General information

The Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation provides funds for projects carried out in cooperation between Polish and German institutions/organisations and participates substantively or organisationally in selected undertakings.

General information

When deciding on project support, the FWPN Management Board takes into account general substantive evaluation criteria arising from the statute and mission of FWPN:

· Does the project contribute to improving the quality of Polish-German relations (does it address important, current topics and problems, does it have an impact on the perception of Poland in Germany or Germany in Poland)?

· Does the project reduce deficits in Polish-German relations (does it concern areas / topics / communities not previously connected / not cooperating)?

· Is the subject matter of the project important for Poland and Germany, also in the European context (does it concern important European, national, regional issues)?

Financing principles

The maximum grant amount is PLN 100,000 / EUR 23,500, and the share of the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation grant may constitute:

· max. 50% of the total project costs above PLN 30,000, which means that the remaining 50% must come from own funds or third-party funds

· max. 80% of the total project costs up to PLN 30,000.

The Foundation reserves the right to grant registered VAT payers grants in net amounts. In the case of grant payments in instalments, the Grant Recipient may receive a maximum of 50% of the granted amount for projects above PLN 30,000 and 80% for projects up to PLN 30,000 before the final settlement. The remaining 50% or 20% of the grant may be transferred to the Grant Recipient upon submission of a correct final project settlement.

Implementation deadlines and additional conditions

Projects should take place in accordance with the schedule provided in the application, but must be completed no later than 31 December of the year for which the grant was awarded, and their implementation should not, as a rule, exceed 12 months. These deadlines do not apply to projects submitted in competitions.

· In the case of international projects, applicants must demonstrate that they have financial resources from third countries participating in the project, unless the FWPN Management Board decides otherwise.

· When deciding on project support, FWPN takes into account whether financing for the entire cost of the undertaking is secured.

· The Foundation does not accept for reconsideration applications on which the Management Board has already made a decision.

· FWPN grants funding with preference for projects that correspond to the designated priorities.

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FWPN project support principles

Dominika Kozłowska

Board Member

Biography

President of the Znak Group, editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine “Znak”, PhD in humanities (philosophy), editor, essayist and cultural manager. Associated with Znak since 2006. Board member since 2017 and President of the Board since 2021.

The Znak Group is today the largest and oldest publishing house in Poland, encompassing several publishers, online bookstores including Woblink offering digital books, and the social media platform Lubimyczytać.pl.

She sits on the programme council of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, among others, and is a member of the Christian-Jewish Association “Przymierze” (Covenant). In previous years she was a member of the Equal Treatment Council established by the Mayor of Kraków, the Congress of Women, and the Józef Tischner Institute of Thought, where she was editor-in-chief of the English-language journal “Thinking in Values”.

Cornelius Ochmann

Director, Board Member

Biography

Managing Director, specialist in European policy, EU–Russia relations, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. Studied at the universities of Mainz and Wrocław. Held research fellowships in Moscow and Jerusalem (Hebrew University).

Worked at the Bertelsmann Foundation from 1994 to 2013, where he was responsible, among other things, for the International Bertelsmann Forum (IBF) project. Cornelius Ochmann collaborated with the World Bank and European institutions on relations with Eastern European countries.

He has published in Poland in “Nowa Europa Wschodnia” and is a board member of “New Eastern Europe”.

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Piotr M. Majewski

Co-Chairman of the Board

Biography

Historian, professor at the University of Warsaw and Chairman of the Academic Council for History at the university. His interests include the history of Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Czech-German relations in the 19th and 20th centuries and the political history of the Czech lands from 1918 to 1948. He has also worked on the foreign policy of the People’s Republic of Poland and forced population migrations after the Second World War.

From 2009 to 2017 he served as Deputy Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, co-authored the programme concept and the permanent exhibition scenario. He is a member of the editorial board of “Przegląd Historyczny” and serves on the academic boards of “Český časopis historický”, “Slovanský přehled” and “Moderní dějiny”, as well as on the academic council of the Polish Diplomatic Documents series.

He has published in “Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Newsweek”, “Polityka”, “Przegląd Polityczny” and “Tygodnik Powszechny”, among others. His major publications include: “Niemcy sudeccy 1848–1948: Historia pewnego nacjonalizmu” (Sudeten Germans 1848–1948: History of a Nationalism, 2007; Czech edition 2014), “Zmarnowana szansa?” (A Missed Opportunity? Possibilities for the Defence of Czechoslovakia in Autumn 1938, 2016; Czech edition 2018), “Kiedy wybuchnie wojna? 1938” (When Will War Break Out? 1938. A Study of the Crisis, 2019; Czech edition 2022; English and Ukrainian editions in preparation), and “Niech sobie nie myślą, że jesteśmy kolaborantami” (Let Them Not Think We Are Collaborators. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 1939–1945, 2021; Czech edition in preparation).

