The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) are pleased to provide a co-funding opportunity for Korean-German joint workshops and research visits.  The submission deadline on the Korean side will be 16 April 2025. On the German side, proposals need to be submitted in parallel.

This initiative aims to bring together relevant and competitive researchers from Germany and South Korea to establish collaborative scientific relationships and prepare joint projects. Funding is available for the following collaborative measures:

• exploratory workshops;
• research visits (max. three months).

Both components can be combined if they are in close temporal relation to each other and if this combination promotes the particularly effective preparation of a joint project. All individual collaborative measures must be carried out within a maximum period of 12 months.

The funding period is projected to start in March 2026.

Applicants to be funded by the DFG must fulfil the eligibility requirements of the DFG’s Initiation of International Collaboration programme (DFG form 1.813). For members of non-university institutions with permanent positions within Germany, the “Duty to Cooperate” applies (DFG form 55.01).

Researchers in early career phases holding a doctoral degree are strongly encouraged to participate in the above-mentioned activities.

Each national funding organisation will cover the costs for travel and accommodation of the researchers based in the respective country. Organisational costs for workshops and for workshop participants from third countries are covered by the funding organisation of the host country. Funding is only available for projects that involve a convincing collaboration between German and Korean partners and for which the anticipated research benefit is clearly outlined. 

Proposals must be submitted to both organisations in accordance with the proposal preparation requirements of both sides, respectively. Applicants from Korea submit their documents to the NRF, applicants from Germany to the DFG. Applicants to be funded by the DFG are requested to use the project description template “Initiation of International Collaboration Programme” (DFG form 53.10). The components “exploratory workshops” and “project-related trips abroad” can be funded. Please note that the component “project-related guest visits“ cannot be funded since costs for travel and accommodation of researchers based in Korea, who are visiting partners in Germany, are covered by the NRF.

All documents must be written in English and must be submitted by 16 April 2025. Proposals arriving late and/or not fulfilling the national requirements will not be considered. For first-time users of the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system “elan”, registration is required prior to 2 April 2025.

Applicants to be funded by the DFG must upload their proposal via elan, following the DFG’s guidelines. After logging in, please go to “Proposal Submission” – “New Project” – “Initiation of International Collaboration Programme”. In the field “Proposal for an Initiation of International Collaboration”, click the button “Start online form” – “Continue”. In the next screen, you will find a list of “Calls for Proposals”. Please select “NRF-DFG-Initiation Proposals-2025” to tag your proposal for this specific call. 

All proposals will be reviewed by both organisations separately. The results of the review process will be shared between the organisations. Support will be granted for proposals for which both DFG and NRF recommend funding. 

The DFG strongly welcomes proposals from researchers of all genders and sexual identities, from different ethnic, cultural, religious, ideological or social backgrounds, from different career stages, types of universities and research institutions, and with disabilities or chronic illness.

Further Information

You find general information for German applicants on the “Initiation of International Collaboration” programme here.

To submit a proposal to the DFG, please follow the “Guidelines Initiation of International Collaboration Programme with Proposal Preparation Instructions“ (DFG form 1.813) and “ Description – Initiation of International Collaboration Programme” (DFG form 53.10).

The DFG’s elan portal can be found at: https://elan.dfg.de

Further information on elan:

• www.dfg.de/elan/en
• www.dfg.de/download/pdf/foerderung/antragstellung/elan/flyer_eant_en.pdf
• www.dfg.de/download/pdf/foerderung/antragstellung/elan/faq_eant_en.pdf

Privacy Policy

We, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), take the protection of your personal data and its confidential treatment extremely seriously. Therefore, please refer to the DFG’s Privacy Policy. If you intend to transmit personal data of third parties, please make sure to do so only if the necessary legitimation under data protection law exist. Before transmitting data of third parties to the DFG, please forward the DFG’s Data Protection Notice to the individuals affected (data subjects). If there is a legitimate interest not to inform individuals beforehand (e.g. for reasons of secrecy or in case of a nomination or candidate proposal), these individuals should be informed no later than at the time of publication.

Good Research Practice

According to a resolution of the DFG General Assembly, DFG funding may only be awarded to research institutions that have implemented the guidelines laid down in the Code of Conduct for Safeguarding Good Research Practice in their own regulations. The management of your institution is responsible for implementing the guidelines in a legally binding manner. In order to avoid delays in the disbursement of funding, please verify implementation within your institution in good time. For information regarding the implementation, please refer to the Research Integrity Portal. If you have any questions on this subject, please contact the Research Integrity team at the DFG Head Office.

Contact

For researchers in Germany: 

Detailed information about the collaboration between DFG and NRF can be obtained at the DFG Head Office, Bonn:

Raoul Wagner, phone +49 228 885-2217, raoul.wagner@dfg.de

For researchers in Korea:

Dr. Jong-Deok Kim, phone: +82 2 3460 5631, jdkim@nrf.re.kr, www.nrf.re.kr/eng