Project funding: number of applications on the rise again
In the winter semester of 2014, the SNSF received more project funding applications than in the same semester last year: by 1 October, researchers had submitted 1,086 applications requesting funding to the tune of CHF 460 million in total.
Whereas the total number of applications increased by 9%, the requested funding rose by 13% compared to the winter semester 2013. If the figures are broken down according to science area, a varied picture emerges. Both the humanities and social sciences as well as biology and medicine registered an increase in the number of applications (+12% and +17% respectively) and in the amount of requested funding (+22% and +24% respectively). In mathematics and the natural and engineering sciences, however, both the number of applications (-3%) and the requested amount of funding (-4%) decreased.
This indicates that the demand for project funding is again on the rise after levelling out over the previous three years.
The SNSF will evaluate the submitted proposals in the coming months and make its funding decisions by April 2015.