Forschungsgemeinschaft

Forschungsgemeinschaft, literally “research community,” is a German term used to describe cooperative arrangements among researchers who pursue shared scientific objectives. It can refer to a formal entity—such as a registered association or foundation—that coordinates projects, governance, and funding, or to an informal network of scientists across universities, institutes, and industry. The common thread is cooperation aimed at advancing knowledge beyond what individual groups could achieve alone.

In practice, a Forschungsgemeinschaft brings together researchers from multiple institutions to pool expertise, infrastructure, and data. It often has organized governance, peer review, and joint decision-making about research agendas and resource allocation. Projects may be thematically focused, multidisciplinary, or regionally or nationally coordinated, and results are typically disseminated through publications, shared datasets, and trained researchers.

Germany's Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is the most prominent example in the national science system and funds many forms of collaborative research, including specialized centers and graduate schools that embody the concept of a Forschungsgemeinschaft. The term is also used in other German-speaking countries to describe similar cooperative ventures, though organizational forms and names may vary. It is distinct from a Forschungsinstitut, which is a dedicated research institution, and from a Forschungsverbund, a formal research consortium that operates under a specific contractual agreement.