For the first time, Switzerland will be the venue of a science olympiad taking place between 14 and 21 July 2013: the best students from 62 countries will participate in the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Berne. A Swiss team will also be competing with the 240 young scientists from around the world.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) have issued a joint call for proposals for the thematic research modules "Sustainable management of ecosystems for the provision of ecosystem services" and "Innovation in agricultural and food systems for food security".
The major national research funding and performing organisations in Europe, members of the European umbrella organisation Science Europe, have agreed on a common set of principles that should guide the transition to Open Access to research publications.
The annual event of SwissCore and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) was held for the 13th time on 23 April in Brussels. Among those present were key actors of the Swiss and European research scenes. The event focused on scientific talent, exchanges with the European Commission and insights into Belgian cooperation programmes.
The SCOPES programme, which is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), boosts scientific co-operation with Eastern Europe. Currently, a first call is open for the following funding schemes: Conference Grants, Joint Research Projects, Preparatory Grants and Valorisation Grants.
Since 2009, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been represented in the ESF Materials Science and Engineering Expert Committee (MatSEEC). This mandate has now been extended for another two years.
The research co-operation with Eastern Europe is being continued. Last year, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) signed an agreement to conduct SCOPES 2013-2016 with a budget of CHF 16 million.
Over thirty foreign science attachés met their Swiss counterparts at a meeting in Berne. The SNSF, the CTI, the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and the SERI discussed key topics of the next four years at the event. Federal Councillor Schneider-Ammann emphasised that everyone will have to work hard to maintain Switzerland’s leading position in the future.
This summer, the Swiss parliament will discuss the renewal of Switzerland's association to the European research and innovation framework programme. The Federal Council approved the relevant Dispatch on 27 February 2013. In a joint statement with its ERI partners, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) supports the participation in the forthcoming Framework Programme "Horizon 2020", which is key to the international success of Switzerland as a centre of research and innovation.
The Swss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has become a member of ApPEC, which aims to foster links between European organisations for the benefit of astroparticle physics and to participate in devising a strategy in this area. The Swiss community submitted a resolution to the SNSF requesting it to become a member of the organisation.
The new edition of the 6-page "SNSFinfo print" with the latest institutional information of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been published. The main topic of the October edition is "Mobility fellowships and grants for doctoral students: Innovations in 2013".
On 26 September 2012, the Swiss Science Briefing, which is organised annually and jointly by SwissCore and the Mission of Switzerland to the EU, took place in Brussels. It is an important platform for presenting specific aspects of the Swiss research landscape to the European science partners. Three speakers from Switzerland and the European Commission presented their views on the topic of "International Cooperation in Science and Technology".
For the Bulgarian-Swiss Research Programme (BSRP), 47 applications were submitted to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) by 15 March 2012. A total amount of CHF 10.9 million was requested. Thirteen applications were approved and awarded grants worth CHF 4.2 million in total. The success rate of the submitted projects was 27.6%.
On 29 August 2012, an information event will take place on results-oriented reporting within the scope of the Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development (R4D programme). The event is aimed at researchers who wish to submit an application for the "Social conflicts" module or for the thematically open module of the R4D programme. Registrations are accepted until 27 August 2012.
The Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries (KFPE) has revised the well-known eleven principles for research in partnerships. The KFPE’s new guide is intended for partnership arrangements striving for innovative research and a fruitful learning culture, both based on mutual trust and responsibility.
Within the scope of the Romanian-Swiss Research Programme, 65 applications were submitted to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) by 31 January 2012. A total amount of CHF 27.3 million was requested. Twenty-six applications were approved and awarded grants worth CHF 10.4 million in total. The success rate of the submitted projects was 40%.
The SNSF is pleased with the development of the lead agency procedure, which was introduced in 2008. Every semester, around 50 applications involving Swiss researchers were submitted to either the SNSF or one of its three partner organisations abroad. The numbers show that the procedure has firmly stablished itself.
The new edition of the 6-page "SNSFinfo print" with the latest institutional information of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been published. The June edition is devoted to the topic "Project funding: success rate is stable at around 40%".
The International Exploratory Workshops allow for researchers working in Switzerland to organize workshops with partners from abroad. The aim of this funding instrument, which is open to all fields of research, is to allow researchers working on a similar question to meet and advance their knowledge on the issue.
Each year, Chist-ERA and the SNSF support two different emerging communities working on high-potential ICST topics in Europe. This year, researchers interested in "intelligent user interfaces" and "user-driven, context- and content-aware communication networks" are invited to share their views on upcoming trends and help define the upcoming call.
