Spark 2025: 112 out-of-the-box projects approved

“The Spark funding scheme encourages applicants to submit novel and unconventional research projects based on out-of-the-box ideas and methodologies”, says Vanja Michel, the person responsible for the Spark funding programme. “Projects can involve high-risk research, distinguishing the Spark funding scheme from other funding opportunities.” The evaluation process ensures that evaluators focus only on the scientific merits of the project idea.

The SNSF evaluated 836 Spark applications, for which a total of 80 million Swiss francs was requested. Overall, 183 proposals (22%) were in the social sciences and humanities, 279 (33%) in mathematics, informatics, natural sciences and technology (MINT) and 374 (45%) in the life sciences.

11 million Swiss francs for 112 projects

With a budget of just under 11 million Swiss francs, the SNSF is now funding 112 projects, corresponding to a success rate of 13.4%. Projects in the life sciences and in the social sciences and humanities shared the same success rate of 12.6%. In the life sciences, 47 of the 374 submitted proposals were approved, compared to 23 out of 183 for the social sciences and humanities. With 42 projects approved out of 279, the MINT domain had the highest success rate (15.1%).

Examples of funded projects

The following three examples represent a small selection illustrating the wide variety of supported projects:

• AI support for learning processes: Thiemo Wambsganss from Bern University of Applied Sciences is investigating whether and how dialogue-based tutoring can support students in their reflective writing skills. Reflective writing involves writing down thoughts and experiences about specific events. It is an effective strategy for professional development and the promotion of self-regulated learning. This project has the potential to advance understanding of how AI can support reflective learning processes, with findings that can be shared with educators and educational institutions.

• Invaders harming crustacean zooplankton: At the University of Lausanne, Marie-Elodie Perga, in collaboration with Carsten Schubert from EAWAG, is investigating the causes of the decline in crustacean zooplankton in lakes including Lake Geneva. This may have implications for fish populations and fisheries. Monitoring data from the lake do not confirm the theoretical premise that this is a consequence of declining phosphorus concentrations. This project tests the hypothesis that this decline is due to quagga mussels as a new invasive species.

• Improving message encryption: At the Università della Svizzera italiana, Alberto Montina will tackle an important problem in arithmetic: integer factoring on a classical computer. This project balances theoretical and practical interests. The integer factorization is a very old open mathematical problem. At the same time, this project has relevance for cryptography, i.e. the encryption of messages. New algorithms for prime factorization that outperform existing ones would have a practical impact on present implementations of cryptographic algorithms.

The final Spark call for the time being

The Federal Council plans to reduce the SNSF's budget by 10 percent in 2027 and 11 percent in 2028. As a result, the SNSF will not launch any new calls for the Spark funding scheme from now until at least the end of 2027. The SNSF very much regrets this.