When the grant starts, the grantees are matriculated as doctoral students at Swiss university, where they receive a salary. Besides the salary of the doctoral student, the grant may include a contribution towards costs directly related to project implementation.
The grant is awarded for 2 to a maximum of 4 years. It consists of two parts: an initial 2 years, followed by another 1 to 2 years. Upon request, part of the dissertation may be produced abroad if good reasons are provided.
Eligibility requirements:
- Master or similar degree with excellent marks from a Swiss higher education institution. Holders of a foreign degree may submit an application if they have Swiss nationality
- Submission up to 2 years after obtaining the degree (at the time of the submission deadline). Exceptions are possible in justified cases, e.g. family care duties
- In principle, at least one change of higher education institution between the bachelor and the beginning of doctoral studies. Exceptions are possible in justified cases (family care duties or intention to spend a stay abroad during the doctoral studies)
- Two persons supervising the dissertation: the supervisor (place of matriculation for doctoral studies in Switzerland) and co-supervisor (at another higher education institution in Switzerland or abroad)
Application documents:
Applications containing all the required documents and data must be submitted electronically via the mySNF portal. Please refer to the guidelines concerning the submission of applications (see "Forms, regulations and directives").
Evaluation procedure:
The evaluation procedure for the first part consists of two phases:
- First phase: the SNSF Research Commission at the chosen university selects the best applications and recommends them to the National Research Council of the SNSF for the second phase
- Second phase: those persons whose applications were selected in the first assessment phase are invited by the National Research Council of the SNSF to a personal interview in Berne, during which they present their research project and career plan
After the first 18 months of funding, the grantees submit an application for the second part of the grant. The application must include a report on the completed first part of the grant, a justification of the requested duration for the second part and a statement by the supervisor and co-supervisor of the dissertation.
Call for proposals: 3 months before the submission deadline
Submission deadlines: 10 March and 10 September
Start of approved grants: on 1 October or 1 April at the earliest, i.e. approx. 7 months after the submission Deadline