Study and research in Germany

Research

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
www.bmbf.de
Provider: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
Description: The website provides information on the BMBF, its staff, structure and goals, as well as on its policy fields, initiatives, lead projects, support programmes, project sponsors, specialist information centres and publications.
Languages: German and Englisch

BMBF: Map of Research in Germany
www.forschungsportal.net
Provider: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
Description: This research portal shows users how best to contact Germany’s research institutions. Information and institutions can either be found with the search function or directly by clicking on the maps.
Languages: German and English

Research in Germany
www.research-in-germany.de
Provider: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Description: The website provides general information on the German research landscape and on the associated BMBF activities. The site includes an overview of the various research institutions and the current research and development fields. In addition, it offers initial information on research funding and on working in the international field. Users can choose to subscribe to a newsletter. A Lab Ticker reports on current research projects, complemented by portraits of the individual researchers.
Language: German and English

German Mobility Centre for Researchers
www.eracareers-germany.de
Provider: The German Mobility Centre for Researchers (Deutsches Mobilitätszentrum für Forscher) at the Humboldt Foundation (see chapter on “Scholarship-awarding Organisations /Foundations”) is part of the “European Network of Mobility Centres” (ERAMORE).
Description: The German Mobility Centre for Researchers advises and informs researchers – incoming, outgoing and returning – about sources of funding, job offers, social insurance, tax, etc. and offers a web portal and a helpdesk. It also links researchers with mobility centres all around Europe.
Languages: German and English

Service Centre for Electronic Research Support Information (ELFI)
www.elfi.info
Provider: ELFI (Servicestelle für Elektronische Forschungsförderinformationen) is the service centre that provides information on research funding in Germany.
Description: ELFI supports research funding officers in their daily work. The service can also be used by academics and scientists. ELFI collects all information of relevance to research funding (e.g. calls for tenders/ bids, announcements, addresses of research funding organisations and contacts), collates these and makes them available in a customised format.
Users have to register before entering the first session. There is a charge for this service, however.
Language: German

Max Planck Society
www.mpg.de
Provider: The Max Planck Society (MPG) is an independent non-profit research organisation. The MPG funds research done at its own institutes. These engage in basic research in the natural sciences, biosciences/life sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. Some 12,400 staff, of which around 4,300 are researchers and scientists, work in 78 institutes, research centres, laboratories and research groups. In addition to these, the MPG has some 11,000 doctoral students, postdocs, visiting research scientists and student assistants.
Description: Users can search for MPG institutes by sections, institute names or locations and so find the relevant sites. The website also provides information on projects, on the research fields at the MPG institutes and on their research findings. Working together with various German universities, the Max Planck Society established the “International Max Planck Research Schools” in 2000 to further strengthen the training of highly-qualified young and early-stage researchers. It is intended that half of the students at these research schools should come from abroad. A list of the research schools provides further information and links to their websites.
Languages: German and English

Fraunhofer Society
www.fhg.de
Provider: The Fraunhofer Society is the leading applied research organisation in Germany. Its 56 research institutes employ some 12,500 staff, mainly researchers and engineers. The Fraunhofer Society advances its international cooperation through its liaison offices in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Description: The site enables users to search for Fraunhofer Institutes, by locations and research fields. Each institute is presented with its core research areas, special equipment and contacts. The “Publications” section enables users to order brochures online and free of charge which cover various specialist fields. The annual reports are also available online, while issues of the “Fraunhofer magazine” can be downloaded as PDF files. The interdisciplinary bibliographical database “Fraunhofer-Publica” contains comments and information on publications issued by all the Fraunhofer institutes since 1980. The Fraunhofer Bookshop enables you to order specialist books produced on the basis of the work done at the Fraunhofer Institutes.
Languages: German and English (bookshop only in German)

Leibniz Association
www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de
Provider: The Leibniz Association is made of 83 research institutes, arranged into five scientific sections. The research responsibilities of the Leibniz Institutes extend from basic research (see also Max Planck Society) to applied research (see Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) and so build a bridge between these two poles. The Leibniz Association has more than 13,000 staff.
Description: The site offers four search options for Leibniz institutes, namely by sections, alphabetically, by abbreviations and by federal states (Länder). Each institute is presented with a brief profile, its core research areas and who to contact.
The “News” section includes the latest edition of the “Leibniz-Journal” which can be downloaded as a PDF file, plus press releases.
Languages: German and English

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
www.helmholtz.de
Provider: The 15 German Helmholtz Centres form the “Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres” with some 26,500 staff in total. The Helmholtz Centres engage in strategic research programmes in the association’s six research fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Key Technologies, Structure of Matter, Transport and Space. The Helmholtz Mission is to contribute to solving the grand challenges which face society, science and industry by performing top-rate research.
Description: The website presents each Helmholtz Centre in a short portrait, while a link takes users to the respective centre’s services and programmes. Various publications can be ordered free of charge online or can be downloaded. The current research fields and findings of the 15 Helmholtz Centres are presented.
Languages: German, English, Chinese, Russian

• Africa Sub-Sahara
• Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania
• Central and Eastern Europe
• Latin America
• North America
• Northern Africa and the Middle East
• Western Europe