2025 call for proposals (renewal proposals by consortia from the second round of calls)

In November 2018, the German federal government and the federal states decided to establish a National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). The NFDI is being set up by means of a science-driven process as a networked structure of consortia acting on their own initiative, with the aim of establishing and advancing overarching research data management and increasing the efficiency of the research system as a whole. Since the start of funding in October 2020, three rounds of calls for proposals have been held, with funding being provided for a total of 27 consortia. At the end of the second funding period, the ten funded consortia from the second round of calls have the opportunity to apply for funding for an additional five years, whereby the focus here is on consolidation. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is responsible for the selection, review and evaluation process for the funding proposals.

Financial Framework Conditions in the Renewal Phase

The current NFDI agreement between the German federal government and the federal states expires on 31 December 2028, i.e. before the end of the consortia’s second funding phase. Nonetheless, proposals for continued funding should still cover a period of five years. Consortia are asked to initially base their funding calculations for the years from 2029 onwards on the assumption that the total funding available per year for all consortia in the NFDI will be at a similar level to that of the years 2019 to 2028. 

When considering the renewal proposals, the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz, GWK) will initially only decide on the allocation of funds for the period covered by the current agreement between the German federal government and federal states. If the federal government and federal states continue to provide funding for NFDI consortia beyond 2028, the funds applied for by the consortia for these later years will be subjected to further evaluation, as soon as it has been established how much funding is actually available.

If a consortium does not receive further funding due to a negative assessment of its renewal proposal by the NFDI Expert Committee, it is to be provided with degressive completion funding limited to two years. In this case, a consortium will be allocated funding as follows: in the first 12 months after the end of regular funding it will receive up to 70 percent, in months 13 to 24, it will receive up to 40 percent of the funds approved for the last fiscal year.

Deadlines and Proposal Submission

This second of three calls for proposals is exclusively for NFDI consortia that have been funded since 2021, with the aim of providing continued funding from 1 October 2026 onwards. For this reason, it is not possible to submit proposals to establish a new consortium. 

Before submitting a renewal proposal, all applicants must submit binding letters of intent, which will be made publicly available on the DFG’s website. The letter of intent must contain binding information on all applicant and co-applicant institutions, the spokesperson, all co-spokespersons and all participants. For formal reasons, it will not be possible to add (co-)applicant organisations or participants at a later stage before submission of the proposal.

Please submit the binding letter of intent (DFG form nfdi10(interner Link)) via the DFG’s elan portal by no later than 18 June 2025.

The deadline for submitting the renewal proposal (DFG form nfdi110(externer Link)) via the DFG’s elan portal(externer Link) is 6 August 2025. The entire proposal and review process is conducted in English. Please note the information on the NFDI funding criteria (DFG form nfdi120(interner Link)).

Each consortium must submit a data sheet (DFG form nfdi1000(interner Link)) in addition to its renewal proposal. When completing the data sheet, please refer to the relevant guidelines(interner Link) on the DFG’s NFDI website.

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. With regard to the subject-specific focus of this call, the DFG encourages female researchers in particular to submit proposals.

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(externer Link) 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(externer Link). If you have any questions on this subject, please contact the Research Integrity team(externer Link) at the DFG Head Office. 

Further information

Please find Key points on the second funding period of the NFDI consortia here(Download).

When submitting proposals, please use the elan portal(externer Link) and refer to the forms and guidelines for the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI)(interner Link). Please refer especially to the notes on writing the binding letter of intent(interner Link) and the data sheet supplementing an NFDI consortium’s revnewal proposal(interner Link). The guide to filling out the data sheet(interner Link) may also be helpful.

Please find further information on the NFDI here(interner Link).

Contact at the DFG Head Office: nfdi@dfg.de(externer Link)

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(interner Link). 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.