The 2023 DFG Review Board Election - Your Vote for Science
18.10.2023Voting in the 2023 DFG review board election started on 23 October. JMU researchers still have until 20 November to cast their votes.
Everyone who has written a proposal for funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) knows how important the review boards are. They assess proposals for individual grants on the basis of external reviews and ensure that review criteria are applied fairly and consistently. Where proposals for coordinated programmes are concerned, they also provide recommendations to the competent decision-making bodies.
In addition, the review board members provide advice to the DFG to support the development and refinement of its funding instruments. The review boards have an important voice in the German research community and enjoy a high standing.
The review board members are elected for four-year terms by all researchers working in Germany. After the last election in 2019, researchers are now once again called to the ballot box to elect the review board members for the 2024–2028 term of office. Voting started on 23 October 2023.
Who is running?
A total of 649 seats on the 49 DFG review boards are up for election, and there are 1,631 researchers running for these seats, among them 30 from the University of Würzburg and the University Hospital Würzburg. The candidates have been selected from around 7,600 nominations in a multi-stage process and confirmed by the Senate of the DFG at the end of June 2023. The share of female candidates is currently 36.8%.
Who is eligible to vote?
All researchers who passed their oral doctoral exam before 23 October 2023 and who are conducting their research at a DFG member organisation as well as all professors (with or without a doctorate) who are affiliated with a DFG member organisation are eligible to vote. All eligible voters at the University of Würzburg and the University Hospital Würzburg have been emailed their voting documentation in the past few days. If you think that you are eligible to vote, but have not received your voting documentation, please contact the Electoral Office of the University of Würzburg.
How will voting take place?
Voting will run from 23 October 2023 (14:00) to 20 November 2023 (14:00) and will take place online via the DFG voting system. Each eligible voter has a total of six votes, which they can distribute between all candidates for the different review boards as they wish, but may not give more than three votes to the same candidate.
Your vote for science
With an annual budget of almost €4 billion and currently more than 31,000 funded projects, the DFG is one of the largest public funding bodies in Germany. In addition to assessing project proposals, the DFG review boards help refine existing funding programmes and design new funding instruments to be offered by the DFG. Do not miss the opportunity to have a say in the composition of the boards. Exercise your right to vote in the 2023 DFG review board election. You still have until 20 November to do so.
