13.11.2024

NSF and DFG Lead Agency Activity in Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future (DMREF)

Deadline NSF: 21 January to 4 February 2025; DFG: 6 February 2025

Recognising the importance of international collaborations in promoting scientific discoveries, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on research cooperation. To facilitate the support of collaborative work between US researchers and their German counterparts, the NSF and the DFG are pleased to announce a Lead Agency Activity in the area of data-driven materials research.

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) seeks to foster the design, discovery and development of materials to accelerate their path to deployment by harnessing the power of data and computational tools in concert with experiment and theory. DMREF emphasises a deep integration of experiments, computation and theory, the use of accessible digital data across the materials development continuum and strengthening connections among theorists and computational scientists (including data scientists).

In this call, the NSF acts as lead agency. The review procedure follows the NSF Proposal Processing and Review Procedures as stated in the DMREF programme solicitation (Solicitation Number NSF 25-508). Each organisation will pursue its own decision-making processes. Only if both organisations come to a positive decision, funding can be granted. If granted, each organisation supports the researchers it is responsible for.

Proposals eligible to apply for this lead agency activity will need to have a research focus relevant to the topic areas identified above. Proposals of German applicants are accepted in the subject areas 3.12 “Chemical Solid State and Surface Research”, 3.16 “Polymer Research”, 3.17 “Theoretical Chemistry”, 3.21 “Condensed matter physics”, 4.31 “Materials engineering” and 4.32 “Materials Science” of the DFG’s subject classification (see below under Further Information). Proposals involving private companies whose participation requires the conclusion of a cooperation agreement in accordance with the rules of DFG are not eligible.

Please note that the eligibility to submit a joint proposal follows the regulations for the NSF and DFG programmes for individual funding respectively (DFG: Individual Research Grants, DFG form 50.01). If in doubt, researchers are strongly encouraged to contact the corresponding programme officers. The standard DFG eligibility rules apply to all applicants from Germany, including the duty to cooperate for non-university researchers which can only be fulfilled through cooperation with a partner at a German university.

Joint proposals must be submitted in accordance with the proposal preparation requirements of the NSF via research.gov. This includes a description of the full proposed research programme and the research team, as well as the funds requested from the NSF. In parallel, a supplement (max. 10 pages) must be prepared for the DFG. It must contain the information required in sections 4 to 5 of the DFG project description (DFG form 53.01). This includes, among other information, a detailed breakdown of the funding requested from the DFG for the first 36 months. The DFG allows a maximum funding period of 36 months for new proposals. To align with the four-year duration of DMREF projects, either a no-cost extension may be requested or a renewal proposal may be submitted to DFG. In the latter case, the funds for the remaining 12 months have to be applied for in a renewal proposal six months before the fourth year starts.

Within the NSF proposal, the work programme for the full period of 4 years has to be described. The explanations regarding any possible safety-related aspects, 4.1.5.1 “Dual Use Research of Concern” and 4.1.5.2 Risks in international cooperation”, have to be elaborated if relevant but are mandatory in case the US military agencies (AFRL, ONR, ARL and GVSC) are partners in the joint project. The considerations on aspects of ecological sustainability in the planning and implementation of the project are also mandatory. In addition, a CV of each German partner using DFG form 53.200 has to be submitted for the eligibility check.

The joint proposal must be submitted to the NSF’s DMREF programme as described in the solicitation from 21 January to 4 February 2025. In addition, the proposal has to be submitted to the DFG via elan by 6 February 2025 (4.00 p.m. CET).

Notifications are expected by August 2025.

The DFG strongly welcomes proposals from researchers of all genders and sexual identities, from different ethnic, cultural, religious, ideological or social backgrounds, from different career stages, types of universities and research institutions, and with disabilities or chronic illness.

Further Information
https://www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles/neuigkeiten-themen/info-wissenschaft/2024/ifw-24-104 

Contacts:

Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director DFG
phone: +49 (228) 885-4100
georg.bechtoldspam prevention@dfg.de 

Scientific questions:
Dr. Markus Behnke, Chemistry
phone: +49 (228) 885-2181
markus.behnkespam prevention@dfg.de 

Dr. Michael Mößle, Physics
phone: +49 (228) 885-2351
michael.moesslespam prevention@dfg.de 

Dr. Cosima Schuster, Materials Science and Engineering
phone +49 228 885-2271
cosima.schusterspam prevention@dfg.de 

Administrative questions:
Aline Esch
phone +49 228 885-2470
aline.eschspam prevention@dfg.de