Markus Meckel

Co-Chairman of the Foundation Council

Biography

Former Foreign Minister of the GDR, pastor. He serves as Chairman of the Federal Council of the Foundation for Research into the SED Dictatorship, whose establishment he initiated. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. From 12 October 2013 to 22 September 2016 he served as President of the German War Graves Commission. He works on European foreign policy and advocates for the support of democracy.

He studied theology in Naumburg and Berlin. From the 1970s he was involved in political opposition activities in the former GDR. In 1989 he co-founded, with Martin Gutzeit, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the GDR. In 1990 he served as acting chairman of the eastern SPD. After the free elections in 1990 he was a member of the GDR People’s Chamber and Foreign Minister of the GDR.

Member of the Bundestag from 1990 to 2009, and Chairman of the German-Polish Parliamentary Group from 1994 to 2009. He served as Deputy Foreign Policy Spokesperson of the SPD parliamentary group. From 1998 to 2006 he was Chairman of the German Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and from 2000 to 2002 Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Maciej Górny

Council Member

Biography

Historian, professor and deputy director for research at the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His interests include the history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries and the history of science. He has written about Marxist-Leninist historiographies of the region after 1945, about the involvement of scholars in politics and politics in scholarship, as well as about memory.

From 2006 to 2010 he worked at the Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin. He is a member of the editorial boards of “Střed/Centre. Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies of Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, “Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung”, “Česko-Slovenská Historická Ročenka” and “Soudobé Dějiny / Czech Journal of Contemporary History”, and a member of the academic council of “Acta Poloniae Historica”.

As a science communicator he appears in radio programmes and publishes in socio-cultural press outlets such as “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, “Gazeta Wyborcza” and “Polityka”. He has devoted two books to science communication: “Polska bez cudów. Historia dla dorosłych” (Poland Without Miracles. History for Adults, 2021, awarded the Polityka Prize in 2022) and “Historia głupich idei. Duch narodu w świątyni nauki” (A History of Stupid Ideas. The Spirit of the Nation in the Temple of Science, 2022).

His major publications include “Przede wszystkim ma być naród. Marksistowskie historiografie w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej” (The Nation Above All. Marxist Historiographies in Central and Eastern Europe, 2007; German edition 2011, English 2013, Czech 2024) and “Wielka Wojna profesorów. Nauki o człowieku (1912–1923)” (The Great War of the Professors. Human Sciences, 1912–1923, 2014; English edition 2019, Russian 2021). Together with Włodzimierz Borodziej he published a history of the “long” First World War in Central and Eastern Europe (“Nasza wojna”, Our War, vols I–II, Warsaw 2014–18 and 2021; German edition 2018, English 2021 and 2023). Most recently he published “Drawing Fatherlands: Geographers and Borders in Inter-War Europe” (2022).

Current scholarships and competitions

Below we present current calls for scholarships and competitions organised by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.

Current scholarships and competitions

Below we present current calls for scholarships and competitions organised by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.

There are currently no scholarship or competition calls organised by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.

How to obtain a grant?

Below we present instructions for submitting a grant application. The application should be completed and submitted using the Online Application Processing System (ISOW).

Submit application via ISOW

How to obtain a grant?

Below we present instructions for submitting a grant application. The application should be completed and submitted using the Online Application Processing System (ISOW).

Submit application via ISOW

Submitting an application via ISOW

Registration

Submit an application in ISOW – create an account or log in to an existing one.

Read the rules

Read the rules for supporting projects by the Foundation.

Submit application

Create a new application and select the appropriate project type.

Edit application

Save changes regularly; you have 30 days from creation to edit the application.

Send application

After completing all fields, send the application for review.

Submit application via ISOW

Help with submitting an application

In case of technical problems related to the malfunctioning of ISOW, please send a report to the email address indicated below, containing:

– the applicant's name;

– first name, surname, phone number and email address of the contact person;

– a brief description of the problem.

isow@fwpn.org.pl

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How to obtain a grant

What we support?

As the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation (FWPN), we provide financial support for projects carried out in cooperation between Polish and German institutions or organisations and participate substantively or organisationally in selected undertakings.

