Project Application General Information
Calls for proposals are published annually in July, with projects eligible to start no earlier than January of the year after next. Due to the necessary lead time for organising container transport and travel arrangements, grants commencing in January of a given year can generally only support research cruises beginning in May of the same year or later.
All proposals must be written in English and submitted to the German Research Foundation (DFG). Submission is handled exclusively via Elan, the DFG’s electronic proposal processing system. To create a new proposal, applicants navigate to “Proposal Submission – New Project/Draft Proposal – Priority Programmes” and select “SPP 2520 Infrastructure area – Research Vessels” from the list of current calls.
After submitting an SPP 2520 grant proposal, applicants must also submit the corresponding core cruise proposal via “Proposal Submission – New Project/Draft Proposal – Cruise Proposals for Research Vessels (GPF Procedure)”. Detailed guidance is provided in the official cruise proposal preparation instructions (see also Links and Download sections of this page). Applicants should consult the relevant program guidelines (DFG form 50.05_en, section B) and follow the proposal preparation instructions (DFG form 54.01_en) when completing the designated template (DFG form 53.01_en). As the forms have recently been updated, only proposals based on the current templates are accepted.
Applicants must be registered in Elan prior to submitting a proposal. Please note that access to the Elan portal requires a one-time registration that must be confirmed by the German Research Foundation. Confirmation is usually completed by the next working day, and new registrations cannot be processed on weekends. Users of the research vessels who already hold an Elan account from other contexts may continue to use their existing account and do not need to register again.
The DFG explicitly welcomes proposals from researchers of all genders and sexual identities, as well as from diverse ethnic, cultural, religious, ideological, and social backgrounds. Submissions from researchers at different career stages, from various types of universities and research institutions, and from individuals with disabilities or chronic illnesses are strongly encouraged. In line with the subject-specific focus of the program, female researchers are particularly encouraged to apply.