Under normal circumstances, the Volkswagen Foundation would like to welcome you at Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover these days. But since nothing is normal at the moment, you will find more information about Germany's largest private science foundation, its funding and the cooperation with Keystone Symposia on this page.

The foundation

Its overall funding volume of around 150 million euros per year makes the Volkswagen Foundation Germany‘s largest private research funding foundation, and indeed one of the country’s largest foundations altogether. Since 1962, the independent Volkswagen Foundation has allocated more than 5.3 billion euros in support of over 33,000 projects. Find more basic information on the foundation here (download PDF).

The new funding strategy

Since 2021 the Volkswagen Foundation is realigning its funding strategy, with the three profile areas "Exploration", "Understanding Research – Evaluation and Science Practice", and "Societal Transformations", as well as the cross-sectional area "Science in Society" (download brochure here).

Dr. Henrike Hartmann, Deputy Secretary General and Head of the Funding at the Volkswagen Foundation, talks about the ideas behind the foundation’s new funding strategy and the cooperation with Keystone Symposia.

The location

Program Director Dr. Selahattin Danisman welcomes all participants to the original location Herrenhausen Palace in Hannover.

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