Leibniz Association: Leibniz Competition

The Leibniz Competition is designed to accelerate the achievement of the Leibniz Association’s strategic objectives as part of the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation. The measures are intended to fulfil the institutes’ duty to perform research and operate research infrastructures at the highest level, and to publicise the resulting successes. With its fixed-term funding programmes, the Leibniz Competition provides incentives intended to stimulate the Leibniz Association’s continued profile development. In this regard, it is purposefully different to the measures of other funding organisations and institutional funding.

The Leibniz Competition 2026 accentuates

The expansion of person-specific funding with the aim of attracting and promoting young (international) talent and promoting highly qualified academics in a targeted manner;

The promotion of internationalisation, in particular by means of Leibniz Junior Research Groups;

The stimulation of strategic collaborations with universities and the targeted promotion of highly qualified female academics by means of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors;

The profile development of the Leibniz Association as a collaborative academic organisation by means of the Leibniz Collaborative Excellence funding programme;

The transfer of knowledge and technology and the pioneering further development of research infrastructures by means of the Leibniz Transfer funding programme.

Leibniz Competition 2026

The application procedure for the first round of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors 2026 will begin with an expression of interest submitted until 30 September 2024, and will end at 5 pm on 30 October 2024 with the submission of the full application.
The application procedure for the second round of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors as well as the other funding programmes in the Leibniz Competition 2026 will begin with an expression of interest submitted until 30 March 2025, and will end at 5 pm on 30 April 2025 with the submission of the full application.
Applications will be submitted via an electronic application system.
Application System
Applicant guidelines (PDF)
Handling bias (PDF)
During the application procedure the proposals and CVs must be uploaded to the electronic application system. Templates for proposals and CVs are available here:
Template Proposal Leibniz Programme for Women Professors (docx)
Template Proposal Leibniz Junior Research Groups (docx)
Template Proposal Leibniz Collaborative Excellence (docx)
Template Proposal Leibniz Transfer (docx)
Template CV Leibniz Junior Research Groups and Leibniz Programme for Women Professors (docx)
Template CV Leibniz Collaborative Excellence and Leibniz Transfer (docx)
Joint appointment agreements Leibniz Programme for Women Professors (docx)
The selection session of the Senate Competition Committee (SAW) for the first round of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors 2026 will be held on 15 May 2025. The final funding decisions will be made by the senate on 15 July 2025.
The selection session of the Senate Competition Committee (SAW) for the second round of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors as well as the other funding programmes in the Leibniz Competition 2026 will be held in September 2025. The final funding decisions for the Leibniz Competition 2026 will be made by the senate in November 2025.
Further information on the Leibniz Competition's selection process of the is available here.
For the first round of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors 2026 the projects are scheduled to start no earlier than 1 August 2025.
For the second round of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors as well as the other funding programmes in the Leibniz Competition 2026 the projects are scheduled to start on 1 January 2026. A later project start-date ranging up to 1 July 2026 and a corresponding extension of the funding duration is possible.

The funding programmes of the Leibniz Competition 2026

Leibniz Junior Research Groups
As leaders of a Leibniz Junior Research Group, postdoctoral researchers obtain the opportunity to implement research projects of their own and establish themselves in their respective field.
read more
Leibniz Programme for Women Professors
The Leibniz Programme for Women Professors aims at rewarding the successful recruitment of outstandingly talented women.
read more
Leibniz Collaborative Excellence
As part of this programme, projects that are particularly innovative, and which require collaborative networking in order to succeed, are to be funded.
read more
Leibniz Transfer
The Leibniz Transfer funding programme promotes the transfer of knowledge from all academic fields into society, commerce and the sphere of politics.
read more