Persons and Structures

With this offer, the Volkswagen Foundation combines explicitly person-related funding with innovative structural change.

For instance, the Foundation lends support to outstanding scholars and scientists with forward-looking ideas who are not afraid of taking risks – at correspondingly “courageous” universities – and then relies on the interplay between the two to generate not only new knowledge, but also to develop alternatives to entrenched processes and structures. The Foundation’s funding activities enable outstanding researchers to concentrate on topics which break new ground in their respective disciplines.

Scientifically and structurally new territory to be trodden by innovative research personalities pursuing likewise innovative ideas – that is what the Foundation’s funding initiatives in this segment have in common. They breathe life into the demands the Foundation places upon itself, promoting and reinforcing education and research in Germany by means of the purposeful intertwinement and orientation of its funding initiatives – for the long-term success of Germany as a science location.