The National Research Council reviews thousands of applications submitted to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) each year and decides whether and to what extent they merit funding. The Council is composed of researchers, most of whom are based at Swiss universities. Membership is limited to 100 individuals across four divisions:
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences
- Biology and Medicine
- Programmes
There are also three specialised committees:
- International Co-operation
- Careers
- Interdisciplinary Research
In addition, specialised commissions are established for individual topics and tasks.
The Presiding Board is composed of the President of the Research Council and the presidents of the divisions and the specialised committees. It supervises and coordinates the work of the Research Council and drafts science policy recommendations for submission to the Foundation Council. In this context, it focuses mainly on funding policy, the elaboration of funding schemes, evaluation methods and the distribution of funds across the individual disciplines.