As a private research funding organization, we support researchers with creative ideas aimed at changing the world of science – something we have been doing for more than 60 years now. Our mission: We endow knowledge.

Visit our funding portfolio Who we are

We provide support in four profile areas

Bücherstapel

Understanding Research

Critically exploring and reflecting on the research system with a view to initiating positive change on areas such as career paths, governance, research and teaching.

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Societal Transformations

Expanding knowledge about processes of transformation and developing possible courses of action together with stakeholders in civil society.

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Kompass

Exploration

Breaking into previously unexplored research territory with unconventional ideas and experimental approaches.

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hölzerner Schach-Springer (Pferd)

zukunft.niedersachsen

Funding program for top-level research in Lower Saxony.

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Inken Dworak-Schultz

Story

Pharmacy from the Rainforest: Remedies for the Mind

To the Article on Ethnopharmacologist Fabien Schultz

Events

  • Expert meeting
  • Herrenhausen Conference

Tue, 16 Feb 2027, 10:00 a.m. to Thu, 18 Feb 2027, 4:00 p.m.

Rethinking Neurodegeneration - Challenging established paradigms and exploring new paths

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Newsroom

Fünf Personen sitzen auf einer Bühne auf Stühlen und sprechen miteinander.
Event Video 27 July 2026

The Future of Postdocs in the German Research Ecosystem

Experts discussed the perspectives of postdoctoral researchers and the reforms needed at a public panel discussion in Hanover on August 26.

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Funding Offer 27 August 2026

Funding for Opus Magnum: Deadline and Online Q&As

The Opus Magnum funding initiative offers outstanding professors from the humanities and social sciences the opportunity to write a larger scientific work, relieved by a teaching substitution. Online Q&As on 3 September and 26 October, deadline: 18 Nov, 2026

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