Fellowship & Mobility

Explore the most popular fellowships and mobility funding opportunities, including short-term opportunities, depending on your profile (PhD, Postdoc).

Important: to get access to these documents, please login with your EPFL email address.

Foundations Compendium

Discover the Foundations Compendium, an all-new guide presenting a non-exhaustive collection of Swiss and international grant-making foundations, funding research projects, scientists’ career and science communication.

Postdoc Compendium

Most popular funding instruments for postdoctoral fellows in Switzerland.

For PhD

Have you earned your spurs as a young researcher and come up with an idea for developing your research results into a marketable product?

To promote research and education in cyber-defence, EPFL and the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus jointly launched the “CYD Fellowships – A Talent Program for Cyber-Defence Research.”

Write a doctoral thesis in the humanities and social sciences!

  • Deadlines: 15 March and 15 September (every year) at 17:00 Swiss local time.
  • SNSF Doc.CH webpage

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are available to post-graduate researchers from over 180 other countries in any discipline who are planning to come to Switzerland to pursue research or further studies at pre-doctoral, doctoral or post-doctoral level. Each application must be backed by a professor.

EPFL’s Doc.Mobility is the successor to the SNSF’s Doc.Mobility instrument, which was discontinued at the end of 2020. As such, this programme is jointly funded by Swissuniversities and EPFL and offers mobility grants to doctoral students who wish to carry out a research stay abroad in order to acquire more in-depth scientific knowledge, develop their scientific network and progress in their thesis within the scope of the awarded mobility.

The Doc.Mobility EPFL grant is awarded for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months.

Deadline: 1 May 2023 at 17:00h Swiss local time.

For more details please visit the EPFL Doc.Mobility website or contact the Doctoral School

For Postdoc

Have you earned your spurs as a young researcher and come up with an idea for developing your research results into a marketable product?

To promote research and education in cyber-defence, EPFL and the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus jointly launched the “CYD Fellowships – A Talent Program for Cyber-Defence Research.”

Fellowship research funding opportunity
Longterm fellowships in molecular biology. Copyright: EMBO

The EMBO long-term fellowships are awarded for a period of up to two years and support post-doctoral research visits to laboratories throughout Europe and the world.

  • Next call deadline: Applications accepted throughout the year
  • EMBO webpage

Targeted to scientist who wants to consolidate your independence by establishing a research team and continuing to develop a success career in Europe. SERI recommends Swiss-based applicants to prepare their application to ERC Starting Grants for the deadline of 25 October 2022. If eligibility of Switzerland for this call is not finalised by the deadline, the SNSF will open an integrative call for proposals “SNSF Starting Grants 2023” in November 2022. The SNSF call will be aligned as close as possible with the ERC.

EuroTechPostdoc Programme boosting researchers carreers
Copyright: EuroTechPostdoc

The EuroTech Universities Alliance invites highly talented experienced researchers to submit interdisciplinary collaborative research project proposals for one of the fellowships provided by the EuroTechPostdoc Programme.

Currently there are no calls open.

The HFSP fellowship program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences.

  • Next call deadline for pre-applications: 11 May 2023
  • HFSP webpage
European research funding opportunities
Copyright: European Commission

The European Commission (EC) has informed the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) that Switzerland will be treated as a non-associated third country for the submission of project proposals in

Switzerland is considered as a non-associated third country for the submission of project proposals in Horizon Europe and other related programmes and initiatives. This status can be changed at any time, but will now apply for calls in 2022.

The participation of Switzerland in MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (European Fellowships) is by principle excluded as a non-associated third country.

Switzerland is however eligible to act as outgoing host institution in the MSCA Global Fellowship action.

For more information on the association status of Switzerland to Horizon Europe please check the SERI Factsheet and the Q&A documents.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) provide grants for all stages of researchers’ careers – be they doctoral candidates or highly experienced researchers – and encourage transnational, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility.

EPFLeaders4impact is a new postdoctoral fellowship programme funding talented researchers who have the ambition to provide innovative solutions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Next call deadline: 1 March 2023

EPFLeaders4impact webpage

For any question please contact [email protected]

Your first step towards scientific independence!  The purpose of SNSF Ambizione grants is to enhance researchers’ scientific profile and to help them become scientifically independent in conducting their own research projects.

Increase your research experience by making a stay abroad!

​Postdoc.Mobility fellowships are aimed at researchers who have done a doctorate and who wish to pursue an academic career in Switzerland. A research stay abroad enables such researchers to acquire more in-depth knowledge, increases their scientific independence and enhances their research profile.

The SNSF Starting Grants is an integrative call which, in addition to the transitional measure for the ERC Starting Grants 2023, also covers the SNSF Professorial Fellowships call 2023. This grant allows outstanding researchers to lead an independent research project in any disciplines and a team of researchers in CH. Funding: max. CHF 1.8M for max. 5 years (including applicant’s salary, if applicable). Eligibility: max. 8 years after PhD + min. 3 years of research after PhD.

  • Internal deadline: contact your host institute and school
  • Call opens: November 1, 2022
  • Applicant Workshop: December 1, 2022 at 12:00
  • Deadline: February 1, 2023 at 17:00 CET
  • EPFL Toolkit
  • SNSF webpage

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are available to post-graduate researchers from over 180 other countries in any discipline who are planning to come to Switzerland to pursue research or further studies at pre-doctoral, doctoral or post-doctoral level. Each application must be backed by a professor.

Short-term opportunities

 

Link up with scientists from abroad!

Scientific Exchanges is aimed at researchers who want to host their own scientific event in Switzerland, invite colleagues from abroad for a research visit to Switzerland, or visit their colleagues in another country.

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are available to post-graduate researchers from over 180 other countries in any discipline who are planning to come to Switzerland to pursue research or further studies at pre-doctoral, doctoral or post-doctoral level. Each application must be backed by a professor.

Contact

Research Office

Av. Auguste-Piccard 1

CH – 1015 Lausanne

[email protected]

Access map