Newsletter April 2022
Career Grants for Excellent Science: doors to Horizon Europe still open
In terms of the prestigious ERC awards, while Swiss-based researchers are currently not eligible for funding for the Starting, Consolidator or Advanced Grants, the door to Synergy Grants remains wide open. Synergy Grants support small teams of principal investigators (between 2 and 4) who aim to jointly address ambitious research problems. These grants are for a maximum of €10 million for projects lasting up to 6 years. Projects are expected to synergistically incorporate different scientific fields to produce new knowledge, methods, techniques, or lines of enquiry. The results and products of a Synergy Grant are expected to be ground-breaking to the point of becoming a new benchmark on a global scale. To replace the ERC grants, for which Swiss-based researchers are not eligible, the SNSF has launched several transitional measures: the SNSF Consolidator Grant is currently open with a deadline of 1 June 2022.
Concerning MSCA, the various Actions are affected differently by the current Swiss status. While the European Postdoctoral Fellowships are off the table for projects hosted by Swiss institutions, researchers can still apply for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships with a Swiss host for the outgoing phase and a European host for the return phase. As part of their transitional measures, the SNSF opened a door to national funding with their SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship, inviting excellent researchers from anywhere in the world to compete under the same MSCA criteria for career funding in Switzerland. For the collaborative MSCA projects, such as Doctoral Networks and Staff Exchanges, Swiss institutions can participate as "Associated Partners" and receive direct national funding.
The Swiss government is working toward full association, so while we may be in a temporary drought, we are keeping our eyes fixed on the prize glimmering on the Horizon.
Jennifer McClung, National Contact Point for ERC
Isabelle Spühler, National Contact Point for MSCA
Alexandra Rosakis, Illustration
