The Volkswagen Foundation is an independent Foundation based in Hanover. The total funding is approximately 150 million euros per year, making it the largest German private research funding Fund.

The Foundation provides funds only to academic institutions. Since 1962, the Volkswagen Foundation has allocated more than 5.1 billion euros to support more than 33,000 projects.

The mission of the Foundation is to support young scientists, Junior researchers, and promote collaboration between researchers from different disciplines, cultures, and countries. Equally important is the promotion of the structural improvement of education and research in Germany. Often, the goals of the Fund are pursued in cooperation with other funds and government funding organizations.

The Foundation provides annual grants to scientists and researchers in various fields of science and specialization.

The completed application must be submitted by August 15 2018 through the Volkswagen Foundation electronic application system https://portal.volkswagenstiftung.de/vwsantrag/login.do). the Application must contain all the documents specified in the checklist " information for 72e applicants "(see Annex).

Full proposals must be submitted by15 August 2018 via the Foundation’s electronic application system and contain all documents specified in the Information for Applicants 72e checklist (see attachment).