Update: GWK Approves Continued Funding for GHGA with significant budget reductions

Timeline of GHGA funding. From GHGAs start in 2020, the review process in 2024/25, the positive funding recommendation in April 2025 to the now positive GWK funding decision and the start of GHGA 2 in October 2025.

We are pleased to announce that the Joint Science Conference (GWK)  has decided to continue funding GHGA, along with all nine consortia from the first NFDI funding round.

This decision marks a significant milestone—not just for GHGA, but for the broader goal of establishing a long-term National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI)  in Germany.

With this continued support, GHGA will further develop its infrastructure for the secure, FAIR, and responsible sharing of sensitive human omics data—empowering researchers and protecting individual privacy.

However, all nine consortia, including GHGA, will need to cope with a considerable reduction (30%) in funding compared to the budgets included in the initial proposals. To compensate for this, the GHGA leadership has already developed a plan on how to focus the proposal in a way that the main goals outlined in the proposal can still be achieved - albeit in a delayed or reduced form. In addition, for activities that cannot be supported on the reduced budget, alternative funding models will be seeked. An updated work program is currently being prepared which will include these consolidation measures and an updated roadmap of GHGA.

Nevertheless the decision is seen as a positive reinforcement of the previous achievements of GHGA and a heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone involved in the application and review process for their dedication and support!