Decisions in the Excellence Strategy: Commission of Excellence selects 57 clusters of excellence

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Germany / Germany –

Source: Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftGermeinsame Pressemitteilung von DFG und Wissenschaftsrat

Funding from 1 January 2019 for initially seven years / 385 million euros per year / 19 Applications for the Excellence Center / Announcement of Results in BonnIn the Excellence Strategy of the Federal Government and the Länder for strengthening top-level research at the universities in Germany, the decisions on the future are Cluster of Excellence. On Thursday, September 27, 2018, the Excellence Commission, which is staffed by the scientists of the international panel of experts and the ministers of science of the federal and state governments, selected a total of 57 funding clusters from 88 applications for funding. A list with the names and Following the meeting in Bonn, the decisions of the Commission of Excellence were made in a press conference with live streaming on the Internet by the Federal Minister of Education and Research and chairwoman of the Joint Science Commission of the Federation and the Länder (GWK ), Anja Karliczek, and the Bremen Senator for Science and Deputy GWK Chair, Prof. Dr. med. Eva Quante-Brandt, announced. The President of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Prof. dr. Peter Strohschneider, and the chairman of the Wissenschaftsrat (WR), Prof. dr. Martina Brockmeier, explained the procedure and the procedures of the decision.In the competition for the new excellence clusters, following the invitation to tender in September 2016, 195 proposals were submitted to the DFG in April 2017, which according to the administrative agreement between the federal government and the Länder on the strategy of excellence carries out excellence clusters in the funding line. The sketches came from 63 universities and were subsequently evaluated in 21 international panels according to scientific quality criteria. On this basis, the international panel of experts appointed by the GWK with 39 scientists selected the 88 projects in Bonn on September 29, 2017 At the end of February 2018, the grant applications submitted to the DFG were submitted. They came from 41 universities in 13 federal states, with 62 applications each submitted by a single university, 23 from two universities, and three from three universities in the network. The 88 grant applications were received in spring and summer this year in 32 panels totaling nearly 400 female scientists and scientists, more than 90 percent of whom came from abroad. On the basis of these scientific quality assessments, a comparative evaluation was first carried out in Bonn on 25 and 26 September in the international panel of experts and finally the selection committee made the Excellence Commission. The 57 selected future clusters are now located at 34 universities. 40 are to be carried out by a single university, 14 by two universities and three by three universities in the network. About 49 percent of the projects are directly linked to excellence clusters or graduate schools, which have been funded since 2012 in the Excellence Initiative of the Federation and the Länder. The consistently high participation of non-university partners as well as the multidisciplinarity of the majority of concepts are also characteristic of the selected clusters The start of funding for the new Cluster of Excellence is January 1, 2019. The funding period is seven years. After a successful re-application, a second funding period of seven years may follow. According to the administrative agreement, a total of around 385 million euros in funding is earmarked annually, 75 percent of which is provided by the federal government and 25 percent by the respective host country. The decision on the clusters of excellence is also fundamental to the competition in the Excellence Center funding program, which is carried out by the Wissenschaftsrat It now allows 17 universities with at least two clusters of excellence and two university networks with at least three clusters of excellence to apply. You can submit applications by December 10, 2018, which will be decided on by the Commission of Excellence on July 19, 2019 after successful assessments.

Further information Detailed information on the Excellence Strategy of the Federal Government and the Länder can also be found under: Specialist contact personsMedia contact

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