Our Funding Portfolio
The Volkswagen Foundation is dedicated to the support of the humanities and social sciences as well as science and technology in higher education and research. It funds research projects in path-breaking areas and provides assistance to academic institutions for the improvement of the structural conditions for their work.
We provide support in four profile areas
Funding portfolio
We support future-oriented topics with our funding offers.
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zukunft.niedersachsen: Research Cooperation Lower Saxony – Israel
Website zukunft.niedersachsen.deFunding is provided for scientifically outstanding projects conducted jointly by researchers from Israel and Lower Saxony.
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area of research: Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering Sciences (call 2026)
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type of funding: research projects
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Change! Fellowships
Learn moreOur target group: Personalities from science who are researching transformation processes jointly with non-academic partners.
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area of research: all disciplines
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funding for: own position
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zukunft.niedersachsen: Boost Research! Seed Grants for Lower Saxony
Website zukunft.niedersachsen.deThis funding programme offers researchers the opportunity to receive seed funding for novel collaborative projects. The aim is to use the funding to enable the acquisition of additional third-party funding.
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Transformational Knowledge on Democracies under Change – Transdisciplinary Perspectives
Learn moreThe programme addresses persons from science together with actors outside of academia who are interested in transdisciplinary research and aim at jointly developing new perspectives on democratic forms of government under change.
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areas of research: humanities, cultural and social sciences (lead); cooperation with natural, life, data and technical sciences possible
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type of funding: task forces, cooperation projects
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AI Research Groups Lower Saxony
Website zukunft.niedersachsenAs a key technology, artificial intelligence is of central importance to Lower Saxony's research system. This call for proposals combines the objectives of promoting individual scientists with the further development of AI methods and their application to existing data sets.
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area of research: computer science, artificial intelligence, application disciplines
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type of funding: research groups
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Pioneering Research – Exploring the Unknown Unknown
Learn moreThe funding offer addresses outstanding post-doctoral researchers and professors universities and research institutes in Germany, international cooperation partners are possible.
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area of research: all disciplines
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up to 1.3 million Euro
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Circularity With Recycled and Biogenic Resources
Learn moreFunding is provided for interdisciplinary research projects closing raw material product cycles and for science communication on sustainable consumption.
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area of research: natural sciences and engineering, if required social sciences
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type of funding: research projects
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Transdisciplinary Approaches to Mobility and Global Health
Learn moreThe call is directed at researchers from HICs and LMICs, in close collaboration with local communities, non-academic stakeholders and other relevant actors. It is jointly initiated by the three independent private foundations Novo Nordisk Foundation (Denmark), Wellcome (Great Britain) and Volkswagen Foundation.
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areas of research: social sciences, life & health sciences
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funding for: international collaborative projects
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