An emergency association
The DFG’s predecessor, the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Association of German Science), was founded in Berlin on 30 October 1920. It was re-established in Bonn in 1949 on the initiative of universities, a donors’ association and the education ministries of the German states, and on 2 August 1951 it merged with the German Research Council to form the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
In Bonn since 1949
The DFG Head Office has been in Bonn-Bad Godesberg since 1949, when it moved from Berlin. It first worked from a villa on the Rhine and then moved to the street now called Kennedyallee.
Run by science itself
The DFG describes itself as the central self-governing organisation of German science and research, an association under private law. Its members include research universities, academies of sciences and humanities, the Max Planck Society, the Fraunhofer Society and other research organisations. How it decides on grants is explained on From proposal to decision.
Sources
- DFG, From the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- DFG, The buildings of the DFG Head Office
- DFG, Mission and Constitution of the DFG since 1920
Sources checked on: 1 November 2026