What we support?

Project assessment criteria and priority areas

The Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation supports projects that serve the development of Polish-German relations and contribute to deepening mutual understanding between the citizens of both countries.

When assessing applications, we consider: the substantive quality of the project, its innovativeness, the scope of its impact, and the sustainability of its results. We particularly value projects engaging the younger generation and using modern forms of communication.

Projects should fall within one of the Foundation’s five priority areas, which reflect the most important dimensions of Polish-German cooperation.

We encourage you to familiarise yourself with the priority areas and to align your project with one of them.

Society, economy, environment

Projects addressing current issues, significant problems related to the functioning of society, the economy and environmental protection in Poland, Germany, the EU and in selected countries or regions. Projects influencing the development of civil society, including projects carried out within the framework of partnership cooperation between local governments.

When preparing a grant application, please pay particular attention to the following:

Does the project address current/important challenges facing both societies in the social and/or economic sphere (e.g. Poland’s accession to the eurozone, Eastern Partnership, demographic challenges, environmental protection)?
In the case of local governments: to what extent will the project improve the quality of bilateral cooperation between both partners, does it have an impact on this cooperation?
Does the project contribute to activating and developing civil society in both countries? Does it develop its institutions?
Will the effects of the project be sustainable/long-term?
In the case of projects aimed at expert circles: to what extent does the project creatively utilise the existing state of knowledge and know-how? Does it contribute to the development of the field it concerns?
To what extent does the project introduce new partners, new institutions active in the given area, to the Polish-German and European debate?
To what extent does the project contribute to the professionalisation/raising of qualifications of persons involved in the given field/area?
To what extent/in what form will the project results be made available to wider audiences/potentially interested experts/specialists? What is the project’s promotion concept – are media, including social media, informal networks etc., used?

Education

Projects enhancing the quality of bilateral or multilateral relations through deepening knowledge on selected topics (including specialist and historical topics). Improving language skills and knowledge about the neighbouring country.

When preparing a grant application, please pay particular attention to the following:

Does the project disseminate knowledge about the neighbouring country focused on important selected topics, does it deepen knowledge on issues of interest to both sides?
Does the project programme meet modern educational standards? (active and creative participation of project recipients)
Does the project create the possibility of reusing results, expanding the target group?
Is the project innovative? (e.g. unconventional ideas for reaching target groups, modern teaching aids)
In the case of projects related to teaching Polish and/or German: does the project stimulate interest in learning Polish and/or German and popularise Polish and/or German through the use of modern and attractive teaching methods? Does the project influence the development of methods and curricula for teaching Polish and/or German as a foreign language and teaching aids?
In the case of historical projects: does the project address historical topics hitherto insufficiently present in educational activities, does it reach previously underrepresented groups?
In professional and specialist training: does the programme serve the further education of professional groups from related industries, does it provide impulses for applying acquired skills in practice?
Does the programme involve cooperation between institutions with similar activity profiles and serve to build their competences? Cooperation with third countries and the transfer of Polish-German experiences is preferred.
Does the programme facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience and is it directed in particular at representatives of local governments, third-sector employees, multipliers, teachers, social education partners, other professional groups that are currently important in the Polish-German context?
Does the project enable the learning and transfer of innovative model solutions, does it facilitate the integration of professional groups in the labour market of the other country?

Media, public opinion

Projects influencing the perception of Poland in Germany and Germany in Poland, and the understanding of processes taking place in Europe and the world. Projects improving the quality of media relations. Public opinion research.

When preparing a grant application, please pay particular attention to the following:

To what extent is the project’s implementation related to the FWPN’s mission? To what extent does the project fill deficits, eliminate possible asymmetries in Polish-German relations? In the case of ‘bilateralism +’ projects, how is Polish-German cooperation utilised?
To what extent does the project influence the perception of Poland in Germany, Germany in Poland, both countries as partners in Europe and the world?
Does the project contribute to the understanding by the public opinion of both countries of social and political processes taking place in Poland, Germany and Europe?
Does the project raise the qualifications of journalists in both countries? Does it contribute to the professionalisation of the journalistic community? Can the level of public debate rise as a result of the project – in the context of the FWPN’s mission? Does the project provide tools for in-depth analysis of the social space?
To what extent does the project respond to the needs and challenges facing the journalistic community – in the context of the FWPN’s mission?
To what extent does the project utilise the social potential of media as participants, moderators and animators of social discourse, important for the functioning of civil society?
To what extent does the project engage new participants, increase the quantitative and qualitative potential of journalists as potential multipliers of the FWPN’s mission?
To what extent does the project have a chance of being present in various types of media (press, radio, television, internet: portals, social media, blogs, national and regional media)? To what extent will its media presence contribute to the realisation of the FWPN’s statutory goals?
What media does the project’s target group represent? Does it utilise the potential of various types of media? Does it cover the broadest possible spectrum (regional and supra-regional media, print media, radio, television, as well as new media, various political options)?
To what extent does the project utilise the possibilities of new media (e.g. internet portals)?
To what extent will the project’s results be beneficial in the future, to what extent is there a chance to expand the project to other FWPN priorities? What is the synergistic potential of the project in combination with other FWPN or partner projects?

Science

Projects deepening knowledge of Polish-German relations and processes taking place in Europe, carried out by academic communities. The FWPN does not fund strictly research projects. It supports projects serving the popularisation of broadly understood science, and especially the popularisation of examples of Polish-German cooperation in this field, including research results (e.g. in the form of conferences, seminars presenting research results, with emphasis on conferences and seminars aimed at a broad audience, not only at a narrow circle of specialists in a given field). The FWPN does not fund strictly academic publications addressed to a narrow audience, including doctoral and habilitation theses, but popular science publications aimed at a broad audience.

The following additional factors influence the assessment of projects in the field of science:

substantive value of the project (topic, quality of implementation plans)
originality/innovativeness of the project, including activating new communities for joint Polish-German projects, use of new technologies
popularisation of the most outstanding achievements of Polish or German science in the neighbouring country
effectiveness and long-term nature of the undertaken activities (to what extent can the project implementation influence the perception of Poland/Germany, to what extent does the project promote Poland/Germany), significance of the project for the target group
target group, especially projects going beyond narrow specialist circles, projects addressed to young researchers, students

Culture

Projects influencing the understanding of the neighbouring country’s culture. Projects improving the quality of cultural activities and increasing society’s participation in culture.

The following factors influence the substantive assessment of projects in the field of culture:

In the case of artistic event projects:

artistic value of the project (participation of outstanding artists and authorities or talented young artists – if possible, please provide an independent opinion on the artistic value of the undertaking),
originality/innovativeness of the project, including activating new communities for joint Polish-German projects, use of new technologies
popularisation of the most outstanding achievements of Polish or German culture in the neighbouring country,
project location – does the project activate ‘non-obvious places’
projects carried out outside cultural centres with easier access to Polish/German culture,
effectiveness and long-term nature of the undertaken activities (to what extent can the project implementation influence the perception of Poland/Germany, to what extent does the artistic event promote Poland/Germany through culture), (key) significance of the project for the target group.

In the case of cultural education projects:

quality of the substantive programme meeting modern educational standards,
promoting an effective model of active participation in culture, including through the use of new technologies,
promoting attitudes based on awareness of one’s own cultural identity, respect and acceptance for otherness and different views,
effectiveness and long-term nature of the undertaken activities (to what extent will the proposed event bring lasting change in Polish-German relations?)
originality of the project concept (innovativeness of the programme),
use of working methods inspiring creative behaviour, encouraging active participation in activities and their co-creation, enabling the acquisition of new skills; use of innovative forms of work with participants in the educational process, including installations, actions, happenings, interactive creative workshops, creative games,
popularisation of the results of activities and project documentation in traditional or multimedia publication form, with the right to further use ensured, which allows the use of project results even after its completion; in the case of publishing projects, effectiveness of reaching the target audience (distribution),
professionalism and experience of the persons involved in the project.

Translations

Supporting translations of high-quality German literature into Polish and Polish literature into German. The Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation offers the possibility of submitting applications for the publication of translations of high-quality German literature into Polish and Polish literature into German.

Who can submit applications?
Polish and German publishers of fiction, non-fiction (including popular science literature).
What do we fund?
Translation costs into Polish or German up to 100% OR book printing costs.
Requirement for application: The publisher has signed a licence agreement with the rights holder and a contract with the translator. We do not fund self-publishing.
How to apply?
Through the FWPN online system: https://fwpn.org.pl/en/grants/how-to-obtain-a-grant/

Note: general FWPN application rules apply.
For information on translation projects, contact Joanna Czudec (joanna.czudec@sdpz.org, +48 22 338 62 65).
We also draw attention to other literary translation support programmes of the Goethe-Institut and the Book Institute.

General information

General information