Collaborative Research Centres, or CRC, are long-term university-based research institutions established for up to 12 years in which researchers work together within a multidisciplinary research programme.

CRC/Transregio (TRR) is proposed and carried out jointly by two or three universities. It allows close cooperation between these institutions and the researchers based there, including the shared use of resources.

DFG Research Unit, or FOR, is an interdisciplinary association of several scientists who collaborate closely on specific medium-term research projects for six years.

Einstein Research Units are designed to facilitate long-term research collaborations in strategically important research fields of the Berlin University Alliance.

Focus Areas form academic and scientific networks and working platforms for interdisciplinary collaborative research. They are platforms for discussing innovative research topics, and for the design and development of new projects from proposal to maturity.

ERC Synergy projects are scientific initiatives conducted by groups of two to four principal investigators to jointly address ambitious research problems and enable substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, fostering unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines.