National Research Foundation in partnership with Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), (and the DLR Project Management Agency) will fund up to five South African-German research consortia with a budget of R2 million per project for a period of four years. The projects should investigate on Artificial Intelligence and its transformational potential for society.
Who can apply
The call for proposals is directed at public universities and research institutions and working in the fields of AI, computer science, engineering, social sciences and related fields. Eligible consortia should be composed of both a South African and German university/research institution. A Principal Investigator (PI), who is supposed to be actively involved and serves as main contact point, should be named for NRF and DLR-PT respectively. Thus, a proposal should have at least two PIs: one based in South Africa, and one based in Germany.
Thematic Areas
These research projects are should develop and test innovative solutions for specific problems in at least one of the following areas:
- Health: precision medicine; One Health; health services for remote areas (e.g. telemedicine); pandemic preparedness
- Climate Change: climate resilience in rural communities (community/citizen science)
- Agriculture: adaptation to climate change; robotics
- Energy: efficient ownership of energy models; sustainable (energy efficient) AI
- Finance: in the area of blockchain
- Quantum Technologies
- Machine Learning
Application Process and Deadline
The South African PIs need to submit the full proposal on behalf of the entire consortium through the official joint application system at NRF, available at https://nrfconnect.nrf.ac.za. The deadline for submission is 30 September 2025, 16:00 SAST. The South African PIs must consult their institutions for internal DA closing dates.
Upon being selected for funding, the German PIs will need to submit full applications to DLR-PT. Details on the submission process will follow and will be posted on the NRF website.
Contact
South Africa, NRF
Teuns Phahlamohlaka
+27 12 481 4385
T.Phahlamohlaka@risa.nrf.ac.za
Germany, DLR-PT
Dr Oliver Dilly
+49 228-3821-1470
oliver.dilly@dlr.de
Eva Binkert
+49 228-3821-2149
eva.binkert@dlr.de
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