German-Thai Funding Programme for Joint Research Projects in the Field of “Arboviruses”
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the Program Management Unit for Human Resources & Institutional Development, Research and Innovation (PMU-B) are pleased to announce a call for proposals for German-Thai joint research projects.
This initiative aims to bring together relevant and competitive researchers from Germany and Thailand to design and carry out jointly organised research projects of outstanding scientific quality. Funding within this initiative will be available for collaborative research projects consisting of researchers from both partner countries. Within these research teams, each national funding organisation will only fund those project components that are carried out within its own country. The collaborative research projects must involve active communication and cooperation between the participating researchers.
Research Areas
German-Thai joint research projects in the field of “Arboviruses” can be funded. Arboviruses include, but are not limited to, Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and Emerging Arboviruses.
It is important to note that there are no separate funds available for these efforts; proposals must succeed on the strengths of their intellectual merit and teams in competition with all other proposals in the funding programme “Sachbeihilfe/Research Grants”. The collaborative projects selected to take part in the initiative will receive research funding for a period of up to three years.
Evaluation Criteria
1. Scientific and technological excellence:
- sound concept, quality of objectives; clear, logical, easy to read, and credible
- novelty of the project; contribution to the advancement of the scientific field; use of state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies
- good balance between the technology/knowledge available from each participating partner
- complementarity of qualifications and relevant experience of the proposal participants
2. Project Impact and expected outcomes:
- quality and appropriateness of exchange of knowledge among the project partners; added value of bilateral research cooperation
- prospects for establishing a long-term Thai-German collaboration that is of mutual benefit
- quality of the proposed measures to disseminate the project results
3. Project Implementation:
- quality and effectiveness of the project management structure and distribution of tasks
- appropriate allocation and justification of the resources to be committed (budget, staff, equipment)
- training opportunities offered to Masters and Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and research assistants
The initial review of all proposals will be done separately by the Thai and German funding agencies. The results of the review process will then be shared among the funding agencies. Support will be granted for those proposals where both DFG and NSTDA/PMU-B recommend funding.
Proposal Submission
Proposals must be submitted to the relevant organisations in accordance with the proposal preparation requirements of both sides, respectively. Applicants from Thailand submit their documents to NSTDA, applicants from Germany to the DFG. Please note that the documents submitted to the DFG and the NSTDA must not differ with regard to the scientific content of the proposal or with regard to the applicants involved, and both the Thai and German partners must submit the proposal to their respective funding agencies.
All documents must be written in English and must be submitted by 30 September 2021. Proposals arriving late and/or those not fulfilling the national requirements will not be considered.
Applicants from Germany
Applicants to be funded by the DFG must upload their proposal via elan, the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system, following the DFG’s guidelines. For submission via the DFG elan system German partners should select under “Call for Proposals” the call “NSTDA/PMU-B/DFG-Call 2021”. Please go to “Proposal Submission” – “New Project” – “Individual Grants Programme”. In the field “Proposal for a Research Grant” click the button “Start online form” – “Continue”. There you will find the call.
For first-time users of the DFG’s online submission system “elan” pre-registration is necessary by 22 September 2021.
Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding (see link below: privacy policy). If necessary, please also forward this information to those persons whose data the DFG processes because they are involved in your project.
Applicants from Thailand
Both NSTDA and PMU-B will support projects for up to a maximum of three years with a total budget of 100,000 euros per project.
Proposals should be submitted by electronic mail to submission@nstda.or.th. For proposals please use the format template (see link below). When completing the proposal template, please note that NSTDA and PMU-B do not support equipment and instrumentation expenses, and sections 7.2 to 7.8 are not applicable to Thai applicants.
Applicants from Thailand must follow the financial guidelines (see link below).
If the Thai applicant’s project is selected for funding, the Thai principal investigators will be contacted by NSTDA or PMU-B, and will be asked to submit a Thai language version of the proposal in accordance with NSTDA or PMU-B regulations.
Eligibility
Applicants to be funded by the DFG are required to fulfil the eligibility requirements of DFG Research Grants. This includes the duty to cooperate (“Kooperationspflicht”) within Germany for members of non-university institutions with permanent positions.
The principal investigator on the Thai side must be a researcher working at a university or research institute in Thailand. A principal investigator from the private sector is not eligible for funding.
Further Information
For researchers in Germany:
Contact persons:
Life Sciences:
- Dr. Jan Christian
phone +49 228 885-2345
jan.christian@dfg.d - Dr. Andreas Strecker
phone +49 228 885-2530
andreas.strecker@dfg.d
International affairs:
- Dr. Franziska Langer
phone +49 228 885-3116
franziska.langer@dfg.d - Raoul Wagner
phone +49 228 885-2217
raoul.wagner@dfg.d
To submit a proposal to the DFG, please follow the Guidelines for the Research Grants Programme (form 54.01) and the Proposal Preparation Instructions – Project Proposals (form 50.01) at:
General information for German principal investigators on Research Grants
The DFG’s electronical portal “elan” can be found at:
Further information on elan:
- www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/principles_dfg_funding/ela
- www.dfg.de/download/pdf/foerderung/antragstellung/elan/flyer_eant_en.pd
- www.dfg.de/download/pdf/foerderung/antragstellung/elan/faq_eant_en.pd
Further information on privacy policy:
For researchers in Thailand:
Contact person:
- Ms. Arpawan Jantaravipark (Thailand Focal Point)
National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)
141 Innovation Cluster 2 (Tower C)
Thailand Science Park
Phahonyothin Road
Khlong Nueng
Khlong Luang
Pathum Thani 12120 Thailand
phone +66 2564 7000 ext. 71487
arpawan.jan@nstda.or.t
Proposals should be submitted by electronic mail to:
The format template for proposals can be found under:
The financial guidelines can be found under: