Our Funding Portfolio
The Volkswagen Foundation is dedicated to the support of the humanities and social sciences as well as science and technology in higher education and research. It funds research projects in path-breaking areas and provides assistance to academic institutions for the improvement of the structural conditions for their work.
We provide support in four profile areas
Funding portfolio
We support future-oriented topics with our funding offers.
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Researching Research: Strengthening University Centres
Learn moreThe funding offer is aimed at established centres, institutes or research priority areas for Science Studies at universities in Germany that have been institutionalised in recent years and are striving for further structural development.
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area of research: science studies
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type of funding: funds for structural measures
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Transformational Knowledge on Democracies under Change – Transdisciplinary Perspectives
Learn moreThe programme addresses persons from science together with actors outside of academia who are interested in transdisciplinary research and aim at jointly developing new perspectives on democratic forms of government under change.
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areas of research: humanities, cultural and social sciences (lead); cooperation with natural, life, data and technical sciences possible
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type of funding: task forces, cooperation projects
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Opus Magnum
Learn moreThe funding offer is aimed at outstanding professors from the humanities and social sciences.
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area of research: humanities, cultural studies and social sciences
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type of funding: funding of a substitute professorship
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AI Research Groups Lower Saxony
Website zukunft.niedersachsenAs a key technology, artificial intelligence is of central importance to Lower Saxony's research system. This call for proposals combines the objectives of promoting individual scientists with the further development of AI methods and their application to existing data sets.
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area of research: computer science, artificial intelligence, application disciplines
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type of funding: research groups
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Pioneering Research – Exploring the Unknown Unknown
Learn moreThe funding offer addresses outstanding post-doctoral researchers and professors universities and research institutes in Germany, international cooperation partners are possible.
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area of research: all disciplines
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up to 1.3 million Euro
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Night Science – Space for the Creative Mind
Learn moreThe funding programme is aimed at interdisciplinary tandems of two scientists who are open to unconventional approaches and have the desire to develop and implement innovative ideas for their research.
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area of research: Natural, Life and Engineering Sciences (excluding medical sciences)
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type of funding: Promotion of scientists’ creativity in tandems + obligatory support programme with three workshops
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Circularity With Recycled and Biogenic Resources
Learn moreFunding is provided for interdisciplinary research projects closing raw material product cycles and for science communication on sustainable consumption.
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area of research: natural sciences and engineering, if required social sciences
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type of funding: research projects
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Transdisciplinary Approaches to Mobility and Global Health
Learn moreThe call is directed at researchers from HICs and LMICs, in close collaboration with local communities, non-academic stakeholders and other relevant actors. It is jointly initiated by the three independent private foundations Novo Nordisk Foundation (Denmark), Wellcome (Great Britain) and Volkswagen Foundation.
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areas of research: social sciences, life & health sciences
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funding for: international collaborative projects
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