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The Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments

The Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments has the aim of strengthening Germany as a centre for science and research in the long term and further improving its international competitiveness. It thus continues the development and strengthening of German universities already begun with the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. The programme is implemented jointly by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science and Humanities Council (WR).

The programme includes the two funding lines Clusters of Excellence and Universities of Excellence and is designed to run for an indefinite period. Further information is available on the websites of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science and Humanities Council (WR).

In the ongoing first round of the Excellence Strategy, the University of Freiburg received approval in the first funding line for the Clusters of Excellence ‘CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies’ and ‘livMatS – Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems’. These two Clusters of Excellence took up their work on 1 January 2019.

Draft proposals in the Clusters of Excellence funding line of the Excellence Strategy

Two University of Freiburg cluster initiatives have taken an important step forward in the current round of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. The German Research Foundation has invited the Freiburg cluster initiatives Constitution as Practice in Times of Transformation (ConTrans) and Future Forests – Adapting Complex Social-Ecological Forest Systems to Global Change to submit full proposals by 22 August 2024. This milestone was preceded by a collaborative process involving the University leadership and more than 200 researchers: The University’s participation in the current round of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments has been in preparation since February 2021, embedded in the overall strategic process ‘University of Freiburg 2030’.

The existing University of Freiburg Clusters of Excellence, Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS) and Living, Adaptive, and Energy-Autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS), will submit proposals for a second term of funding.

The following Cluster of Excellence initiatives will submit full proposals:

Initial concepts for possible Cluster of Excellence initiatives were reviewed last year. As a result, the university leadership asked seven initiatives to further develop their concepts in July 2022. All seven of these initiatives have now submitted draft proposals.

The university will submit renewal proposals for the two existing Clusters of Excellence, Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS) and Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS), in summer 2024.

As a whole, the seven Cluster of Excellence initiatives and the two Clusters of Excellence already receiving funding are a clear reflection of the university’s research profile and proven research strengths: All eleven faculties are participating in the highly interdisciplinary proposals.

Information on the University of Freiburg’s participation in the previous programme, the Excellence Initiative, is available here: