From 2020 to 2022, Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) received a total of 187 million euros in third-party funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). This means that LUH now ranks twentieth in the DFG Funding Atlas among German universities. It has moved up two places since the DFG’s previous reporting period, which ran from 2017 to 1019. LUH is very strong in the engineering sciences (seventh place) and the natural sciences (twelfth place). The discipline of physics at LUH, which ranks sixth in Germany, is especially successful – particularly the subfield “Optics, quantum optics and physics of atoms, molecules and plasmas”, which holds first place in Germany with 25.1 million euros (ahead of Munich and Hamburg, with 13 million euros respectively). The extremely good performance of production engineering within the engineering sciences is also noteworthy. Here LUH ranks second in Germany with 35.2 million euros (behind RWTH Aachen).The DFG is one of the most important sources of research funding at German universities. Referred to as third-party funding, such external funding sources exist alongside state budgets.
The extent of this success is particularly evident when the average amount of DFG third-party funding awarded across Germany per professorship in the various disciplines is compared. LUH’s professors acquire upwards of 140 per cent more DFG funding than the average achieved by their peers in their respective disciplines. In terms of this so-called subject-specific DFG funding, Leibniz University Hannover holds third place in Germany; only the University of Freiburg and the University of Konstanz rank higher. LUH has thus significantly improved its ranking, moving up from seventh place in the previous DFG Funding Atlas.
Every three years since 1997, the Funding Atlas has presented key figures on publicly funded research in Germany. The top performer overall in terms of total DFG funding is once again the LMU Munich with 335.1 million euros.
LUH is particularly strong in its designated key research areas in the engineering and natural sciences. If the DFG funding is looked at in relation to the number of professors, LUH ranks second in Germany in the engineering sciences, directly behind RWTH Aachen. In the humanities and social sciences, LUH has succeeded for the first time in joining the top 40 universities in terms of funding awarded (in absolute terms).
Note to editors:
For further information, please contact Mechtild Freiin v. Münchhausen, spokesperson for Leibniz University Hannover and head of Communications and Marketing (tel. +49 511 762-5342, email: vonMuenchhausen@zuv.uni-hannover.de).
