DFG Annual General Meeting 2022 in Freiburg: Focus on International Research Cooperation
Particular challenges in view of the current global political situation / Annual Report presented at concluding General Assembly: 31,625 projects funded with €3.65 billion
Particular challenges in view of the current global political situation / Annual Report presented at concluding General Assembly: 31,625 projects funded with €3.65 billion
The 2022 General Assembly of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) came to an end in Freiburg im Breisgau on Wednesday, 29 June. The three-day meeting was the first gathering of the largest research funding organisation and central self-governing body for science in Germany since 2019 to be held on an in-person basis, the 2020 and 2021 DFG Annual General Meetings having been held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the committee meetings and also at the festive function – which was held as a public event for the first time since 2019 – one major topic was international cooperation in science in view of the current global political situation, In her reports to the Senate, the Joint Committee and the General Assembly, as well as in her speech at the festive function on the subject of “Science and War”, DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker once again emphasised the importance and necessity of a resolute response on the part of the DFG – as well as the entire academic community and society at large in Germany – to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. She said the war violated all the fundamental values not only of civilisation and Europe, but also of science and its bridge-building ideals. In response to the war, the DFG suspended all research projects it was funding jointly with Russian partner organisations at the institutional level at the beginning of March.
As Becker reported, the support measures for Ukrainian academics that were set in motion at that time are now to be further expanded. In addition to the assistance offered to those who have fled Ukraine because of the war, funding is currently being considered for researchers who are unable or unwilling to leave their country in spite of the war. For example, they could be temporarily integrated in existing or even newly founded German-Ukrainian research consortia: this would not just give them material security but also ensure they were connected to the international academic community. From the DFG’s perspective, these measures and others like them are crucial in the long term, too. “Strengthening Ukraine as a research base and maintaining it in the medium term is the responsibility of civil society and one that the DFG is happy to take on,” said Becker.
She also went into detail about the challenges of science cooperation with China, which is currently the subject of extensive media research and reporting (“China Science Investigation”). The DFG expressly welcomes the discussion this has triggered on the applicable guidelines and rules, for example with regard to dual-use projects and good research practice, and has sought to encourage this debate itself. “Nonetheless, we currently see no reason to impose fundamental restrictions on our cooperation activities with China, let alone put a stop to them,” said Becker. However, said Becker, when it came to academic cooperation with China, the DFG, other members of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany and the universities and researchers themselves had to do a better job of handling the fundamental contradiction be-tween the desire to engage in cooperation and achieve academic excellence while at the same time being subject to political control and China’s pursuit of its own national interests.
“China is already a technological leader in some areas and a key partner when it comes to tackling global challenges such as climate and health issues. At the same time, German science must become more aware of the fact that China has to be seen as a competitor and a strategic rival, too,” said the DFG President. Against this backdrop, the DFG is expanding its cooperation with other Asian partners such as Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan and deepening its contacts with partner organisations in Japan, South Korea and India.
Despite the current crisis in foreign and science policy, the DFG President believes there are also some encouraging signs of solidarity as well as indications that bridge-building efforts with-in the international academic community have borne fruit. As examples, she cited the DFG’s extremely trusting collaboration with its Polish partner organisations and also the annual meet-ing of the worldwide association of research funding organisations – the Global Research Council (GRC) – which Becker chaired in Panama at the end of May.
2021 Annual Report: 31,625 projects funded with €3.65 billion
As the largest research funding organisation in Germany, the DFG funded 31,625 projects last year, providing a total of around €3.65 billion. This emerges from the 2021 Annual Report presented at the concluding General Assembly in Freiburg, which contains the main facts, figures and priorities relating to the DFG’s funding activities and its involvement in issues relating to the science system and science policy. In addition, the report presents selected research projects, the focus this year being on the subject of pandemic research.
In 2021, too, more than half of all funded projects – 17,598 projects, or 55.6 percent – were individually funded; a total amount of around €1.3 billion was approved for these. In terms of Research Training Groups, Collaborative Research Centres and other Coordinated Programmes, 880 consortia with 12,282 individual projects received a total amount of approximately €1.56 billion euros.
Broken down according to the major academic disciplines, the life sciences received the most funding with about €1.3 billion (36.3 percent of the total amount approved), followed by the natural sciences with about €853 million (23.4 percent), the engineering sciences with about €724 million (19.9 percent) and the humanities and social sciences with about €590 million (16.2 percent); projects not assigned to a specific discipline received funding of approximately €156 million (4.3 percent).
As the central theme of their report on the DFG’s funding activities since the last General Assembly in July 2021, President Becker and Secretary General Dr. Heide Ahrens highlighted the activities dedicated to further research into the coronavirus and the multiple dimensions of the coronavirus pandemic. One key aspect here is the work being done by the interdisciplinary Commission for Pandemic Research, which was established in 2020 and has now been extended until the end of 2023. Another focus was the measures developed for universities of applied sciences (HAW), most of which have already been implemented: here the DFG is seeking to do more to tap into the research potential offered by these institutions. With its establishment of a Presidential Commission, the DFG is also focusing on the issue of sustainability and the aim to embed the idea of sustainability more deeply in its own institutional activities.
“Three intense days dedicated to research and research funding”
Other topics discussed at the Annual General Meeting in Freiburg included a position paper by the DFG Executive Committee on the role and perspectives of the DFG in the German science system which emphasises the organisation’s particular responsibility in ensuring knowledge-driven research and the further development of the research system, additional initiatives for equality and diversity in science, elections to the Executive Committee and Senate, and also current funding decisions, which for the first time included the approval of Research Units in the field of artificial intelligence.
For the first time since 2019, the DFG Annual General Meeting also included public events, namely the presentation of the DFG and Stifterverband Communicator Award to the philosophy project denxte based at the University if Düsseldorf, and also the festive function, which was attended by Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Bavarian State Minister for Science and the Arts Markus Blume and the Mayor of Freiburg Martin Horn.
For President Katja Becker, it was the first time she had attended an Annual General Meeting in person since being elected to office in Rostock in July 2019. Her conclusion: “We’ve had three very intense days dedicated to research and research funding in Freiburg. During this time it’s been an enormous pleasure to finally be able to engage in direct dialogue and meet so many people in person once again.”
The 2023 DFG Annual General Meeting is to be held in Saarbrücken.
Further information
Media contact:
- Marco Finetti
Head of Press and Public Relations at the DFG
Tel. +49 228 885-2109
presse@dfg.d
Notes on media relations:
The DFG has issued a series of press releases (see below) which provide information on the main topics and decisions of the General Assembly held as part of the 2022 Annual General Meeting 2022.
All press releases on the 2022 Annual General Meeting can also be found in a digital press kit at
Accompanying information is also available on the DFG website at www.dfg.de/e and via social media at https://twitter.com/dfg_publi
The 2021 DFG Annual Report can be requested subject to an embargo until 30 June 2022 from
An electronic version will be available from 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, 30 June 2022 at