All institutes within the Leibniz Association are eligible to apply.

In the 2020 competition procedure, each institute may submit one application (generally up to 1 million EUR) or two applications (not more than 1 million EUR combined and each not less than 250 thousand EUR).

Each institute can additionally submit one application for the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors. The Leibniz Programme for Women Professors funds a maximum of five appointments a year.

Yes. The Division Leibniz Competition Procedure must be informed immediately if an application for funding of the same project is submitted to or approved by another body, in order to prevent duplicate funding. Any parallel application for funding must be indicated when submitting the application.

Please submit a complete listing of cooperation partners along with your expression of interest. Funding cannot be provided for any partners not mentioned in the expression of interest.

For academic partners in Germany uploading of further documents will not be required. However, a declaration of participation from the cooperation partner must be in your possession. Please be aware that you must have a declaration of participation from the legal (not: natural) person which meets the minimum formal requirements (in particular, it must contain a letterhead and signature) and contains a binding memorandum of understanding. The declarations of participation must be provided to the Leibniz Association at any time upon request.

For international cooperation partners please provide declarations from the collaborating institutes detailing to what extent they will share the costs of the joint project. Please note that in general, international cooperation partners should themselves meet the costs they incur. If the application for funding for cooperation partners is absolutely necessary in order for the project to be feasible, an appropriate explanation must be provided in a separate document. The SAW will decide individually on whether to approve funding.

For collaborations with commercial partners: Cooperation agreement using the DFG’s cooperation agreement template (form: FDG form 41.026, http://www.dfg.de/formulare/41_026/).

In principle, all sums from applications for which the institute acts as lead applicant are assigned to that institute’s budget. Requested funds that are to be forwarded to partners within the Leibniz Association may alternatively be assigned to the budget of the partner institute. The minimum threshold in this case is EUR 250,000. In addition, only one lead institute may be named per application. In the event of the application being approved, a contract will be signed with this institute.

Yes, it is possible to submit applications for targeted measures to combine family life with an academic career in the framework of the Leibniz Competition. The measures financed in this way should contribute to reinforcing family-friendly working conditions in research.

For childcare measures the following applies: Primary childcare must already be in place. Financial support for childcare is usually only available for additional offers that fall outside the normal opening hours of daycare facilities and where the parents themselves are unable to care for their children for project-related reasons.

No money may be paid to the parents directly. The so-called Besserstellungsverbot must be observed. This regulation, which is anchored in budgetary law, states that individuals supported in the framework of the Leibniz Competition may not be better paid than individuals paid according to the locally valid collective bargaining law, including collectively-agreed bonuses.

The costs for childcare may not exceed four percent of the total amount stated in the respective application.

For the Leibniz Competition 2021 the e-system will be made available on 2 March 2020. The Leibniz institutes will be informed in advance about the application procedure.

For the Leibniz Competition 2021 please note the following deadlines:

Expression of interest in applying with nomination of four potential reviewers: 27 March 2020

Submissions deadline for submitting the completed applications: 30 April 2020

Interviews for preselection (Leibniz Junior Research Groups only): summer 2020

Senate session: 25 November 2020

Funding of the approved projects begins: within six months from 1 January 2021

The appointment procedure should be as advanced as possible, but as yet incomplete at the time of submitting the application. An appointment procedure is completed when the candidate assumes office.

The process should have reached a point at which both the university and the Leibniz institute have a discernible interest in successfully completing the appointment.

The Leibniz Association points out that proactive components within the appointment procedure are expressly desired (see also Leibniz Recruitment Standards).

Funding starts earliest when the candidate assumes office.

No. The Leibniz Programme for Women Professors does not have an age limit and no restriction with regard to when the doctorate was obtained.

No. Child-rearing times are calculated at a fixed term of two years per child under the age of 12. Whether or not the candidate took parental leave is immaterial.

Yes. The prerequisite for this is that the Leibniz institute contributes a total share of 40% of the funding for the project.

The date on the doctoral certificate is decisive.

Yes. The application is submitted to the Senate Competition Committee (SAW), which decides on whether or not to recommend the application's approval. In the case of two equally excellent applications, the SAW may give preference to a candidate who obtained their doctorate more recently.

No. Child-rearing times are calculated at a fixed term of two years per child under the age of 12. Whether or not the candidate took parental leave is immaterial.

Yes. The prerequisite for this is that the Leibniz institute contributes a total share of 40% of the funding for the project.

Yes, suitable applicants for the Leibniz Junior Research Groups programme are invited to present their project in person as part of a preselection process. The interviews will take place in summer/autumn 2020.

Alongside the applicant, there must be at least one other partner involved. This partner can be, but doesn't have to be, a Leibniz institute.

Yes. Funding can continue to be distributed by the lead Leibniz institute to national academic partners, such as universities based in Germany.

Yes. International collaboration partners must generally pay their own costs. Declarations from the collaborating institutes regarding the extent to which they will share the costs of the joint project must be included in the application. If application transfer of funds to a foreign partner institution is essential to the project's feasibility, an appropriate explanation must be provided in a separate document. The SAW will decide individually on whether to approve funding.

Yes. However, the Leibniz institute submitting the application cannot request any funding for commercial partners as part of the Leibniz Competition. The guidelines for the use of funds prescribe that the collaboration agreement must follow the DFG template.
Please address all further questions regarding the application process to the Division Leibniz Competition Procedure.