The SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2026 is now open

Be it laboratory instruments or field research, microscopy or digital simulation, photographic documentation or short videos: The SNSF competition is looking for the most beautiful images from the world of research. Researchers working in Switzerland and Liechtenstein are invited to submit their images and videos.

Exhibition at the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography

The Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography will exhibit the prize-winning images from 8 to 31 May 2026 and will host the award ceremony. An SNSF online gallery features all the images and videos submitted to the competition since its inauguration in 2017 – more than 3,500 in total. And each week, a new image is published on the SNSF’s Instagram channel.

An international jury will award a first prize and several honourable mentions in each competition category. The jury will be chaired by Patrick Gyger, director of the Plateforme 10 museums, and will include biologist Alex Jordan; photographer Andri Pol; Jessica Hallett, media editor at Nature magazine; Tess de Ruiter, curator of art-science projects; and Aurélie Saliba, strategic project manager for Adobe Stock.

Participation requirements

The competition is open to anyone employed as a researcher at a higher education or research institution in Switzerland or Liechtenstein. Students working on research projects are also eligible to participate. Submitted works can be produced as part of international collaborations. All submissions must have been produced after 1 January 2025.

The four competition categories include:

• object of study

• places and tools of research

• women and men of science

• short videos

The submission deadline is 2 February 2026.