In the humanities and social sciences Freie Universität Berlin, with grants totaling 91.6 million euros during the reviewed funding period, remains by far the nationwide leader. DFG grants for the university increased by 2.3 million euros. In the life sciences, researchers at Freie Universität won 89.8 million euros, bringing the university to seventh place. In the natural sciences Freie Universität won 41.7 million euros, ranking the university at 14. In the field of physics, the scientists won 15.8 million euros, the seventh most nationwide, and in mathematics, 8.8 million euros, which is the eighth most nationwide.

In rankings of universities selected most frequently by scholars of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) for a research stay in the humanities and social sciences, Freie Universität ranked first nationwide. The same applies for scholars supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the humanities and social sciences. Among scholars who won grants from the European Research Council (ERC) in the humanities and social sciences, Freie Universität ranked ninth among German universities and is the most successful university in Berlin. With regard to the number of researchers already based at the university who won ERC grants in the humanities and social sciences, the university ranked sixth nationwide. In the life sciences, Freie Universität was also among the most frequently selected universities for AvH grants (rank 6), DAAD grants (rank 4), and ERC grants (rank 7). In the natural sciences, Freie Universität was the seventh most frequently selected university for AvH grants and for DAAD grants second only to RWTH Aachen.

Every three years since 1997 the DFG, the largest research funding organization in Germany, has been publishing key figures on publicly funded research. According to the DFG, for the latest edition the figures and data, as well as the methodology used, were expanded. Additional topics and factors were also taken into consideration.