Recently the phase 2005-2008 of the SCOPES programme which supported about 150 research partnerships between research teams in Eastern Europe and Switzerland was completed. Research results were produced and published, young scientists supported and trained as well as networks created and extended. Positive feedback from a great many beneficiaries demonstrates that the research partnerships are attractive and beneficial for scientists in both Eastern European and Switzerland.
The Member Organisation Forum on Research Careers of the European Science Foundation has published its report "Research Careers in Europe – Landscape and Horizons". Topics and recommendations in this report will be followed in the newly approved ESF MO-Forum on a "European Alliance on Research Career Development".
What goes without saying in other countries is still exceptional in Switzerland: childcare at conferences. The SNSF has decided to set an example in favor of a more family-friendly scientific community: As of 1 July 2010 a financial contribution may be granted towards childcare provided at a conference.
The Marie Heim-Vögtlin Prize ceremony by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will take place on 16 June 2010 at the University of Basel. This in presence of high-level persons as Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, State Secretary for Education and Research, Peter Meier-Abt, Vice rector for Research and Talent promotion University of Basel and Isabel Roditi, President Specialized Committee Individual Funding SNSF.
Based on the study entitled „Gender and Research Funding (GEFO)”, which was commissioned by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), this miscellany unites articles from Switzerland and the European space. They approach research funding and gender (in)equality from various perspectives.
Applications for the Sinergia funding instrument will now only be accepted by the SNSF once per year, on January 15. This takes effect immediately, meaning that the October 2010 deadline has been cancelled and the next, most current deadline is January 15, 2011.
In 2009 the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) approved around 2,900 research proposals with funding totalling 707 million Swiss francs. Last year researchers submitted significantly more applications to the SNSF than in previous years, noticeably sharpening competition for research funding.
At a press conference held today at the headquarters of the Swiss National Science Foundation in Bern, Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter announced the launch of eight new National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs).
The SNSF is awarding the Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) prize annually since 2009. In doing so, the SNSF pays tribute to the outstanding achievements of women scientists during their MHV subsidy. The MHV prize winner 2010 is the astrophysicist, Dr. Isabelle-Cherchneff-Parrinello. She investigates the origin of dust in the early universe studying its chemical synthesis in primitive Supernovae.
In its new multi-year programme, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) aims to make scientific careers in Switzerland more attractive to young scientists. It also wishes to strengthen the competitiveness of Swiss researchers and secure Switzerland’s opportunities for formative action in cross-border research activities.
In conclusion to its eleventh call for proposals, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) awarded 44 SNSF professorships to excellent junior researchers in February 2010. The highly-qualified young researchers will be taking up their new SNSF profes-sorships at nine different Swiss universities and both Federal Institutes of Technology.
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) have signed a Lead Agency Agreement that will come into effect on 1 March 2010. It aims to simplify the evaluation of transnational projects with partners from Luxembourg.
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will launch the “International Exploratory Workshops” in February 2010. This funding instrument will replace the bilateral seminars which allowed researchers based in Switzerland to organise seminars with colleagues from certain partner countries. To move beyond geographical limitations, the SNSF is opening the workshops to participants from all over the world. This completes the SNSF’s portfolio of funding instruments which support international networking.
A panel of international experts has recommended to support 8 out of 26 projects submitted in response to the first call within the ERA-Net EuroNanoMed. Swiss partners are involved in 3 of the supported projects. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will support the Swiss sub-projects with a total amount of CHF 875’000 for 3 years.
2009 was a record year for submissions to the Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) Programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) with a total of 101 new applications. This reflects an obviously growing need for specific funding for women researchers. A total of around six million Swiss francs were awarded for the 41 new MHV subsidies in the course of the selection procedure.
The European Commission publication, “She Figures 2009”, shows increasing growth rates for women, an encouragement to females in the European research arena. However, an equal distribution between genders across all hierarchies is still far from reality – both in Switzerland and the rest of Europe. Women are still noticeably absent at the highest level of the academic career ladder and in research policy positions in particular. The European impetus project, “Gender Toolkit” is designed to steer things in the other direction.
The Swiss Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations gave the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) a clean report on its handling of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) “sesam”, which was discontinued at the end of September 2009. It concluded that there were no grounds for the allegation that the SNSF violated statutory regulations within the framework of the NCCR, as a group of interests from Basel asserted in its complaint filed with the Supervisory Board for Foundations.
Applications for independent project funding submitted to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) as per 1 October were up almost 20% in comparison to last year: A total of CHF 538 million were requested in 1248 applications. While the SNSF is delighted with the high demand, which reflects the dynamism of the Swiss research community, the high number of applications also means more competition among researchers for SNSF funding. The additional evaluation work also poses a major challenge for the National Research Council.
For the 2012/13-2016 funding period the CRUS plans to focus on funding doctoral training and thus permit the universities to assume full responsibility for the doctorate level. With this move in mind, the CRUS has therefore decided to stop the joint CRUS-SNSF ProDoc doctoral programme at the end of 2011. This decision does not however influence grants approved prior to 2012.
The SNSF funds young academics in all disciplines through its Ambizione, SCORE and PROSPER programmes. This year’s call for submissions was concluded in September 2009 with the award of 53 Ambizione and 4 SCORE subsidies. No PROSPER subsidy could be awarded.
