The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation promotes academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from abroad and from Germany. To this end, it grants more than 800 research fellowships and research awards annually. These allow scientists and scholars from all over the world to come to Germany to work on a research project they have chosen themselves together with a host and collaborative partner.

Scientists or scholars from Germany can also profit from the support and carry out a research project abroad as a guest of one of well over 25,000 Humboldt Foundation alumni from 135 countries - the Humboldtians.