Physics funding at the German Research Foundation

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Bonn, Germany

Abstract

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) is the central German organization to support basic research primarily at German universities. An important difference to other national funding organizations is that DFG works as a self-governing organization of German Science in a “response mode” by funding proposals made by scientists, but also contributing strategically to the development of priority areas. In both cases the research objectives are defined from science and within the research system itself. There is no political guidance to fund or to favour special fields of political relevance.