Overview of funding opportunities

The research award honours top international scientists whose discoveries, theories or understandings have had a lasting impact on their field and contribute to diversity issues.

Nomination and selection for the Carl Zeiss Humboldt Research Award takes place in the Humboldt Research Award Programme. Nomination via the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is not possible. Applications can be submitted throughout the year.

Within the framework of the programme ‘CZS endowed professorships at universities’, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung provides funding for professorships at universities for up to ten years.

Endowed professorships in the CZS focus topics of artificial intelligence, resource efficiency and life science technologies will be funded through the call for proposals. One selection criterion is the practical focus of the individual and their research.

The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is funding the establishment of a doctoral programme in computer science education to promote the development and expansion of research in this field at the national level.

With this call for applications, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is supporting the integration of new courses on the topic of sustainability into existing engineering degree programmes (BA & MA) at universities in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.

In the ‘CZS Transfer’ programme, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung promotes outstanding research at universities of applied science.

The call for applications addresses research into technologies that enable, support and accelerate AI and machine learning. This includes both hardware and software topics.

The funding programme supports outstanding young scientists who wish to implement exciting ideas at interfaces between various STEM fields.

The call for proposals aims to promote interdisciplinary research groups that are related to one or more of the CZS focus topics of "Artificial Intelligence", "Resource Efficiency" or "Life Science Technologies".

The program is designed to enable newly appointed professors at universities of applied sciences to successfully start their first research activities.

With this call for proposals, the Foundation enables newly appointed professors to carry out specific research projects during their first two years at a university of applied sciences. The funds do not have to be used exclusively for the research project.

As part of this Call for applications, funding for science communication measures can be applied for. Precondition is an existing funding from the Foundation.

Within the framework of the ‘CZS Breakthroughs’ programme, the Carl Zeiss Foundation funds top international research from Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia.

The CZS Centres are cross-location, interdisciplinary research collaborations in the Foundation's focus topics. They serve to establish and expand innovative, internationally visible research centres in the CZS funding states.

The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is providing funding for professorships at universities of applied sciences as part of the “CZS Professorships at Universities of Applied Sciences” programme.

Germany needs highly motivated and well-trained young researchers to shape the scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow. That is why we support more than 150 scholarship holders at a total of 19 universities.

In cooperation with Nature, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung offers virtual workshops in the field of "Scientific Writing and Publishing".

The programme is intended to help scientists to develop prototypes from their research projects.

Within the framework of the ‘CZS Wildcard’ programme, the Carl Zeiss Foundation supports unconventional research projects from interdisciplinary groups comprising at least three scientists.