DFG approves 11 new Collaborative Resear...( The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (D...),Health

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will establish eleven new Collaborative Research Centres (SFBs) on 1 July 2007. They will receive a total of 75.5 million euros in funding over the next four years. Research conducted in the centres will include work on the reconstruction of biological body functions using versatile molecular switches and innovative optical technology. Four of the new SFBs will be Transregional Collaborative Research Centres, which are located at multiple sites.

As well as establishing the newly approved Collaborative Research Centres, the committee also approved the continuation of 19 Collaborative Research Centres for another funding period, bringing the total number of Collaborative Research Centres financed by the DFG to 270 as of 1 July 2007. The total funding volume for 2007 will amount to approximately 388 million euros.

The committee also amended the funding programme: the SFB independent junior research groups component will become part of the Emmy Noether Programme, in order to bring more balance and simplicity to the funding offered by the DFG for young scientists and researchers who already hold a doctorate. In addition, as of 2008 the DFG will largely do away with the earmarking of certain funds that has existed up to now (for example funding specifically for inviting visiting researchers and scientists), in order to boost the individual responsibility of the Collaborative Research Centres and to simplify the utilisation of the funding granted to them. In the future, it will also be possible for Collaborative Research Centres to submit proposals for projects that will enable them to gather, generate, process and store the data relating to their projects in a more structured manner, using state-of-the-art computer data storage methods.

The new Collaborative Research Centres:

In Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 37 Micro- and Nanosystems in M
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Contact: Dr. Eva-Maria Streier
em.streier@dfg.de
49-228-885-2250
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
5-Jun-2007