Process - How to Apply

How to Apply for Funding

Where are proposals expected to originate?

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!

Need support for your proposal?

1. For general support, or to discuss any aspect of your proposal, contact our Section Liaison Officers via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

2. If you are already writing a proposal, contact our Service Stewards via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Need to find proposal templates?

Please visit our templates page to download our most recent templates.

TEMPLATES

Who can submit 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):

Initialisation phase: max. 225.500€, calculated for 2 PostDoc, 1 Researcher
Integration phase: max. 447.300€, calculated for 3 PostDoc, 3 Researcher
Ramp-Up phase: max. 309.600€, calculated for 4 PostDoc

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.

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:

2025 Initialisation phase: max. 270.900€ for one year (calculated for 2 PostDoc, 1 Researcher after DFG Personnel rates 2025 including 5% travel costs).
2025 Integration phase: max. 534.870€ per year and max. 1.069.740€ for two years (calculcated for 3 PostDoc, 3 Researcher after DFG Personnel rates 2025 including 5% travel costs).

Next Proposal Timelines

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:

from an NFDI consortium if it dedicates consortium funds for specific contributions to the service,
from other persons or institutions that may not actively participate but contribute to the service in any form.

... in three cases for the Integration phase:

from an NFDI consortium that commits to co-develop the service with consortium funds, where a LoC should detail the specific contributions of this consortium to the service,
from an NFDI consortium that commits to use the service, where a LoC should outline the concrete steps to be taken by this consortium towards this goal,
from other persons or institutions - also external to the NFDI - that do not actively participate but contribute to the service in any form.

LoCs can be submitted until two weeks after the application deadline.