DFG Funding Atlas: Seventh place for FAU

Seventh place in the DFG Funding Atlas 2024: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has again shown that it is one of Germany’s top universities and above all how successful it is in attracting public research funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

FAU acquired approximately 290 million euros of DFG funding

Between 2020 and 2022, FAU received a total of 289,4 million euros from DFG funding, a 20.3 percent gain on the previous three years.

Bavarian Science Minister Markus Blume says “FAU is in the fast lane and I would like to congratulate the university on its excellent performance in the current DFG Funding Atlas.” “At seventh place, our Central Franconian innovation hub has moved up three places compared to last time and is undeniably playing in the top league for third-party funding and proving the strength of the university in research across all subjects.”

FAU climbs three places

Three years ago, FAU made it into the top 10 in the DFG Funding Atlas and has even outperformed its already commendable previous position in the current edition. Scientists have brought a total of 48.8 million euros more to FAU for their projects. And that’s not all: FAU is the only university in the top 10 to have achieved such a ranking without funding from the German government’s Excellence Strategy.

“When it comes to DFG funding, FAU is one of the heavyweights in Germany. This is made possible by our researchers, who tirelessly and successfully apply for this funding with their innovative research questions. Our research support team provides excellent assistance with their applications. Ultimately, the acquisition of 290 million euros in three years is a fantastic joint achievement, in which a great deal of passion flows alongside expertise and which we as a university can be proud of,” says FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger.

FAU one of the most important universities for engineering

FAU traditionally performs very well in engineering: Here, the university maintains an excellent fourth place nationwide and has raised 109.5 million euros, which represents an increase of 17.9 percent compared to the previous funding ranking. This amounts to an average of 919,900 euros for each professorship.

In the life sciences, FAU moved up three places to 12th place. A total of 101.5 million euros went to the university in this area – 21.8 million euros more and the highest absolute increase.

The humanities and social sciences enjoyed the highest relative increase, with a rise of 39.7 percent to 18.3 million euros in funds raised. Funding amounts in the humanities and social sciences are generally significantly lower, as they rarely have to cover expensive equipment or laboratories.

The natural sciences received DFG funding amounting to 42.1 million euros, putting them in 18th place. In a nationwide comparison, natural sciences score highly in terms of internationality: a total of 29 researchers received funding from the German Academic Exchange Service, which puts them in an excellent second place. This indicator helps to assess how attractive German universities are for academics abroad.

Materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering come out on top

FAU is at the top of the table in the comparison of subject areas with second place in materials science and engineering, followed by third place in mechanical engineering. FAU achieved two fifth places for process engineering/thermodynamics and computer science. If the research field of process engineering/technical chemistry is considered separately, FAU even gained second place. The University came in sixth place for medicine. Mathematics rounds off the top 10 rankings in the subject areas in ninth place.

How important is third-party funding for FAU?

Third-party funding is money received from institutions and sources such as the DFG, industry, foundations, the federal government and the EU that is used to finance projects and research projects in addition to regular budget funds and state investments. Funding is acquired in highly-competitive procedures and is a useful competitive benchmark for university performance. At FAU, DFG funding accounts for the highest proportion of third-party funding. The DFG Funding Atlas is published every three years and provides comprehensive and differentiated analyses of publicly funded research in Germany.

FAU rankings at a glance DFG Funding Atlas 2024

Further information

Jens Kämmler
Data and Management Information
zuv-statistik@fau.de