DFG: open calls

Trans-Atlantic Platform (TAP) call supporting collaborative transnational social sciences and humanities (SSH) research on societal preparedness for uncertain futures. Requires international, interdisciplinary research teams; submission via the elan portal or national partner agencies.

Infrastructure Priority Programme funding natural science research in Antarctica, extended 2025-2030, with annual proposals for funding periods up to three years. Proposals must be written in English and submitted via the DFG's elan system; geological projects should focus on Antarctica's recent history (not older than ~34 million years).

Call for new and renewal proposals under the Infrastructure Priority Programme on Antarctic research, open to researchers at German universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutions. Proposals must be written in English and submitted via the DFG's elan portal. Attendance at the mandatory coordination workshop (28–30 September 2026, Rostock) is required for new applicants and renewals.

Call for projects starting in 2028 ("HALO 2028") within the SPP 1294 priority programme on airborne atmospheric and Earth system research using the HALO research aircraft. Proposals must be written in English and submitted via the DFG elan portal; funding covers development of mission-specific high-tech sensors and instruments but not permanently installed HALO instruments.

Call for individual project proposals within the second three-year funding period of the Priority Programme on combinatorics, covering themes such as enumeration, matroids, convexity, lattice points, statistics and mathematical physics. Proposals must be submitted via the DFG elan portal; renewal applicants and new applicants follow different submission routes.

Funding for participation in research vessel expeditions (RV MARIA S. MERIAN, METEOR, SONNE, POLARSTERN, ALKOR, HEINCKE, ELISABETH MANN BORGESE) and initial analysis of samples/data, for projects starting January 2028 or later. Proposals must be written in English and submitted via the DFG elan portal; applicants typically affiliated with German universities and research institutions.

Funds German higher education institutions hosting a DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence, Research Impulse, Research Training Group or Collaborative Research Centre to appoint an outstanding researcher from abroad (working abroad ≥3 years) to a long-term professorship. Proposal must be in English; funding starts 2028.

Funds German consortia (EXC, RI, RTG, CRC/TRR) to integrate an outstanding experienced researcher currently working abroad as a long-term fellow with extended residence periods in Germany, without requiring permanent relocation. Proposal must be in English; funding starts 2028.

Call for the second three-year funding period of Priority Programme SPP 2436 on CO2-neutral concrete research, covering alternative binders, renewable aggregates, and carbonation strategies. Proposals must be submitted in English solely via the DFG elan portal; each PI may be involved in only one proposal.

For early-career vascular surgery researchers in Germany (generally ≤6 years post-doctorate, pre-Habilitation) affiliated with a research-active working group; up to 20 participants develop DFG proposals excluding interventional clinical trials (Clinical Trials Programme scope). Requires €150 participant contribution.

Call for the second three-year funding period of Priority Programme SPP 2453 on mitochondrial protein import and cellular proteostasis. Proposals must be written in English and submitted via the elan portal; only tandem/tridem projects combining mitochondrial import and proteostasis expertise using yeast, C. elegans or mammalian cell models are funded. Review colloquium 7–9 April 2027 in Bonn.

Allows DFG consortia to integrate an outstanding, experienced researcher currently working abroad as a long-term Mercator Fellow, with 15-36 months total on-site presence in Germany over 5 years. Proposal must be in English, submitted via elan portal by the consortium spokesperson; funding starts in 2028.

Enables DFG consortia (Clusters of Excellence, Research Impulses, Research Training Groups, Collaborative Research Centres) to appoint an outstanding researcher working abroad for ≥3 years to a long-term professorship in Germany. Proposal must be in English, submitted via elan portal by the consortium spokesperson; funding starts in 2028.

Call under Priority Programme SPP 527 for innovative research on data/cores from international ocean drilling programmes, preparation of future expeditions, or development of drilling tools/software; proposals must link to ongoing, past or future drilling projects. Proposals must be written in English and submitted via the elan portal.

Call for the second three-year funding period of SPP 2411, studying cortico-subcortical interactions in mammalian adaptive sensing. Projects must address microcircuit-level neuronal activity in awake mammals and focus on sensory (not disease) mechanisms; purely anatomical, theoretical-only or non-mammalian studies are excluded. Proposals submitted via the DFG elan portal using form 53.01.

Joint DFG-SSHRC scheme funding one German-Canadian International Research Training Group in social sciences and humanities (excluding health-focused topics) for structured doctoral training with reciprocal research visits of 6-12 months. Lead PI in Canada must be affiliated with an SSHRC-eligible institution; proposal must meet SSHRC subject-matter eligibility guidelines.

Three-year pilot for a joint Lead Agency Procedure between DFG and NWO (Dutch Research Council), open from 6 August 2024 until 30 July 2027. Facilitates bilateral research projects between researchers in Germany and the Netherlands through mutual opening of individual funding procedures.

Joint Lead Agency Procedure for Dutch-German research teams in NWO Domain Science areas (Astronomy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physics). Applicants must be based in Germany (DFG) or the Netherlands (NWO). Proposals outside the defined scope cannot be considered. Unilateral funding of only one national part is not possible.

Joint basic research proposals within NWO Domain Science (Astronomy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physics) and corresponding DFG review boards. Commercial companies excluded. Non-university German researchers must fulfil DFG 'duty to cooperate' with a German university partner. No fixed budget cap; standard DFG Sachbeihilfe rules apply. Proposals compete with all other individual grants.

DFG Emmy Noether funds outstanding early-career researchers (≈up to 4y post-PhD with international experience) to lead an independent junior research group at a German institution. The German equivalent of NWO Vidi / ERC Starting tier.

DFG Research Grants (Sachbeihilfe) is Germany's standing single-PI project grant, open to qualified researchers at a German institution at any career stage. No fixed deadline.

DFG Heisenberg supports established researchers who have qualified for a professorship (habilitation or equivalent) to continue at a German institution — the senior career bridge above Emmy Noether. Excludes existing permanent W2/W3 professors.

Long-term, multidisciplinary university-based research institutions in Germany combining resources of one university (CRC) or jointly two-three universities (CRC/Transregio); non-university institutions, foreign institutions and industry partners can be integrated. Requires mandatory draft proposal and consultation before full proposal submission.

DFG Walter Benjamin funds early postdocs integrated into the German research system. The Fellowship module sends the researcher to a host ABROAD; the Position module funds them in Germany. Origin = DE, outgoing-mobility option (the German equivalent of NWO Rubicon).

Funds travel and maintenance costs for multi-year scientific exchange networks of 10-20 doctorate-holding researchers in Germany or at a German research institution abroad, aiming for a specific joint outcome such as publications or research methods development. Not open to employees of purely commercial institutions or those restricted from publishing findings openly.

Enables outstanding researchers with a proven track record and professorial-level qualification to pursue exceptionally innovative or higher-risk projects that cannot be funded via other DFG programmes.