SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowships and SNSF Eccellenza Grants are aimed at highly qualified young researchers who aspire to a permanent professorship. Eccellenza supports them in achieving their goal by allowing them to lead a generously funded research project with their own team at a Swiss higher education institution.
SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowships are aimed at outstanding researchers in all disciplines who have a doctorate or equivalent qualification and are pursuing an academic career, but who have not yet obtained an assistant professorship. The fellowships replace the SNSF professorships. Researchers can request their own salary at the local rates applicable to assistant professorships as well as project funds of up to 1,000,000 Swiss francs for five years.
SNSF Eccellenza Grants are aimed at researchers in all disciplines who have recently been appointed as tenure-track assistant professors at a Swiss higher education institution. They can apply for project funds of up to 1,500,000 Swiss francs for five years.
Participation requirements
The main participation requirements are listed below. Please consult the Eccellenza Regulations to determine your formal eligibility.
The precise periods are calculated on the basis of the submission deadline for SNSF Eccellenza applications.
SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowships:
- applicants must have a proven record of between three and eight years of scien-tific activity since gaining their doctorate (PhD) or equivalent qualification (the date of the examination or thesis defence is the relevant date).
- for applicants without a doctorate, completion of at least three years of research work as main source of income since obtaining their higher education degree will generally be considered as equivalent to a doctorate.
- applicants with a degree in medicine who have done clinical work for at least three years after completing their studies (specialist certification by the FMH is an advantage) may submit an application up to 12 years after obtaining their medical licence (Staatsexamen or equivalent exam).
- applicants must have conducted postdoctoral research for at least 24 months, 12 months of which abroad, at one or more higher education institutions other than the higher education institution where they did their doctorate.
- applicants must have a proven record of at least two years' research activity at a Swiss higher education institution, or they must be Swiss nationals or have a Swiss higher education degree.
SNSF Eccellenza Grants:
- Researchers applying for SNSF Eccellenza Grants must hold a position as tenure-track assistant professor at a Swiss higher education institution or must have been assured of such a position by the start of the project at the latest.
- The tenure-track assistant professorship at a university or comparable position at a university of applied sciences or a university of teacher education must have been started no more than 18 months before the submission deadline and no later than the start of the project.
How To
Submission of proposals
How to submit a proposal
Applications must be submitted via the mySNF platform.
Documents
Members of the evaluation bodies
The list contains the names of the members of evaluation bodies. For the SNSF, interaction between applicants and members of evaluation bodies over applications is not compatible with academic best practices.
Supplementary measures
FAQ
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Detailed information can be found in the guidelines for submitting a proposal (see section Documents).
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For applicants with a PhD: The date of the oral PhD defense is crucial. The period of eligibility extends from 3 years to 8 years after this date. The Eccellenza submission deadline must fall into this period (Article 4 paragraph 2 of the Eccellenza Regulations).
For applicants with an MD: The date specified on the state diploma is crucial. The period of eligibility extends from 3 years to 12 years after this date. The Eccellenza submission deadline must fall into this period. Please refer to Article 4 paragraph 4 of the Eccellenza Regulations for further details.
The SNSF does not apply any biological age restrictions; however, the applicant's potential for obtaining a permanent position as a professor at a higher education institution forms part of the evaluation criteria (Article 13, paragraph 4 of the Eccellenza Regulations).
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Researchers who submit applications for SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowships must not have held, currently hold, or have been assured of, a temporary or permanent assistant professorship or professorship position, whether in Switzerland or abroad, at the time of the submission deadline or during the evaluation procedure. Positions that do not allow submission are characterized as follows: temporary or permanent member of teaching staff with independent position involving independent research and teaching duties/activities not bound by instructions, right to supervise doctoral theses. For applicants from abroad, the title of the position may differ from the titles used in Switzerland (assistant professor, professor). Please contact the SNSF administrative offices in case of doubt.
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There are no academic or biological age restrictions when applying for an SNSF Eccellenza grant. However, researchers can only apply for an SNSF Eccellenza Grant while holding a position as tenure-track assistant professor at a Swiss higher education institution. The tenure-track assistant professorship must have been started no more than 18 months before the submission deadline and no later than the start of the project (Article 5 of the Eccellenza Regulations).
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The eligibility window for an SNSF Eccellenza Grant cannot be extended. The period of eligibility for an SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship may be extended at the applicant's request. Any weeks during which an applicant's research activity was interrupted, reduced or not increased for an acceptable reason will be considered for the extension. In the event of maternity, the relevant period is extended by 18 months per child born after attaining the doctorate, state examination (medical license) or equivalent qualification. Please find more information in paragraph 1.11 of the General implementation regulations for the Funding Regulations.
