Welcome to the DFG

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) is the central, self-governing research funding organisation that promotes research at universities and other publicly financed research institutions in Germany.

The DFG serves all branches of science and the humanities by funding research projects and facilitating cooperation among researchers.

Encouraging High-Risk Research: DFG Approves Funding for Two New Reinhart Koselleck Projects

(06 February 2009) The DFG has announced that it will fund two new innovative and high-risk research projects. The Reinhart Koselleck Projects will be conducted by Professor Margit Zacharias, a nanotechnologist from Freiburg, and Professor Reinhard Dörner, an atomic physicist from Frankfurt. They will each receive €1.25 million, which they will be able to use flexibly for their projects over the next five years.

• Press Release

Seibold Prize: Outstanding Promoters of Understanding between Japan and Germany

(05 February 2009) Professor Makoto Ida, a professor of law from Tokyo, and Professor Wolfgang Schamoni, professor emeritus of Japanese studies from Heidelberg,, have been selected to receive the 2009 Eugen and Ilse Seibold Prize by the DFG (German Research Foundation). This award is given in recognition of their contribution to the advancement of science and mutual understanding between the two countries. The prize, which is financed through a fund donated by the former President of the DFG, Eugen Seibold, and his wife, is worth 10,000 euros to each recipient and will be conferred for the seventh time this year.

• Press Release

DFG Launches Internet Video Portal on the Excellence Initiative

(26 January 2009) Making it possible to experience top-level research in Germany using multimedia is the aim of the new internet video portal on the Excellence Initiative, launched by the DFG on 19 January 2009. Each of the facilities at German universities funded under the Excellence Initiative will be presented in a short film, accompanied by up-to-date news and background information, on www.exzellenz-initiative.de and www.excellence-initiative.com . The bilingual portal is aimed at the general public, both in Germany and abroad, and is the biggest project to date publicising the Excellence Initiative, which has seen the German government and scientific community join forces to promote outstanding research projects and institutions.

• Press Release
• www.excellence-initiative.com