Practice-to-Science: 11 grants approved in first call for proposals
The SNSF is investing 6 million francs in eleven grants of its Practice-to-Science scheme. In view of the successful first call, the SNSF has decided to launch another call in 2021.
Under a pilot project, the SNSF launched a call for Practice-to-Science grants aimed at promoting competition in use-inspired research fields. The grants are aimed at qualified experts with sound practical experience who wish to return to academia as assistant professors at a university of applied sciences or a university of teacher education. These are time-limited positions offering the opportunity of obtaining higher qualifications or of converting to a permanent position.
Two-stage selection procedure
In July 2020, 104 researchers submitted a proposal for a Practice-to-Science grant. 20 were retained for the second evaluation stage and, at the end of the selection procedure, the SNSF approved eleven grants. With six of those obtained by a woman (54.5%), the overall target of 33% women grantees was reached.
Thanks to their Practice-to-Science grant, the eleven researchers will have the opportunity to establish themselves at professorial level and run an independent project at a university of applied sciences or a university of teacher education. They will receive 549,000 francs on average. The SNSF grants will enable them to take an important step forward in their careers.
Wide range of projects
Of the funded projects, three are related to mathematics, natural and engineering sciences, seven to the humanities and social sciences and one to biology and medicine. The projects thus cover a wide range of topics. Most of the projects will start in early 2021 and run for three years. A complete list of all funded projects is available below and on the internet page of the Practice-to-Science scheme.
Next steps
In view of the successful first call of Practice-to-Science, the SNSF has decided to extend the pilot phase by a year and launch another call in 2021. The details of this new call for proposals, incl. the launch date and submission deadline and the application requirements, will be available on our website by the end of March 2021.