The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) officially completed the reform programme "SNF Futuro" in December 2010 and initiated the relevant measures. Most of the reforms in the package are now implemented. They include changes to application management, the evaluation process and research policy. The positive impacts of these changes are already being felt. The SNSF plans to conduct a full evaluation of its services in 2012.
The reform programme "SNF futuro" was launched by the SNSF in 2006 with the aim of revamping its organisation and processes so that it is fit to master the upcoming challenges and rapidly increasing volumes in research funding. Further objectives included making processes more transparent for clients, enhancing cross-sectoral tasks in the National Research Council of the SNSF and harmonising processes between different divisions of the administrative offices. Given that political bodies are expected to transfer additional tasks to the SNSF in the future, this reform programme was also about strengthening the SNSF’s role and visibility in research policy-making.
The measures implemented under "SNF futuro" by the end of 2010 included:
- setup of research commissions for "Interdisciplinary Research" (formerly the KID Commission), "Individual Funding" und "International Co-operation", which will serve as specialised and evaluation bodies.
- systematic use of assessment panels for specific programmes and evaluation commissions in individual funding.
- professionalised support in the search for external experts
- identical assessment scales for applications in all divisions and specialised committees
- enhanced electronic support for application management and the evaluation procedure (in particular via the web platform mySNF)
- enhanced role and visibility of the SNSF via measures such as: formation of a steering group for communication composed of members of the Foundation Council, the Research Council and the administrative offices; more room for discussions on science policy in the Presiding Board of the Research Council; contributions by the specialised committees to the science policy discussions held by the Presiding Board of the Research Council.
The dynamic generated by "SNF futuro" has shown that an isolated assessment of the impacts of the reform programme or the individual measures cannot lead to meaningful insights. For this reason, the SNSF has decided to evaluate its services in the areas of "Evaluation procedures" and "Operational support by the administrative offices" comprehensively in 2012.