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Research Council and evaluation bodies

The Research Council of the SNSF evaluates several thousand applications each year and makes funding decisions. It is composed of 100 researchers, most of whom work at Swiss higher education institutions. The Research Council is supported by 90 evaluation bodies comprising about 1000 members in total.

List of all active members of the Research Council
List of the names of active members of all evaluation bodies

​​Research Council of the SNSF

​The Research Council comprises the following four divisions:

  • Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences
  • Biology and Medicine
  • Programmes

Three Specialised Committees are responsible for cross-divisional matters:

  • International Co-operation
  • Careers
  • Interdisciplinary Research.

In addition to the permanent commissions "Gender Equality in Research Funding" and "Research Integrity", the Research Council can appoint specialised commissions and panels for specific evaluation tasks.

The Presiding Board consists of the President of the Research Council and the Presidents of the divisions and specialised committees. It supervises and coordinates the work of the Research Council and drafts science policy recommendations for submission to the Foundation Council. It focuses mainly on funding policy, the elaboration of funding schemes, evaluation methods and the distribution of funds across the individual scientific disciplines.

Evaluation bodies

The evaluation bodies evaluate proposals and lay the groundwork for the funding decisions made by the Research Council. The members of these bodies are for the most part researchers working at higher education institutions. A third are women, and a third work at institutes based abroad.