NRPs are selected through a “bottom-up” approach. Proposals for new research programmes must be submitted to the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA). The SER evaluates the proposed topic and forwards it to the Federal Council which periodically selects and budgets one to three new NRPs and then forwards them the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for implementation.
For each endorsed research programme, Division IV of the research council of the SNSF establishes a steering committee ideally, made up of 6 members, some of whom are from abroad and appoints an implementation officer to be in charge of knowledge transfer.
First, the steering committee creates an implementation plan for the programme defining the focus of the research to be undertaken. After the implementation plan has been approved by the Federal Council, an official call for proposals can be issued.
The proposal phase is usually two-tiered: First, the general public is invited to submit pre-proposals for research projects. The steering committee, in co-operation with numerous experts from abroad, evaluates the five-page pre-proposals. Then, selected applicants are invited to submit detailed research proposals which are then reviewed by international experts, discussed by the steering committee and finally approved or rejected by the research council of the SNSF before the actual research can begin.