Information for Researchers, No. 97 | October 31, 2024

UNAM-DFG 2024/2025: Mexican-German Joint Call for Proposals

Third joint call for German-Mexican research projects in all fields of research, including social sciences and the humanities

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) are pleased to announce the third call for proposals to fund joint German-Mexican research projects in all fields of research (including social sciences and the humanities). This initiative aims to bring together relevant and competitive researchers from Germany and from UNAM to design and carry out jointly organised research projects of outstanding scientific quality.

Proposals for joint German-Mexican projects have to be submitted in parallel by the researchers in Germany and at UNAM to their respective funding organisation according to the organisations’ respective format and regulations.

Key information for eligible researchers:

Deadline for submission of proposals at UNAM and the DFG: 24 February 2025.
Researchers may apply for a funding period of up to three years.
The DFG and UNAM use their standard programmes for proposals within this initiative
- DFG: Research Grants Programme (“Sachbeihilfe”),
- UNAM: PAPIIT (links see below).
Principal investigators (PIs) at UNAM submit their documents to UNAM,
PIs based in Germany to the DFG.
All documents must be written in English.
Funding of the joint research projects is contingent upon positive assessment by both funding organisations. Unilateral funding of only one part of a project is not possible.

Allowable Costs

All requested cost items must be in accordance with the respective national administrative regulations. At the DFG, only costs for the German share of the projects are eligible. At UNAM, only costs for the Mexican share of the projects are eligible.

Project Requirements

Applicants should demonstrate how bringing together researchers based in Germany and at UNAM will add value and advance their research. It is expected that each partner will substantially contribute to the common project. The teams of applicants should ensure there is a plan for effective delivery and coordination of research among the partners. There are no separate funds available for these joint initiatives; proposals must succeed on the strengths of their intellectual and scientific merits and teams in comparison with all other proposals.

Specific Instructions for Applicants from Germany

Please prepare the proposal according to the Guidelines Research Grants Programme and the Proposal Preparation Instructions – Project Proposals (DFG forms 50.01 and 54.01, see links below). Applicants to be funded by the DFG are required to fulfil the eligibility requirements of the DFG´s Research Grants Programme. This includes the duty to cooperate (“Kooperationspflicht”) within Germany for members of non-university institutions with permanent positions. Please note that any duty to cooperate for DFG applicants at non-university research institutions can only be fulfilled through cooperation with a partner at a German university. For more information, see the Guidelines on the Duty to Cooperate (DFG form 55.01, see link below).

At the DFG, all proposals must be submitted through the elan system by 24 February 2025. If you are using the DFG’s elan system for the first time, please note that you need to set up an elan account by 17 February 2025 at the latest.

After logging in into elan system, please use the link “Proposal for a Research Grant” in the Proposal Forms column (Proposal Submission > New Project > Individual Grants Programme > Proposal for a Research Grant). Please select “MEXICO UNAM 2024/2025– Joint Research Grants” to tag your proposal for this specific call.

Please note that only Germany-based applicants should be entered as “applicants”. Partners from UNAM should be entered as “cooperation partners”. Employees whose positions are requested for funding should not be assigned to this category.

In the elan system, applicant(s) are required to include the budget figures specifically for the German-based components of the project. Additionally, the proposal document itself should contain the budget figures for both the German-based and the Mexican-based components of the project, and the academic curriculum vitae of all Mexican PIs. This will provide reviewers with comprehensive information about the project.

Specific Instructions for Applicants from UNAM

Applicants from UNAM are requested to conform to all the requirements listed in the UNAM call for proposals that is published on the UNAM website (see link below) and to submit their documents to PAPIIT-DGAPA by the deadline 24 February 2025.

Timeline and Notification of Results

Call opening: 31 October 2024
Call closure: 24 February 2025
Assessment of results: expected until October 2025
Communication of results: from November 2025 onwards
Approximate beginning of funding: from January 2026 onwards

Proposals that arrive late and/or do not fulfil the national requirements will not be considered. No legal entitlement can be derived from the submission of a project description.

Ethics Votes

If an ethics vote is required for the German or the Mexican part of the project, it must be submitted together with the proposal to the DFG. However, in exceptional cases, an ethics vote by the responsible local German ethics committee can be submitted no later than three months after proposal submission. Otherwise, the funding organisations may stop processing the application. Please note that the submission of an ethics vote of the local German ethics committee is also necessary if only the project part abroad is affected, as it is a cooperation project.

Equity and Diversity

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.

Good Research Practice

Please note that according to a resolution of the DFG General Assembly, as of 1 August 2019, DFG funding may only be awarded to institutions that have implemented the guidelines laid down in the Code of Conduct for Safeguarding Good Research Practice in their own regulations in a legally binding manner. This means that also for international proposals, funding from the DFG can only be received if the guidelines for safeguarding good research practice (see link below) have been implemented by the German applicant´s institution. If you have any questions on this subject, please contact the Research Integrity team at the DFG Head Office (see contact below). Further information regarding the implementation can be found on the Research Integrity website (see link below).

Further Information

General information for German principal investigators on research grants may be found at:

www.dfg.de/research_grants

Guidelines on the Duty to Cooperate:

www.dfg.de/formulare/55_01

To submit a proposal to the DFG, please follow the Guidelines for the Research Grants Programme (DFG form 50.01) and the ”Proposal Preparation Instructions – Project Proposals” (DFG form 54.01) under:

Further general information on elan:

www.dfg.de/elan/en
elan flyer: www.dfg.de/elan/flyer-eant-en
elan FAQ: www.dfg.de/elan/faq-en

DFG´s Review and Decision Process:

Arriving at a decision in individual grants programmes:

www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/proposal_funding_process/individual_grants_programmes/arriving_decision

DFG’s data protection notice on research funding:

Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding. If necessary, please also forward this information to those individuals whose data will be processed by the DFG due to their involvement in your project: