Blue sky grants awarded in Swiss scheme

The SNSF has awarded Consolidator Grants to 21 excellent researchers wanting to work in Switzerland. The grant programme is part of the Temporary Backup Schemes (TBS) launched last year when Switzerland was excluded from applying for European Research Council grants.

The grants are worth up to CHF 2m (~ €1.86m) over five years and a total of 111 applications were evaluated in a two-phase procedure. The crucial criteria for obtaining a grant included the project’s potential to produce scientific breakthroughs as well as the researcher’s ability to conduct a highly original, large-scale project. Ultimately, 21 projects were approved: four projects in the humanities and social sciences, six projects in the life sciences and 11 projects in mathematics and the natural and engineering sciences.

The success rate equated to 19% and women submitted approximately 18% of all applications, and 24% of successful applications. The highest number of applications were submitted by researchers from EPFL and from the universities of Zurich and Geneva.

The TBS grants made it possible for outstanding researchers working or planning to work at a Swiss research institution to apply for grants to the SNSF  that are comparable to the prestigious ERC grants. This measure became necessary after the fallout from the yes vote in the referendum on mass immigration in February 2014 that led to Switzerland being excluded from Horizon 2020 from the end of February to mid-September 2014.

The total budget for the 21 funded projects amounts to CHF 39.6m. Host institutions will receive additional funding of 15% to cover their overhead costs.