Program-Oriented Funding

Our mission is to find solutions to the major challenges of our time through cutting-edge research. This is made possible by collaborative research within our programs.

At Helmholtz, we provide research-driven solutions to the major challenges of our time, whether they concern the energy system of the future, climate change, widespread diseases or quantum technologies. Our 18 research centers pool their expertise in long-term, cross-center programs. Program-Oriented Funding (PoF) enables us to address complex issues jointly and systematically.

Funding strategically oriented, long-term programs ensures that complex issues are tackled jointly by experts from a wide range of disciplines at Helmholtz. PoF brings the centers with their different areas of expertise together, creates synergies, and leverages the strengths of the centers. Leading international scientists regularly evaluate the programs and their output.

Through this strategic process, the centers also develop their unique research infrastructures further. A core element of Helmholtz is developing and operating these complex research facilities for the international scientific community. Whether accelerators, experimental facilities, research vessels, or high-performance computers: they form a crucial basis for scientific progress in overcoming the global challenges of our time.

Thanks to program-oriented funding, we can respond dynamically to evolving major challenges. This establishes us as a strong player in the national and international research landscape and an attractive partner for global cooperation. One example is the international MOSAiC expedition coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. Researchers from more than 80 institutions in 20 countries participated in this expedition to understand the complex climate processes of the central Arctic, to improve the representation of these processes in global climate models, and thus to make climate forecasts more reliable.

Strategy and evaluation process

Program-oriented funding forms the strategic framework for our research. It sets the priorities for Helmholtz’s research and its funding over a program period. Funds are allocated competitively, according to scientific and strategic criteria and on the basis of in-depth evaluations by international review panels. Through this process, we strengthen strategic priorities, reward excellence, identify potential, and promote scientific cooperation.

The evaluation is a two-stage process: First, the centers undergo a scientific evaluation. The second stage involves a strategic evaluation of future programs at the research field level.

This scientific evaluation focuses on the scientific quality of the research conducted by the individual research centers and their interaction in the programs. The scientific evaluations for the current program period (2021 to 2027) took place in the first half of 2025. More than 600 reviewers from 28 countries evaluated the centers’ activities in 32 on-site reviews lasting several days. The reviewers assess scientific achievements, impact, originality, innovation potential, and international competitiveness.

The strategic evaluation focuses on the program proposals for the upcoming funding period (2028 to 2035), which are based on research policy objectives and incorporate the recommendations from the scientific evaluation. In each research field, a panel of experts evaluates the programs according to their objectives, scientific competence, and implementation strategy. The chairs of the scientific evaluations are members of these panels, ensuring the link between the two stages.

Based on these reports, the Helmholtz Senate makes recommendations to the federal and state governments and parliaments regarding the amount and distribution of funding for the research programs. These recommendations include suggestions for the development of the programs and research fields.

Thanks to this interplay of quality assurance and forward-looking evaluation, Helmholtz is a key player in international cutting-edge research while remaining deeply rooted in its societal mission.

The PoF at a glance

Dr. Sören Wiesenfeldt

Head of Department Research
Helmholtz Association

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