Taiwan-German Collaboration in Research
The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) are launching a call for proposals for outstanding joint research projects in all fields of science. The submission deadline will be 5 February 2025.
This initiative aims to bring together relevant and competitive researchers from Germany and Taiwan to design and carry out collaborative research projects. Funds to be used on the Taiwanese side must be requested from the NSTC; funds to be used on the German side must be requested from the DFG. Special attention is given to the integrated character of proposed projects, from the concept to the work plan. Funding is only available for projects that involve a convincing collaboration between the German and Taiwanese partners and for which the anticipated research benefit is clearly outlined. The collaborative projects selected will receive research funding for a period of up to three years.
Proposals must be submitted to both organisations in accordance with the proposal preparation requirements of both sides, respectively. Applicants to be funded by the DFG are requested to fulfil the eligibility requirements of DFG Research Grants; see the corresponding guidelines of the Research Grants Programme (DFG form 50.01). This includes the “duty to cooperate” within Germany for members of non-university institutions with permanent positions. German applicants are requested to upload their proposal via elan, the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system, following the DFG’s guidelines. Applicants from Taiwan are required to fulfil all requirements for funding and follow the general regulations of the NSTC.
Proposals must be submitted by 5 February 2025. For submission via the DFG elan system, German partners should go to “Proposal Submission” – “New Project” – “Individual Grants Programme”. In the field “Proposal for a Research Grant”, please click the button “Start online form” – “Continue”. Under “Call for Proposals”, you will find “NSTC-DFG-Call 2025”. German applicants should note that if they are using the elan system for the first time, they need to set up an elan account by 23 January 2025 at the latest.
All proposals will be reviewed by both organisations separately. The results of the review process will be shared between the agencies. Support will be granted for those proposals where both, DFG and NSTC, recommend funding. Please note that at the DFG, there are no separate funds available for these efforts; proposals must succeed on the strengths of their intellectual merit and teams.
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.
Please note that according to a resolution of the DFG General Assembly, since 1 August 2019, DFG funding may only be granted 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.
For international proposals, this means that funding from the DFG can only be granted if the guidelines for safeguarding good research practice (see link below) have been implemented. 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 implementation can be found at the web page on Research Integrity (see link below).
Further Information
For researchers in Germany:
Detailed information about the collaboration between DFG and NSTC can be obtained at the DFG Head Office in Bonn:
- Gerrit Schlepper, phone +49 228 885-2787, gerrit.schlepper@dfg.d
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) at:
General information for German Principal Investigators on Individual Research Grants:
The DFG’s electronical portal “elan” can be found at:
Further information on elan:
Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding. If necessary, please also forward this information to those persons whose data the DFG processes because they are involved in your project. Further information on the DFG´s privacy policy:
Further information on Safeguarding Good Research Practice:
Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice; Code of Conduct
Information on the implementation of the Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct:
Contact of the DFG´s Research Integrity team (Good Research Practice)