Funding Opportunities
Researchers at the University of Basel have numerous options at their disposal for acquiring funding. Since research is expensive, research funding plays a major role.
From university to national, European and international project funding, there are numerous programs and options open to researchers at different stages in their career. In the summary below, the main schemes are listed. Please note that the list is not exhaustive and funding for the project can be acquired also under other schemes. We encourage you to visit our Success Stories page to get inspired on possible opportunities and to contact us to discuss the opportunities that could fit your project.
The Grants Office within the Vice President’s Office of Research is the central point of contact for third-party funding at the University of Basel and provides researchers with support and advice. We are here to help you gain a better understanding of the following schemes and to support incoming projects. Therefore, contacting us at an early stage of proposal preparation is vital to ensure support tailored to your needs. List of the Grants Office services.
Swiss National Science Foundation
The SNSF offers a range of funding opportunities for mid-career researchers who pursue an academic career in Switzerland, mainly Ambizione and SNSF Starting Grant. These schemes are designed for researchers at varying stages of their research careers following their Ph.D. The so-called "academic age" should be calculated individually for each researcher.
The SNSF project funding (link to SNF page) scheme is dedicated to (established) researchers who have secured employment for the duration of the project. Collaborative projects or applications from individual group leaders, can be submitted. The topic of the research project is open and chosen entirely by the applicant(s). Within the same structure, international collaboration is possible in the Weave / Lead agency agreements
To gain a better understanding of current and future grant opportunities please contact us.
European Union – Horizon Europe
Research programs under Horizon Europe are organized into three pillars: Excellent Science, Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness, Innovative Europe. Scheme dedicated to Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Area is also foreseen as a separate part of the program. For the need of this summary we will present only few schemes.
To explore more opportunities we advise you to visit University of Basel Research page or Euresearch website.
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Horizon Europe Structure, © European Union, 2020link.zoom
On an EU level – as part of Pillar 1 – Excellent Science, the MSCA Fellowship, supports career perspectives and excellence of postdoctoral researchers. It helps researchers to enrich their experience abroad, in different disciplines or non-academic sectors. The ERC supports ground-breaking research from individual group leaders or several Principle Investigators working together (Synergy Grant).
- MSCA - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships
- ERC - European Research Council:
- Starting Grant
- Consolidator Grant
- Advanced Grant
- Synergy Grant
International, interdisciplinary collaborative projects can be funded via Pillars 2 & 3 of Horizon Europe. As shown in the figure above, the topics are organized in the six clusters, each dedicated to a specific research field. The topics are defined by the European Commission (top-down) and aim at boosting key technologies and solutions underpinning EU policies & the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
How to get started with your ERC proposal
Innosuisse and Swiss National Science Foundation
The Swiss Innovation Agency (Innosuisse) awards grants to practice-oriented projects.
BRIDGE (a joint initiative between the SNF and Innosuisse):
Proof of Concept grants are open to early career researchers and allow to (partially) budget the Principle Investigators own salary.
Discovery is aimed at experienced researchers who want to explore and implement the innovation potential of research results. Only technological innovations that also have a societal and economic impact will be funded. Applications can be submitted as part of a small consortium (up to three applicants) or as a single applicant.
Find out more about national project funding opportunities.
US-Funding
US federal funding agencies are partially open for international proposals, e.g., National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the biomedical research programmes from the Department of Defense (DoD). The University of Basel is registered in the portal Grants.gov from the US government and thus allows its researchers to apply for these grants (incl. NIH) as principal investigator or as project partner (subawardee). Detailed information, including formal aspects as well as general tips for applicants, can be found on the Grants Office US Funding webpage.
If you are planning to apply to an US federal agency, reach out to grants@unibas.ch.
