Review Boards
The review boards’ assessment of proposals submitted to the DFG follow a three-stage procedure consisting of review, evaluation and decision. They compare all the proposals they have been allocated to identify the most eligible projects within the defined financial conditions. This involves evaluation of these proposals according to unified criteria external to the DFG programme.
What do the review boards do?
In dealing with individual grant the review boards generally assess proposals based on written reviews. In dealing with the coordinated programme, it is always a review panel that conducts the review process. This includes at least one member of the relevant review board, which ensures that the required assessment is conducted using the same research evaluation criteria. The review boards moreover participate in the further development and design of DFG funding programmes, and in discussion of funding policy issues.
Who can be a member of a review board?
The participants in a review board are decided every four years by some 150,000 researchers who are entitled to vote in the review board electio. The election is therefore an important manifestation of the research self-governance that the DFG advocates. The election also gives the DFG an opportunity to review its subject area compartmentalisatio and adapt it in light of current developments. At least two representatives are elected per subject area. The number of subject area representatives per subject area also depends in particular on how many funding proposals are submitted to the DFG in each research area. The review board elections are based on electoral regulations passed by the Senate.
How do the review boards collaborate?
The elected review board members are assigned to a subject area according to the focus of their research activities. A review board is composed of multiple interlinked subject-related research areas and therefore forms an expedient forum for comparative assessment. The review boards are sometimes subdivided into section or combined to create expert forum.
