DFG Funding Atlas 2021: Saarland University once again among the 40 universities with the strongest research performance

In the current funding ranking of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), Saarland University was ranked 39th out of a total of 225 universities and universities of applied sciences that received funding from 2017 to 2019. It should be noted that the ranking is not calculated adjusted for size, so that universities with significantly more scientists lead the third-party funding ranking. The University’s ranking in the ranking of individual funding by the European Research Council should be clearly emphasized. Here, Saarland University can improve from 36th to 5th place.

From 2017 to 2019, 225 German universities were funded by the German Research Foundation. Saarland University received a total of 84.6 million euros from the DFG during this period. This represents an increase of 4.5 million euros compared to the last survey phase.

In the natural sciences, which include chemistry, physics and mathematics, physics once again succeeded in ranking 37th among the 40 universities with the strongest research. In particular, physics, together with the disciplines collaborating in the interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Center 1027 (“Physical Modeling of Non-Equilibrium Processes in Biological Systems”), was able to achieve a top ranking: It received five million euros during the funding period, once again placing second in the absolute ranking in its research field.

In the life sciences, which at Saarland University primarily include theoretical medicine, life sciences and pharmacy, the university raised 25.5 million euros. The area thus occupies 32nd place in the absolute ranking and can thus improve by one place.

Once again, the humanities and social sciences at Saar University were able to improve on the last ranking: they received 22.5 million euros and thus occupy 20th place among 161 ranked universities. In terms of the number of scientists working here, the department even reached 6th place. This success is largely due to the achievements of the Saarbrücken Collaborative Research Center 1102 (“Information Density and Linguistic Coding”) and the Research Training Group 2021 (“European Dream Cultures”).

The engineering sciences were granted funds of 20.3 million euros by the German Research Foundation, of which 13.4 million euros went to computer science alone. This again puts it in sixth place among the universities receiving funding. The entire scientific field, which also includes materials science, materials engineering and systems engineering, is ranked 23rd in absolute terms among 141 universities. In terms of the number of scientists, this area even ranks 8th.

“First-class research is a central foundation of our university, which is why I am very pleased that Saarland University has once again been ranked among the top 40 universities in three of the DFG’s four major scientific fields. This excellent result once again proves that we are one of the strongest research universities in Germany,” says University President Manfred Schmitt.

In the DFG Funding Atlas, all HEIs are ranked both by their overall record and by individual subject areas.

Further information: www.dfg.de/foerderatlas

Originally published at: DFG-Förderatlas 2021: Universität des Saarlandes erneut unter den 40 forschungsstärksten Hochschulen