EU Research Funding
The EU funds both excellent basic research and innovative international collaborative projects to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry. The funding spectrum ranges from the European Research Council's (ERC) excellence funding to the mobility formats of the Marie Curie Skłodowska Curie actions for research collaborations on specific priority topics.
For collaborative projects coordinated at the TU Dortmund University, Research Support Services offers Project Management Services that support you from the initial idea to the application and project implementation.
The European framework program Horizon Europe
The Research and Innovation Framework Programmes form the core of EU research funding, which provide funding over several years and with various instruments.
The framework program Horizon Europe, which has been running since 2021, offers a wide range of funding formats for established and early career researchers, for basic and applied research, for individual funding, and collaborative projects in open and topic-related calls.
You can find detailed information about the program on the pages of the European Commission as well as on the pages of the BMBF and the Nationalen Kontaktstellen (available in German only). You can find current calls for proposals in the Funding and Tenders Portal.
In addition to the EU Research and Innovation Framework Programmes, there are funding opportunities in cooperation with national funding agencies or industry as additional funding sources. An overview of current calls for proposals that do not appear in the Horizon Europe work program can be found on the ERA LEARN platform.
Central funding formats of EU research funding include the following programs:
The European Research Council (ERC) offers individual funding for outstanding scientists at different career stages and supports pioneering research with ground-breaking project ideas.
The ERC is of great importance to TU Dortmund University in terms of funding policy. In addition to the usual support and intensive monitoring of your application by the grants service of the Research Support Services, we will cover any costs for interview training if you are successful. Further information you can find on the websites of the ERC as well as the EU Office of the BMBF and KoWi.
With this program, the EU promotes international researcher mobility. Funding lines include the Innovative Training Networks (ITN), which provide structured training for doctoral students in international networks, and the Individual Fellowships (IF), which support research stays for postdocs.
With an IF, postdocs from Germany can do research abroad, and postdocs from abroad can also carry out a project in Germany. You can find further information about the Marie Skłodowska Curie-Actions on the websites of the National Contact Point MSC (available only in German) and the Cooperation Centre EU of the science organizations KoWi.
The EU enables researchers to conduct collaborative research in international and intersectional consortia. The consortia usually consist of at least three partners from at least three EU or associated countries. In addition, the participation of industry or the non-academic sector is usually required.
Funding is often provided in the form of topic-specific calls for proposals (e.g. to secure the Industrial Leadership or to solve Societal Challenges). However, you can also submit applications for open-topic projects on visionary basic research (Future and Emerging Technologies, FET).
On request, the Project Management Service will support you in projects coordinated at the TU Dortmund University.
Strategic partnerships and cooperation projects are an important component in the internationalization of universities with the aim of promoting the quality of teaching and contributing to the networking of universities among themselves and with society and business. Depending on the chosen program line, applications are submitted via the “Nationale Agentur für EU-Hochschulzusammenarbeit” in the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) or via the Executive Agency of the EU Commission.
- Strategic partnerships promote internationalization activities in various educational sectors.
- Capacity-building projects support the reform and modernization of universities and higher education systems.
- Knowledge alliances promote long-term cooperation between universities, companies, and other institutions.
- Jean Monnet activities promote excellence in teaching and research on the European Union worldwide.
- Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees support the establishment of transnational excellence courses for highly qualified students, with the aim of double, multiple, or joint degrees.
Application
You can make submissions online via the Horizon Europe Funding and Tenders portal or via the portals on the websites of the respective partnership instruments. The formats of the ERC, Erasmus+, and the Marie Skłodowska Curie ITN format European Joint Doctorates require internal university coordination. Please contact us as early as possible and send us an e-mail.
Services and contact persons
The Rectorate provides financial support for applications for Horizon Europe EU collaborative projects (RIA/IA, EIC, Missions), ERC Synergy Grants and MSCA Doctoral Networks, if funding is not available from departmental or faculty funds. If required, up to 50% of an academic staff position can be funded for a maximum of six months (in accordance with the current DFG personnel funding rate for doctoral candidates and similar: service.tu-dortmund.de/group/intra/antrag. The prerequisite is that the project is coordinated by TU Dortmund University and that you present a convincing concept. Application forms are available on request at Grant Services.
The Office of Research Support Services offers a wide range of services relating to the acquisition of third-party funding and the application process.
With regard to the EU, the funding advisor responsible for your faculty will be happy to advise you on
- on the selection of a suitable funding format,
- with regard to the specific requirements of the respective format and
- through strategic editing of your application.
In addition, we offer a project management service tailored to your needs for coordinated EU collaborative projects. During the preparation phase, we support
- in the search for suitable EU consortium partners
- coordinating the application and consortium communication
- in the preparation of work plans and budgets
If your application is successful, we can take over part or all of the project management and integrate ourselves into the project teams.