Important international conferences were held in Aarhus and Washington this spring: The participants of Excellence 2012 adopted the Aarhus Declaration on excellence in European research. And at the Global Summit on Merit Review, fifty heads of research councils released a set of common principles and established a Global Research Council.
In 2011, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) invested CHF 713 million in basic science, 1.8% less than in the record year 2010 (CHF 726 million). As in previous years, the SNSF was forced to reject many promis-ing projects.
The new edition of the 6-page "SNSFinfo print" with the latest institutional information of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been published. The March edition is devoted to the topic “Encouraging the mobility and early initiative of young researchers”.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) are jointly launching the "Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development" (r4d.ch programme) with an initial call for proposals. A total budget of 97.6 million Swiss francs is available for the whole duration of the programme from 2012 to 2022.
Researchers interested in the "Bulgarian-Swiss Research Programme 2011-2016" are now able to link up via a social network. By creating a new group on XING, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) offers support to researchers who are looking to find suitable partners in Bulgaria or Switzerland respectively.
On 6 and 7 February 2012 a Partnering Event will be organised in Seoul/Korea to launch the KORANET Joint Call on Green Technologies. The three main sub-topics of the Call (proposal submission from 6 February to 6 April 2012) will be: Reduction of carbon footprint - Technologies for a sustainable development - Renewable energies and energy efficiency.
Researchers interested in the Romanian Swiss Research Programme 2011-2016 are now able to link up via a social network. By creating a new group on XING, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) offers support to researchers who are looking to find suitable partners in Romania or Switzerland respectively.
The new edition of the 6-page "SNSFinfo print" with the latest institutional information of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been published. The October edition is devoted to the topic "Enlargement contribution: co-operation with researchers from Bulgaria and Romania".
The SDC and the SNSF are continuing their longstanding co-operation in research funding in the framework of the Swiss enlargement contribution: the "Romanian-Swiss Research Programme" was launched at the end of September and is soon to be followed by the "Bulgarian-Swiss Research Programme".
SNSFinfo print No 14: Editorial
SNSFinfo print no 14: "In Focus"
Last December, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) issued a second call for proposals in the framework of SCOPES, the ongoing Eastern Europe programme 2009-2012. The available funds were sufficient for approval of 28 of the 85 applications submitted. The co-operation networks, which stretch from the Western Balkans to Central Asia and from Ukraine to Moldova, are creating a lot of interest among researchers in both Eastern Europe and Switzerland.
High level speakers will discuss this topic at our Swiss Science Briefing 2011 taking place on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 from 12:00 – 14:30 at the Mission of Switzerland to the European Union.
The Romanian-Swiss Research Programme 2011-2016 is about to be launched in Romania. Funded through the Swiss contribution to the EU enlargement, this programme will finance three-year Joint Research Projects (JRP) between Swiss and Romanian researchers. The total budget available for the JRPs is CHF 10.35 mio (85% from the Swiss contribution, 15% from the Romanian contribution).
From 18 - 24 July 2011, six prizewinners from this year's national competition run by Swiss Youth in Science (SJf) presented their research work at Expo-Sciences International (ESI) in Bratislava, Slowakia. Two of the three projects received special recognition.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss National Sci-ence Foundation (SNSF) have jointly created a fund for research on global issues in and with developing and emerging countries. The Fund has been endowed with some CHF 100 million for its first eight years.
The ERA-NET programme "CHIST-ERA" (Challenges in Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies) is preparing the opening of its second call for the Fall 2011. Launched in January 2010, the programme involves agencies, including the SNSF, from eleven European countries. Two new and orthogonal topics will be addressed in this second call: 1. From Data to New Knowledge; 2. Green ICT, towards Zero Power ICT. Within these two domains, subtopics of current interest to be supported by the call will be identified during a strategic conference organized in Cork, Ireland, on 5-6 September 2011.
The new edition of the 6-page "SNSFinfo print" with the latest institutional information of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been published. The June edition is devoted to the categorisation of scientific research, especially to “use-inspired basic research”.
In 2010, researchers submitted substantially more projects to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) than in previous years. A steep increase of 17% compared to 2009 means that competition for research funding has become very intense. With overall funding of 726 million Swiss francs, the SNSF supported more projects than ever before (+2.7 % compared to the previous year).
Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) are a research instrument of the European Union that comprises voluntary research partnerships between countries. Its aim is to tackle significant societal challenges through a combination of different national research programmes. A JPI on "Neurodegenerative Diseases" has been running with Swiss participation since 2008. An initial public call for proposals for this initiative is to be launched in May 2011.