Cooperation Germany (DFG)

The aim of the cooperation between Graduiertenkollegs and Research Schools is to cooperate in the education and training of doctoral students in both countries, within the framework of a research programme which is jointly established and implemented by researchers in both countries and which offers doctoral students in both countries excellent opportunities to develop their talents in the context of a joint doctoral training programme.

Whereas cooperation between Graduiertenkollegs and Research Schools will be distinguished particularly by the importance given to the training of researchers, the main aim of cooperation between German and Dutch research groups in joint research programmes will be the establishment or further development of German-Dutch groups of competence. Examples of cooperation might include the integration of (parts of) the research programme of a Dutch research school or research institute with (parts of) a Sonderforschungsbereich or other German research centre or vice versa.

Who can apply

Project leaders from both countries in all disciplines.

What can be applied for

The following costs of cooperation will qualify for assistance:

• costs of travel and subsistence for academic staff, doctoral students, post-docs and visiting researchers;
• charges for workshops, summer schools and conferences;
• charges to cover specific additional research costs.

The maximum total amount of subsidy for each individual proposal is limited to 200,000 Euro. The subsidy is awarded for a period of max. 4,5 years. This period may be extended by a further 4,5 years, depending on a positive evaluation.

When can be applied

Applications can be submitted continuously; there are no deadlines. The Governing Board of NWO has recently decided to discontinue the funding for this programme by 1 January 2012. An important reason for this decision are the budget cuts NWO has to implement in the coming period of time. NWO, together with DFG, will handle any running business as good as possible.

Extra Information

Due to NWO's model of financing for this cooperation, costs related to personnel do not qualify for assistance by NWO but instead must be covered by other sources (e.g. universities, NWO open competition personnel grants).

With regard to funds for internationalisation, Dutch scientists can also choose to apply for funds from programs of separate NWO-councils (please note that these procedures contain different criteria and requirements).

Criteria

The applications will be judged by criteria regarding the: research level of the teams; quality and feasibility of the research programme; the quality and added value of training (only for cooperation between Graduiertenkollegs and Research Schools); mobility, collaboration and coordination between the research teams. The basic assumption is that the two partners involved will each finance their own share of the cooperation project (though not necessarily on a 50-50 basis). The German partner can apply to DFG for financial assistance and the Dutch partner to NWO. Specific details on application procedures are available in the brochures mentioned in the above.

Procedure

Information about the programme and guidelines for proposals as well as procedures and financial guidelines can be found in the documents on this page.

DFG and NWO will base their decisions on the result of a peer review procedure. They will endeavour to conduct this procedure jointly as far as their respective rules of procedure permit. All proposals should therefore be written in English and contain full details on the research programme (in the case of Graduiertenkollegs/Research Schools: the research and training programme) and required funding of both the Dutch and German groups. They should be submitted to DFG and NWO simultaneously.

Applications are processed immediately after reception if the application contains all necessary information (see guidelines) and adheres to aforementioned criteria (see aims, essentials, costs covered).

Review procedure NWO provides the applicants with the possibility of reacting to the reviews during the course of the review process.

The duration of the decision procedure is approx. 6 months.

Budget

Important: Please take the budget-items as mentioned in the information Guidelines (travel costs, meetings, equipment and consumables) into consideration when applying for funding. Specify for all items the expected costs per participant, the number of travels and length of stays (item travel costs), the expected meetings and number of participants (item meetings) and the required equipment/consumables (item equipment/consumables).

Financiers

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Contacts

• Ms H.R. (Helga) Varwijk
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 08 48, e-mail: h.varwijk@nwo.nl