Federal and state funding
In addition to the DFG, the federal ministries at national level and those of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia are among the most important funding bodies. In terms of funding policy, the federal and state governments primarily address current and future needs and place the benefits for society at the center of their research funding. For this reason, they primarily fund application-oriented collaborative projects through competitive, thematic calls for proposals.
Ministerial funding
Ministerial research funding focuses on application-oriented projects that are carried out within the framework of topic-related, politically motivated calls for proposals with high social relevance and therefore usually favor certain disciplines.
The projects usually run for around three years, but the financial scope varies greatly between the calls.
Applications are usually submitted in two stages, often with a legally binding signature from the university required in the first stage; each call has its own deadlines; applications to federal ministries are submitted via the easy-Online portal.
The review is usually carried out by interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary committees, which assess the potential social benefits of the project rather than its subject-specific significance.
Ministerial funding institutions
The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) play a particularly important role in funding policy at TU Dortmund University.
Information on current calls for proposals can be obtained from the federal government's "Research and Innovation" funding advisory service. You can find a comprehensive database of funded projects in the federal government's funding catalog.
In NRW, the Ministry of Culture and Science (MKW) supports research with an open-topic program that strengthens independent, science-driven research at universities and research institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia. The program includes various funding measures in the fields of research profiles, networking, transfer and vision.
The ERDF project in NRW is part of the ERDF/JTF program 2021-2027, which uses EU and state funds to support innovative, sustainable and application-oriented projects in science, industry and regions and thus contributes to strengthening the research infrastructure, knowledge transfer and innovative capacity in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The most important topics are innovation and research, start-ups and digitalization, climate protection and climate adaptation, city and region, transformation in coal regions and strategic technologies, which are used to strengthen research infrastructure, promote knowledge transfer and thus provide targeted support for research funding in NRW.
Funding database
- The federal government's funding database is a central online source of information that provides an overview of government funding programs from the federal government, the federal states and the European Union.