New Funding Phase of the Excellence Strategy
On December 15, 2022, the next competitive phase of the Strategy of Excellence will start, consisting of the two funding lines Clusters of Excellence and University of Excellence.
On this day, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG for short, will publish the official call for proposals for clusters of excellence. Once again, the successful submission of at least two clusters of excellence will be a basic requirement to qualify for further funding in the second funding line, University of Excellence.
Preparations and Selection Process for the Funding Line Clusters of Excellence
RWTH Aachen University is already preparing intensively for the start. In consultation with the faculties, the profile areas and the Strategy Board, the Rectorate is working on the various cluster of excellence ideas for new and continuation applications until fall 2022. Even before the call for proposals is published, a selection will be made of those excellence cluster topics with which RWTH Aachen University will enter the race for funding of top-level research.
The submission of a cluster of excellence outline to the DFG on May 31, 2023 is the first important step in this multi-stage application process. Only selected outlines may submit a full proposal by August 22, 2024. After intensive review of these full proposals by an international panel of experts, a decision will finally be made on May 22, 2025 as to which clusters of excellence will receive funding from January 1, 2026 onwards.
More information on the external process can be found on the websites of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the German Council of Science and Humanities