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No exceptions are possible. This condition must be met by the submission deadline for Eccellenza. For calculating this period, the date of the examination is decisive.
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In principle, SNSF Eccellenza Professional Fellowships require a level of employment of 100%. A reduction to a minimum of 80% is possible in specific cases such as family obligations (Article 6 paragraph 3 of the Eccellenza Regulations). The minimal percentage that must be devoted to research is variably defined for different situations:
- Eccellenza at a university or ETH: at least 80% research and further scientific education, 20% teaching
- Eccellenza at UAS/UTE: at least 70% research and further scientific education, 30% teaching
- Eccellenza for medical researchers doing clinical work: at least 50% research and training related to the project; up to 50% clinical activities
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You may not apply for an SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship (Article 4 paragraph 1 of the Eccellenza Regulations). However, under certain conditions, you may be eligible to apply for an SNSF Eccellenza Grant: you must satisfy the personal requirements set out in Article 5 of the Eccellenza Regulations, and you may not submit a proposal for a duration of support that overlaps your SNSF Professorship unless it is thematically clearly distinct. Note however that in any case you may only apply for an SNSF Eccellenza Grant once (i.e. no resubmissions are allowed).
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You cannot request an SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship for periods that other SNSF career grants (e.g. Ambizione or PRIMA) have been applied for. Additionally, you may not submit an SNSF Eccellenza application (either Professorial Fellowship or Grant) for a period that Project Funding or Sinergia have been applied for.
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You can continue if its research topic is clearly different from that of the SNSF Eccellenza application (Article 11 paragraph 4 of the Eccellenza regulations).
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Applicants whose request for an SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship has been rejected may submit an application once more. An SNSF Eccellenza Grant may only be requested once (no resubmission is allowed).
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It is generally not possible to extend either an SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship or an SNSF Eccellenza Grant beyond a duration of 5 years (Article 3 paragraph 5 of the Eccellenza Regulations). Exceptions to this rule are specified in paragraph 7.12 of the General Implementation regulations for the Funding Regulations.
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The interdisciplinary character of your proposal will be taken into account during the evaluation. Depending on the choice of research field, your proposal will be evaluated in one of the following three research domains: Humanities and Social Sciences, Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences and Biology and Medicine. If your project is situated at the intersection between these domains, you should go to "Basic data I" on mySNF and choose the research field according to where you want the proposal to be evaluated. The referee will then be from the selected research field, while the co-referees come from the other research fields.
News
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21.08.2019
In November and December 2019, the SNSF will hold information events at several higher education institutions in Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, Winterthur and Zurich.
Save the date: tour of higher education institutions: Details
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07.03.2019
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27.11.2018
With its new Eccellenza funding scheme, the SNSF supports outstanding researchers on the path to a permanent professorship.
51 awards for top early-career researchers: Details
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09.10.2018
In November and December 2018, the SNSF will set up information stalls at several higher education institutions in Bern, Fribourg, St. Gallen, Neuchâtel and Lucerne.
Tour of Swiss universities: Details
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14.09.2018
Whether due to motherhood, military service or an accident - researchers whose career was interrupted for a significant amount of time should not be excluded from funding. For this reason, the SNSF is introducing new rules for extending the time windows in career funding.
Funding despite career interruptions: Details
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15.08.2018
On 19 September 2018, the SNSF will welcome advanced researchers from all over Switzerland to its headquarters in Bern. Registration is open now!
Advanced Researchers’ Day: Details
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05.03.2018
Employment conditions of employees funded under SNSF grants change as of 1 April 2018. The changes mainly concern doctoral students and other employees.
Conditions for employees funded under SNSF grants: Details
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01.03.2018
In February 2018, the SNSF awarded 39 new SNSF professorships to outstanding young researchers. They will take up their posts at six Swiss universities and both federal institutes of technology. In future, the SNSF will provide support to assistant professors under the new career funding scheme SNSF Eccellenza.
39 new SNSF professorships: Details
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07.02.2018
The SNSF presented its funding schemes at various higher education institutions during its "Tour de Suisse" in November 2017. The videos of these presentations are now available in English, French and German on our Youtube channel.
Tour de Suisse videos 2017: Details
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28.09.2017
With the aim of maintaining the competitiveness of Swiss research, the SNSF is launching a new career funding scheme at assistant professor level.
More resources for assistant professors: Details
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