JGU is in fourth place overall in the natural sciences and has significantly improved its ranking in terms of the acquirement of DFG funding in the life sciences
8 October 2021
In the 2021 Funding Atlas of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) garners first place in the field of Physics by a clear margin. In this discipline alone, Mainz University received some EUR 45 million in funding from the DFG in the years 2017 to 2019, more than any other university in Germany. In second place is Heidelberg University (approx. EUR 35 million), while number three on the list is the Technical University of Munich (approx. EUR 33 million). JGU received nearly EUR 67 million in funding from the DFG for the natural sciences as a whole, putting it in fourth place in Germany, just behind Heidelberg University (approx. EUR 73 million), the Technical University of Munich in second place, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in third place. JGU has improved its ranking with regard to DFG funding per natural sciences researcher, now taking second place in Germany behind Technische Universität Berlin. A major contributor to this success has been the "Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter" (PRISMA+) Cluster of Excellence at JGU that was approved as part of Germany's Excellence Strategy program of the federal and state governments.
"It is a remarkable achievement that JGU heads the list of all German universities in Physics and takes fourth place in the natural sciences overall. These outstanding results confirm how well our scientists are performing in JGU's profile-boosting fields of research," said Professor Georg Krausch, President of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. "This encourages us to persist continuously with our profile-building strategy and the associated support for the project-based expansion of cutting-edge university research." The figures for European Research Council (ERC) funding in the years 2014 to 2019, which are also listed in the 2021 Funding Atlas, confirm the achievements by JGU in acquiring DFG sponsorship. In this case, JGU ranks in third place with nine ERC Grants in the natural sciences. Only Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Technical University of Munich with 13 ERC Grants each were able to obtain more financial support for their leading researchers. JGU has managed to advance to twelfth place when it comes to the total number of ERC Grants, which is a significant improvement, as Mainz University did not feature among the top 20 universities in Germany in this regard in the last ranking period. "This accomplishment shows again that we have the potential to improve our standing in the world of international competition," added Krausch.
In addition, the ranking shows positive developments in the disciplines of Medicine and Biology. The total of DFG funding granted to Medicine at JGU grew to some EUR 47 million in 2017 to 2019. This is equivalent to a growth rate of 34 percent, roughly twice the average rate of increase recorded for other German universities in this field. Over the same period, DFG financial support for Biology at JGU increased to some EUR 8 million, thus almost doubling. By way of comparison, the average rate of growth for German institutes of higher education in this sector as a whole is just roughly 17 percent. "We have been making targeted investments in the life sciences over the last 10 years, not least helped by the generous donations provided by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation," emphasized Professor Stefan Müller-Stach, Vice President for Research and Early Career Academics at JGU. "It is gratifying to see that our efforts are already being rewarded in the form of the extent of third-party funding acquired for fundamental research projects."