New body to strengthen basic research and identify research needs / 18 members representing all disciplines led by President Katja Becker / First meeting on 15 June
Against the background of the current coronavirus pandemic, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is to establish an interdisciplinary commission for pandemic research. The commission will be made up of 18 members representing all research disciplines, and its task will be to strengthen the knowledge-driven research which is essential to pandemic and epidemic research and which forms the basis for nearly all translational approaches. The decision to set up the commission was made by the Executive Committee of the DFG, Germany's largest research funding organisation and the central self-governing organisation of the country's research community.
"Nationally and internationally, a large number of research and networking activities have already been launched to improve our understanding and help us fight the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. These have a primarily clinical or application-oriented focus. We believe an essential complement to this is a body that concentrates on basic research during this crisis, looking not only at the medical and epidemiological perspective but also the economic, ethical, legal, social, psychological and historical aspects. The new interdisciplinary commission for pandemic research is designed to fill this gap and help to coordinate high-quality research," said DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker, who will head the commission, after the decision was announced.
The new commission is to support DFG-funded projects investigating pandemics and epidemics, including both existing work and research projects initiated as the result of the cross-disciplinary call launched by the DFG at the end of March, for which funding proposals can be submitted up to 1 September 2020. The commission will also have the task of monitoring the overall basic research landscape in relation to pandemics and epidemics and identifying potential research needs, giving special attention to inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation and the strengthening of synergies.
As the DFG President emphasised, it is to operate on a purely science-driven basis with a long-term focus, and represent relevant activities of the DFG both within and outside the research community. In particular, this includes close cooperation with national and international institutions and partner organisations.
The 18 scientific members of the commission will be appointed for an initial two-year period. Additional experts may participate in or be invited to attend meetings of the commission to discuss special issues.
Following the Executive Committee's decision, the members of the commission are currently being selected, with the majority having already been appointed. The members confirmed so far are:
The first meeting of the commission is to be held on 15 June.
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Further information on the cross-disciplinary call for proposals, as well as regular updates on the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the work of the DFG, can be found at: