*ECR = Early Career Researcher

I am definitely not a pro on the subject of academic career given that I stopped after the PhD. However, I can orientate you towards a few key websites where to find more detailed information about funding in Switzerland :) 🇨🇭

Let’s talk about grant offices, the Euresearch service, the SNF, and the myScience website!👇

 

In most (probably each?) Swiss universities there is a grant office.

What is a grant office?

It’s a service of the university to inform its researchers about grant opportunities and to help them write grant applications, especially for all the administrative and procedural side of the application. For example, at the University of Fribourg, this is the Research Promotion Service.

Such grant office is therefore highly important for all researchers: from finishing-PhD-students who are applying to postdocs grants, to well-established PIs.

 

Now to get an idea of which grant one can apply through the difference phases of an academic career in Switzerland, I recommend this nice visual from the Euresearch team:

On this graph one can see both the national grants from the SNF (in gray), and the European grants (in red). If you’re a PhD student close to finishing, you can see that the SNF has Postdoc Mobility grants, or that you could apply for a Marie-Curie European fellowship.

 

What is Euresearch?

Euresearch is the “Swiss guide to European research & innovation.”

Here their website.

“Euresearch is a non-profit association with offices in all the Swiss regions and a Network Office in Bern. It is supported by the Swiss federal government to inform, advise and connect researchers based in or coming to Switzerland.

The objectives of the Euresearch Network are:

– to facilitate a high Swiss participation in the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation in accordance with the national Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) policy, either directly via the Euresearch Network or indirectly via intermediaries

– to ensure excellent proposals by focusing on the researchers with the highest potential”

Euresearch is also organizing many events throughout Switzerland and even has a YouTube channel posting webinars about grant application processes and much more. đź‘Ť

 

What is the SNF?

Oh wait, if you’re already in Switzerland you probably know what the SNF is, no need introduction here ;)

Just one point I would like to highlight: on their website they have a nice “Selection guide for funding schemes” tool to help one find which grants they are eligible to, depending on the career status, discipline, and type of desired funding. Try it and learn about the many funding schemes the SNF has!

 

One more interesting website to explore about research in Switzerland is myScience.ch.

“myScience® is a career and information portal for scientists, specialists and engineers in Switzerland.

myScience.ch gives an overview of science and research in Switzerland. myScience.ch is intended for researchers, scientists, engineers, academics, and everyone interested in science. myScience.ch provides scientific news and events, as well as practical information on employment, funding and daily life in Switzerland, science jobs and continuing education portals.”

There are indeed many things to explore on this website, starting from its job portal and its info about both academic and non-academic careers. In particular, they have info on funding opportunities in Switzerland including from (private?) foundations.

👉 From the myScience team, one could also get help for CV writing, as well as career counseling (not free).

 

Want more?

 

Thanks for reading today’s article! :)

I hope it helps you in your career considerations. For more, make sure to look at all my other #career posts with many being specific for Switzerland!

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