322 pre-proposals submitted for National Research Programmes
At year-end 2023 the SNSF launched calls for four National Research Programmes. Researchers have now submitted 322 pre-proposals. By end-June 2024 the programmes’ Steering Committees will decide who can develop a complete project.
Baukultur (NRP 81), Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (NRP 82), Gender Medicine and Health (NRP 83) and Plant Breeding Innovation (NRP 84) are the topics of the four new National Research Programmes. The SNSF has received a total of 322 pre-proposals.
Three programmes with over 80 pre-proposals
The number of pre-proposals per programme varies (see table). 140 were submitted for the “Gender Medicine and Health” NRP, and over 80 each for the “Baukultur” and “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” NRPs. By contrast, just 17 pre-proposals were received for the “Plant Breeding Innovation” NRP. The SNSF and the programme management will clarify the reasons for the relatively low interest in this topic and will discuss the next steps with the federal government.
Around 900 applicants are involved in the 322 pre-proposals, which is an average of almost three per pre-proposal. They come from many different disciplines. These figures are an indicator of the projects’ interdisciplinarity. As expected, the share of female applicants is high at 65% for the Gender Medicine topic and still above average for Baukultur and Biodiversity at 42% and 37% respectively. In the case of the NRP "Plant Breeding Innovation", on the other hand, the proportion of women is rather low at 22%.
On average, the researchers are requesting just over half a million francs for their proposed projects in the NRPs 81, 83 and 84. The average project duration for these NRPs is approximately 3.5 years. Applicants to NRP 82 have not yet had to submit a figure. In line with this programme’s transdisciplinary orientation, the SNSF first launched a call for a preparatory phase. Supported by funding of up to 20,000 francs, researchers can develop their projects together with practitioners over a period of six months.
Submitted project pre-proposals in figures
NRP 81
NRP 82
NRP 83
NRP 84
Number of pre-proposals
81
84
140
17
Requested funding amounts in CHF million
46,6
None as yet
72,8
12,8
Available budget in CHF million
10,6
15,5
11,0
10,0
Number of applicants
192
281
389
45
Share of female applicants
42%
37%
65%
22%
Number of disciplines
8
11
13
5
The federal government has made a total of 47.1 million francs available for the four NRPs. The programmes will use this amount to finance the research projects as well as scientific evaluation, project support, knowledge and technology transfer, and programme synthesis.
Next stage: evaluation
The pre-proposals are now being evaluated by the four evaluation panels. These comprise national and international experts in the relevant disciplines. The individual NRP Steering Committees will decide by the end of July 2024 which researchers can develop a complete project.