Our Funding Portfolio

Mehrere Personen mit unterschiedlichen Gegenständen, z. B. Molekülmodell, Globus, Gehirnmodell, Geige

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. 

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Societal Transformations

Expanding knowledge about processes of transformation and developing possible courses of action together with stakeholders in civil society.

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Exploration

Breaking into previously unexplored research territory with unconventional ideas and experimental approaches.

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Understanding Research

Critically exploring and reflecting on the research system with a view to initiating positive change on areas such as career paths, governance, research and teaching.

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zukunft.niedersachsen

Funding program for top-level research in Lower Saxony.

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Funding portfolio

We focus our funding activities on selected initiatives. By means of these initiatives, we endeavor to provide effective stimuli for research and to establish forward-looking topics.

Area of research

Type of funding

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  • June 30, 2024 Deadline

    zukunft.niedersachsen: Innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to combat rare diseases

    The new funding offer within the framework of zukunft.niedersachsen is aimed at professors and postdocs at universities and non-university research institutions in Lower Saxony.

    Website zukunft.niedersachsen.de
    • area of research: rare diseases, personalised medicine, biomedicine, biotechnology, bioinformatics, data sciences
    • type of funding: collaborative and individual projects
  • September 03, 2024 Deadline for draft proposals

    Pioneering Research – Exploring the Unknown Unknown

    The 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
    • up to 1.3 million Euro
  • February 01, 2025 Deadline

    Opus Magnum

    The 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
    • type of funding: funding of a substitute professorship
  • March 2025: Deadline for full proposals (phase 2)

    Transdisciplinary Approaches to Mobility and Global Health

    The 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
    • funding for: international collaborative projects
  • April 28, 2025 Deadline (future deadline on April 21, 2026)

    Momentum – Funding for Recently Tenured Professors

    The funding offer is aimed at professors three to five years after taking up their first tenured professorship at a university in Germany.

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    • area of research: all disciplines
    • type of funding: concepts for the broadening of perspectives
  • Currently no application possible

    Challenges and Potentials for Europe: Intergenerational Futures

    The call "Challenges and Potentials for Europe: Intergenerational Futures" is aimed at international research groups from the social sciences, cultural studies and humanities. 

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  • Next deadline for research groups (senior scientists) in 2025
    Next deadline for fellows (early career researchers) in 2025

    Change! Fellowships and research groups

    Our target group: Personalities from science who are researching transformation processes jointly with non-academic partners.

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    • area of research: all disciplines
    • funding for: own position, research project
  • next deadline in 2025

    Circularity with recycled and biogenic resources

    The current call within the funding line 'Collaborative projects' of this initiative is primarily targeted at the natural sciences and engineering.

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    • area of research: natural sciences and engineering, if required social sciences
    • type of funding: research projects

Completed 

And these are our completed funding offers.

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