Through participant observation of a training seminar for DFG (German Research Council) proposals, this study analyzes a transdisciplinary symptom of German research funding: the proliferation of a praxis of practice in the submission of proposals, whether in training courses of this sort or in the rehearsal of on-site inspections by evaluators. These exercises are preforms of research, the institutionalization of provisional modes of speaking and writing, which presently shape the emergence of scientific projects.
