Start of funding
The project must start no later than 12 months after the date of the approval letter. The start of the grant can be postponed for a further 12 months in response to a written request giving reasons. The starting date must fall on the first day of a month and must normally not be earlier than the date stated in the ruling. The corresponding grantee informs the SNSF about the starting date when requesting the release of funds via mySNF. The SNSF confirms the opening of the grant when the first instalment is transferred.
Release of funds
The corresponding grantee requests the release of the approved funds and the payment of every annual instalment via mySNF. The funds are paid in annual instalments in accordance with the ruling. Prior to the release of funds, you must submit a lay summary in one of the national languages of Switzerland. The lay summary will be published in the SNSF's Research database. Furthermore, all necessary authorisations (for animal testing, tests on humans, etc.) and additional documents must have been submitted via mySNF. These documents can be uploaded under "Request for release of funds" under "Other annexes". In addition, any conditions stated in the ruling must be met. If your grant is not administered by an official grant administration office (see Annex 9 of the General implementation regulations for the Funding Regulations), it should be administered by the grantee or by another office that assumes this fiduciary role. In such cases the SNSF defines the administration, monitoring and due diligence duties with you in a written agreement.
For the following years, you must request the payment of instalments via mySNF. As a rule, the payment can be requested no earlier than 1 month before the start of the next funding year.
Transferring funds to other grantees / project partners
Funds may only be transferred to researchers who are listed as other grantees or project partners in the ruling. Such grantees may open a project-specific account with their institution, if needed (generally with the grant administration office).
Funds transfers to all involved grantees or project partners are exempt from value-added tax. With regard to value-added tax legislation, it is important that the funds are not requested via an invoice, but exclusively via a payment request. The corresponding grantee needs to make the payment.
Employment of staff
Any new appointments, staff turnover, salary adjustments or extensions of the funding period are subject to approval by the SNSF. A corresponding request must be placed with the SNSF in advance via "Messages/Requests" in mySNF. You will find the web-based forms on mySNF if you select the project in question and click on the relevant section. Messages/Requests are the responsibility of the corresponding applicant. However, in order to reduce his/her administration workload, they may be delegated to third parties (see chapter 10). For approved projects, employees can be registered online prior to the release of funds. This process can be simplified by copying data directly from the application or from any previous projects.
Employment relationships must be regulated by the grantees' institution by means of a written contract. The institutions are responsible for compliance with the statutory labour and social insurance provisions. The SNSF specifies binding salary brackets and norms for different staff categories (see Annex 12 of the General implementation regulations for the Funding Regulations). In particular, the provisions concerning the engagement of staff pursuant to Clause 7.1 – 7.6 of the General implementation regulations for the Funding Regulations must be complied with.