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DIVERSE FUNDING IN THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA

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.

FUNDING FORMATS AT A GLANCE

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.

Horizon Europe © EU

Detailed information about the program you can find 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 projects on basic research. Due to the great importance that TU Dortmund University attaches to ERC Grants, Research Support Services supports you throughout the entire application process and, if successful, provides you with appropriate training for the interviews. Further information you can find on the websites of the ERC as well as the EU Office of the BMBF (available only in German) 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.

Application processes at TU Dortmund University

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

Research Support Services offer a wide range of services related to the acquisition of third-party funding and application procedures. The team member of the Grants Services responsible for your Department will be happy to advise you on EU matters

  • in the selection of a suitable funding format,
  • with regard to the specific requirements of the respective format and
  • through strategic feedback on your application.
  • Support in finding suitable EU consortium partners

In addition, we offer Project Management Services for coordinated EU joint projects. On request, we administer parts or the entire project management and integrate ourselves into the project teams.

 

Team photo funding consulting and project management © OK

Further funding formats and information