra Anders, a specialist in German language didactics, will be presented with this year’s Communicator Award, a distinction conferred by the DFG and the Stifterverband. A scholar at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Anders receives Germany’s most prestigious award for science communication, worth €50,000, in recognition of her outstanding public engagement in promoting reading and language skills among primary school pupils. The award will be presented by DFG President Becker and Dr. Volker Meyer-Guckel, Secretary General of Stifterverband. The laudatory speech will be given by DFG Vice President Professor Dr. Johannes Grave, who chairs the Communicator Award jury. The ceremony will begin at 7 pm at the Opernloft in the Altes Fährterminal Altona.

Further Information

Notes on media relations

The DFG will provide information about the annual meeting and the key decisions made in a series of press releases on Wednesday, 2 July, starting at approximately 2 pm These will be continuously updated and made available in a digital press kit(interner Link).

Accompanying information is also available on the DFG website at www.dfg.de(interner Link) and via social media at LinkedIn(externer Link), Bluesky(externer Link), Mastodon(externer Link) und Instagram(externer Link).

The DFG’s 2024 Annual Report, embargoed until 2 pm on 2 July 2025, can be requested by sending an e-mail to: presse@dfg.de(externer Link)

Media representatives are cordially invited to attend the presentation of the Communicator Award (Monday, 30 June, 7 pm, Opernloft, Altes Fährterminal Altona) and to the formal ceremony (Tuesday, 1 July, 6 pm, Altonaer Fischauktionshalle). Please register by sending an e-mail to: presse@dfg.de(externer Link). The registration deadline for both events is 12 noon on the day of the event.