Angelika Kalt is the new Director of the SNSF

On Friday, Angelika Kalt was appointed as the new Director of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Angelika Kalt has a PhD in earth sciences and was professor of petrology and geodynamics at the University of Neuchâtel. In 2008, she joined the SNSF as Deputy Director. Her main tasks in this role included quality assurance, developing evaluation methods and improving research funding schemes. She was also in charge of the Temporary Backup Schemes offered by the SNSF in 2014. The Backup Schemes were launched as a counter-measure to Switzerland's temporary exclusion from the European research programme Horizon 2020. Angelika Kalt will start in her new role as Director on 1 April 2016.

The new SNSF Director was elected by the Executive Committee of the SNSF Foundation Council. She succeeds Daniel Höchli, who is leaving after eleven years to become chief executive of CURAVIVA Schweiz, the umbrella association of over 2500 homes and institutions in the social and health care sector.

The SNSF has a federal mandate to fund basic research and promote young researchers in Switzerland using public money. Approximately 14,000 researchers in all scientific disciplines benefit from SNSF grants each year.

Contact person:
Gabriele Gendotti, President of the Foundation Council of the SNSF, 031 308 23 87