Cooperation Agreement between the DFG (Germany) and the FNR

The DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Research Foundation) and the FNR have signed a cooperation agreement in September 2009. The objective of the agreement is to enhance the cooperation between German and Luxembourg scientists in all possible fields of research and to facilitate the establishment of common research projects.

The main part of the agreement covers the following:

Funding of common research projects with the following specificities:
  • The joint proposal needs to be submitted to the funding organisation (the so-called Lead-Agency) of the country where the main research effort is accomplished (for more information on forms and contact persons see below).
  • The proposal is evaluated by the Lead Agency only, according to national rules. The partner funding organisation accepts the evaluation results as a basis for its decision process.
  • The project is funded by both the DFG and the FNR respectively, according to national rules („Normalverfahren“ of the DFG and the INTER programme of the FNR).
  • Funding is limited to 3-year projects.
  • Project proposal may be submitted at any time to the Lead Agency.
  • The thematic scope of the research projects is not restricted.

The application procedure consists of one stage only.

The full proposal needs to be submitted in the country where the main centre of the research activities lies. For more information, please contact the responsible programme managers at the FNR or the DFG.

In case the full proposal is submitted to the FNR: for further information, please read the Guidelines:

The Full Proposals must be submitted by the coordinating institutions’ administrations (not by the PI) in electronic format to Dr. Carlo Duprel.

The electronic version will be used in the evaluation process and must be identical with the paper version.

The full proposal consists of 3 documents:

Cooperation within the following DFG-Lead funding instruments:
  • Research Units incl. Clinical Research Units (Forschergruppen, inkl. klinische Forschergruppen)
  • Priority Programmes (Schwerpunktprogramme)
  • Collaborative Research Centres (Sonderforschungsbereiche)
  • International Research Training Groups (Internationale Graduiertenkollegs)

Proposals within these instruments need to be submitted to the DFG according to the standard rules. The FNR accepts the DFG evaluation as basis for its funding decision and funds the research activities carried out in Luxembourg.

All proposals submitted within the DFG/FNR cooperation need to explicitely demonstrate the added value of the cooperation between German and Luxembourg scientists.

The impact of the agreement on the cooperation between scientists and on the establishment of an European Research Area will be evaluated after a period of 2 years and, if deemed successful, a prolongation of the agreement will be decided.

Contact at the FNR:
For further information on the DFG: