Digital Lives

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The fourth industrial revolution under the lens of the humanities and social sciences

​​Digital Lives is aimed at researchers in Switzerland whose current research is in the field of the humanities and social sciences. The call addresses questions surrounding the digital transformation:

  • How is digitalisation changing politics and the economy?
  • How is it changing our relationships with people and our subjective experience?
  • How is it transforming the humanities and social sciences?

Applicants at Swiss higher education institutions may propose pilot projects with a duration of up to 18 months. The grants awarded to successful applicants will range from 50,000 to a maximum of 250,000 Swiss francs. The SNSF will allocate a total amount of up to 6 million Swiss francs. Exploratory studies, investigations based on new methods and research aimed at tapping new data sources will be supported. Key criteria for the evaluation are innovation potential and prospects for follow-up research.

The call for proposals is aligned with the National Research Programmes on “digital change in the economy and society”, whose implementation is to be decided by the end of 2018, with a view to launching the relevant calls in summer 2019. At the same time, the Digital Lives call can be used for preparatory research work prior to submitting a proposal in other SNSF funding schemes (e.g. project funding, Sinergia).

  • Participation requirements

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    Eligible to participate are researchers whose current research is in the humanities and social sciences.

    Applicants must meet the requirements set out in Article 10 of the Funding Regulations. Their work quota may be lower than 50%, but not lower than 20%.

    Applicants with a doctorate must have obtained the latter before the submission date of the application. Applicants without a doctorate must generally have completed three years of research work as their main source of income since obtaining their higher education degree. Such research work will be regarded as equivalent to a doctorate.

    Applicants may submit one application only in relation to this call.

    The restrictions on the number of ongoing projects and project funding applications do not apply to the present call.

  • How To

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    ​Application

    Applications must be submitted via the mySNF platform.

    Please select the funding scheme "Digital Lives".

    The requirements for the research plan are set out in Call document.

    Evaluation procedure

    The SNSF appoints a panel consisting of members of the Research Council as well as national and international experts to conduct the evaluation. The evaluation panel awards a grade (out of a six-point grading system) based on the evaluation criteria and a comparison of all the applications submitted. At the recommendation of the evaluation panel, the Humanities and Social Sciences division of the National Research Council awards a grade that determines whether the project will be funded. The decisions made by the division are subsequently endorsed by the Presiding Board of the Research Council. The funding decisions are communicated to the applicants in the form of a rulingin August 2018at the latest.

  • Documents

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    ​Formulaires, règlements et directives

  • FAQ

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    If I submit a proposal to DIGITAL LIVES, can I also apply for project funding or hold a project funding grant from the SNSF?

    Yes. The restrictions on the number of ongoing projects and project funding applications do not apply to this call.

    Do the eligible costs also include the salaries of the applicants?

    No. The applicants' own salaries are generally included under eligible costs only in the career funding schemes.

    Can I submit an application to the SNSF if I am already working as an employee in an SNSF-funded project?

    Applicants must take into account that grantees of the SNSF may not at the same time be employed as staff members in an SNSF-funded project. These two roles are incompatible, therefore the SNSF does not consider applications that would result in a person having them in parallel. If you fulfill all requirements, you can apply for a project grant of your own if the start date is after your period of employment in another researcher's project.

    Can I apply for supplementary measures such as mobility grants in projects, the flexibility grant (previously 120% support grant), media training courses and the gender equality grant?

    ​As this is a pilot initiative and the projects are not of long duration, the SNSF will not be offering any supplementary measures.

    Can I re-apply for DIGITAL LIVES if my first application is rejected?

    No. The call is expected to be launched only once.

    Who will evaluate my application?

    The Research Council of the Humanities and Social
    Sciences division appoints an evaluation panel. Unlike in project funding, the
    project proposals will not be sent to external experts for peer review.

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