How to Apply for Funding
Any proposal for a Basic Service must originate from a community process within a section - and as a result of requirements of the consortia expressed via the sections of the NFDI Association.
Fresh ideas for a service we absolutely need to have? Drum up support in a section and draft a proposal!
A proposal has to be submitted by one lead insitution and further participating institutions to an NFDI section. All institutions need to be (or have a route to become) members of a DFG-funded NFDI consortium. The NFDI section speakers submit the proposal to Base4NFDI (to the office email).
The role of NFDI Consortia
1. After the proposal submission, consortia evaluate and vote on all proposals based on their community's needs (see detailed filter criteria per phase here).
2. The Consortia Assembly votes on whether to fund the service. See dates below.
How much is funded per phase each year?
Original budgets for basic service development phases as calculated in the Base4NFDI proposal submission (calculated based on DFG Personnel rates 2022):
Please note that these rates change each year, so please see below for the current rates.
These max. rates are guaranteed for all future years. An additional financial top-up to the stated amount - to compensate increased personnel costs based on updated DFG Personnel rates - is fully subject to the decision of the NFDI Consortia Assembly and needs to be renewed each year.
Financial top-ups as approved by the NFDI Consortia Assembly will then
apply for the development phases underway and the newly starting phases in the
given year. Relevant information will be published as soon as possible.
Rates 2025
Maximum budgets for all basic service development phases underway or newly starting in 2025, according to the decision of the NFDI Consortia Assembly 17/01/2025:
| Submit Proposal | Recommendation by TEC | Decision Consortia Assembly | Begin Funding | |
| Round 10 | 28 January 2026 | March 2026 | 17 April 2026 | July 2026 |
| Round 11 | 22 April 2026 | June 2026 | 3 July 2026 | October 2026 |
| Round 12 | 22 July 2026 | September 2026 | 9 October 2026 | February 2027 |
What you need to know about Letters of Commitment (LoC)
Please do not provide generic consortia support letters. General support including the approval of the NFDI consortia will be requested in a separate process by the Base4NFDI coordination team.
Letters of commitment are requested ...
... in two cases for the Initialisation phase:
... in three cases for the Integration phase:
LoCs can be submitted until two weeks after the application deadline.