In its constant endeavour to supply information targeted to needs, the SNSF now offers a news-service. Researchers and others can build their own personal information menu made up of SNSF scientific and foundation news topics, and then subscribe to it.
For the first time, at the request of the European Commission, an international group of experts has conducted systematic mapping of European research funding that takes the gender angle into consideration. Christian Suter, from the SNSF Research Council, was a member of this expert committee dealing with “Gender and Excellence”.
A parliamentary initiative is demanding a change in the Foreign Nationals Act regarding the admittance of foreign students and graduates. The aim of the initiative is to admit persons with a Swiss university degree from non-EU/EFTA countries to the labour market if their occupation is of high scientific and economic import. The SNSF welcomes this move in its statement.
The European Research Council (ERC) expects to fund some 240 top researchers in its second prestigious ERC Starting Grant competition with an estimated total budget of € 325 million. 17 grantees are carrying out their research project at Swiss host institutions. With this excellent result Switzerland ranks 5th in terms of total number of grantees. The SNSF welcomes this positive results which highlights the international scientific competitiveness of Switzerland.
The Swiss National Science Foundation has approved 28 additional technology transfer projects for National Centres of Competence in Research in the hopes of stimulating the economy both in the short and medium-term. The projects are being funded by the Swiss federal government as part of its measures to stabilize the economy. With this, a total of 25 million CHF will be invested into developing new technologies.
In 2009, new applications for new Marie-Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) subsidies reached a record high of 101. This is 30 more than any previous year. The MHV programme (promotion of women in research) has never received so many responses to a single call for applications.
What is ethical in research that involves humans? And what are the main difficulties in carrying out a clinical trial in Switzerland or sub-Saharan countries? TRREE is a new training resource that helps to answer these questions. The project promotes ethics in medical research and is aimed at researchers and physicians involved in medical research in Africa and Switzerland.
The SNSF awards its newly created Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) prize for the first time. In doing so, it pays tribute to the outstanding achievements of young women researchers during their MHV subsidy. The first prize winner is the oncologist, Dr. Viviane Hess.
With a new call for funding applications last December, the SNSF and the Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation (DDC) started a further phase of the scientific co-operation programme (SCOPES 2009-2012). By the deadline of 15 April 2009, 232 eligible applications were submitted to the SNSF, especially from the West Balkan countries and the South Caucasus. They will be evaluated during the next months. The new projects could start in November.
SystemsX.ch, the Swiss initiative in Systems Biology, supports over the next four years six additional Research Technology and Development projects. These projects will engage 47 research groups from eight Swiss universities and research institutions. The research budget amounts to 27.5 Million Swiss Francs.
In 2008, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) allocated over 660 million Swiss francs in funding to research projects. This includes currently funding for around 5,700 young researchers. Nevertheless, the SNSF fears that in the medium term Switzerland could experience a shortfall of junior academics. As a result, it intends to boost funding to young researchers.
As of this year, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has introduced overhead contributions to subsidise a portion of the indirect research expenses incurred by research institutions for SNSF-approved projects. The SNSF overhead regulations were approved by the Federal Council in March 2009. This now establishes the definitive SNSF regulations for introducing overhead contributions.
On 11 February the Federal Council decided to submit to parliament a proposal for an additional CHF 700 million to stabilise the economy. CHF 10 million of this amount is earmarked for the Swiss National Science Foundation which intends to use the money to boost knowledge and technology transfer through the National Centres of Competence in Research.
The SNSF Guide 2009 brochure provides an overview of the current status of the Swiss National Science Foundation’s 20 ongoing National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs). The 86-page English publication supplies useful information on the topics, projects, participants, results and funding of these research networks.
Switzerland has improved its performance in the field of innovation and is now European leader. While maintaining its traditional strong points, it has gradually caught up with other European countries in areas where it had been lagging, such as education and research funding. This strengthening at high level is the main conclusion drawn by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) from the analysis of the eighth edition of "European Innovation Scoreboard".
54 outline proposals have been submitted in response to the third call for new National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR). An especially high portion of these are devoted to topics in the areas of biology and medicine. The new NCCRs start in spring 2010.
The European Science Foundation (ESF) launches new Eurocores programmes and opens call for the submission of outline proposals. The SNSF is involved in four programmes.
Positive European signal for Swiss research: On 8 October, Dieter Imboden, President of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) was appointed the new president of EuroHORCs (European Heads Of Research Councils). This is the first time that a Swiss representative will preside over this established science policy-making platform which is a key partner to the European Union in European research policy matters.
The European Research Council (ERC) first began funding independent basic research projects at the European level in 2007. Upon invitation by the State Secretariat for Education and Research, the Council is currently convening in Switzerland. Its visit to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) presented the opportunity for a mutual exchange of ideas. The SNSF welcomes the expansion of the competitive platform for cutting edge research and considers the ERC’s new grants to be a valuable complement to its national funding efforts.
In 2007 the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) supported promising research projects and talented young researchers with a total of 531 million Swiss francs. Particularly gratifying for the researchers: despite recent record application figures, the success rate has increased. For project funding of independent research the figure was approx. 50%.