“Themenoffene Forschungsförderung – Open-Topic Research Funding” of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
The Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia aims to strengthen free and science-driven research with its “Themenoffene Forschungsförderung – Open-Topic Research Funding”
With its Open-Topic Research Funding the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW) supports universities and research institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia in building up new research profiles, establishing strong research networks and expanding their cooperation with non-scientific stakeholders.
The Open-Topic Research Funding of the MKW NRW starts at a point where conventional funding comes to its limits: the funding enables the institutions to further develop existing structures in cutting-edge research, management or cooperation and to establish them in a way, that they continue to exist beyond the funding period.
The MKW NRW wants to provide the funded institutions with the greatest possible scientific freedom. Accordingly, the funding is open to all topics, methods, and disciplines and, above all, initiates or strengthens cooperation. This means that universities and non-university research institutions decide for themselves, and purely on scientific grounds, which topics they pursue and in which constellations they collaborate.
Who Can Receive Funding?
All state and state-funded universities as well as non-university research institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia are eligible to funding. The various funding instruments are open to interested parties from the entire spectrum of the humanities and social sciences, life sciences, natural sciences and engineering.
The selection process is competitive. Funding is awarded to projects that are able to convincingly explain how they intend to build up structures in innovative and promising research areas and further develop them. In this context, both the scientific work design and building up organizational project structures are important. In addition, the importance the topics of the proposal have for the strategic road map and the development plan of the university or non-university research institution is determinant in the selection process. This applies accordingly for the establishment of sustainable cooperative research structures beyond the funding period. Moreover, the MKW NRW wants to support unconventional research ideas which have the potential for decisive scientific breakthroughs and a significant impact on previous findings.
Implementation of Open-Topic Research Funding in Four Fields of Action
“Themenoffene Forschungsförderung – Open-Topic Research Funding” is implemented through funding instruments in four different fields of action:
Research Profiles
Strengthening profiles in new research areas and putting a focus on them
Networking
Sustainably strengthen thematically-focused networks of cutting-edge research
Transfer
Promoting cooperation between science, industry and society
Vision
Creating creative and organizational scope for new ideas
Calls for funding are published regularly in the four fields of action.
In addition to Open-Topic Research Funding, the MKW NRW offers more funding in various subject areas.
Establishing Promising Research Areas
Open-Topic Research Funding aims to support universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions in identifying innovative and promising topics and to develop new research profiles out of them by drawing on existing strengths. The development of these new profiles has to be part of the strategic road map of the funded institutions.
For example, in one of the funded projects, five faculties of a university have joined forces to search for new answers regarding questions of sustainable, decarbonized and climate-neutral construction. The inter- and transdisciplinary perspective, in particular, the combination of approaches from architectural and construction engineering with those of economics, sociology of technology and medicine and also the focus on spatial aspects of transformation are unique to this day.
In another project, universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions are working together on an interdisciplinary basis to connect research in radio astronomy with data science. The exchange between basic research and applied research serves as an incubator for ideas in areas such as artificial intelligence, visualization of big data or sustainable data processing.
Strengthening Excellent Research Networks
It is in the special focus of the MKW NRW to sustainably strengthen existing thematically-focused networks of several universities, universities of applied sciences or non-university research institutions. For this reason, the MKW NRW supports existing network activities with the aim to create and develop structures in cutting-edge research at the funded institutions and to achieve sustainability and connectivity.
For example, a network of physicists is conducting outstanding basic research in the field of hadron and particle physics. The funded project supports work at a particle accelerator, which is one of the largest research facilities in Europe.
In another funded network, researchers from the fields of chemistry, biology and medicine are working together in a way that is unique across Europe in order to develop innovative agents for the research and treatment of cancer.
Establishing Cooperation Structures for Successful Transfer
The MKW NRW also provides funding to strengthen networks and existing connections to non-scientific stakeholders. By combining the forces of science, industry and society it intends to strengthen the translation of research results into new products, technologies and social innovations in the long term. In order to facilitate communication on equal terms, universities and non-university research institutions – in networks with companies and other social stakeholders – are building up strategic cooperation platforms.
Funding is provided, for example, to projects which address highly topical social issues such as climate change, renewable energies or demographic developments from different perspectives and based on different needs. The projects work on questions such as the impact of our consumer behaviour on water management. Another example is a project that examines the influence of comparative theology on the scientific dialogue between religions in order to offer solutions for social problems and promote pacification and humanization.
Preparing for Co- and Follow-up Funding
The MKW NRW wants to achieve the greatest possible leverage effect of co- and follow-up funding with its “Themenoffene Forschungsförderung – Open-Topic Research Funding”. In accordance with the aim of sustainability, it intends to prepare universities and non-university research institutions of all funding instruments for further funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG), the federal government, the European Union as well as from foundations or companies. Moreover, the MKW NRW wants to bring new non-university research institutions to North Rhine-Westphalia.