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.
Funding portfolio
We support future-oriented topics with our funding offers.
-
Change! Fellowships
Our target group: Personalities from science who are researching transformation processes jointly with non-academic partners.
-
area of research: all disciplines
-
funding for: own position
-
-
Open Up – New Research Spaces for the Humanities and Cultural Studies
The funding initiative addresses teams of two or three researchers who aim to explore new and original research spaces.
-
area of research: humanities and cultural studies, theoretical social sciences
-
type of funding: research projects; funding of a teaching substitute
-
-
Lower Saxony – Scotland Research and Innovation Scheme: Stream II – Excellence Track
The programme provides Lower Saxonian and Scottish higher education institutions and their researchers with an opportunity to conduct joint research to lay the foundation for successful third-party funding bids, in particular Horizon Europe.
-
area of research: all topics, particularly energy (transformation), life sciences, educational sciences, mobility and its transformation as well as security policy
-
type of funding: cooperative research projects
-
-
Transformational Knowledge on Democracies under Change – Transdisciplinary Perspectives
The call 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.
-
area of research: humanities, cultural and social sciences (lead); cooperation with natural, life, data and technical sciences possible
-
type of funding: task forces, collaborative projects
-
-
Pioneering Research – Exploring the Unknown Unknown
The funding offer addresses outstanding post-doctoral researchers and professors universities and research institutes in Germany, international cooperation partners are possible.
-
area of research: all disciplines
-
up to 1.3 million Euro
-
-
Circularity with recycled and biogenic resources
The current call within the funding line 'Collaborative projects' of this initiative is primarily targeted at the natural sciences and engineering.
-
area of research: natural sciences and engineering, if required social sciences
-
type of funding: research projects
-
-
Perspectives on Wealth: Repercussions of Wealth
The call is aimed at (inter-)national research consortia, collaborations with partners from LMICs are preferable, transdisciplinary consortia possible.
-
area of research: Humanities, cultural and social sciences, economics (lead); cooperations with natural, life, data and technical science possible
-
type of funding: (inter-)national cooperation projects with up to five partners
-
-
Researching Research: Collaborative Research Projects
The funding scheme is aimed at scientists and scholars of all career stages from postdoc onwards who work on issues related to research on research. The Foundation promotes interdisciplinary, multi-method and internationally oriented research projects.
-
area of research: disciplines conducting research on research
-
type of funding: research projects | current call: 'Political influences on epistemic practice'
-