Katrin Milzow and Thomas Werder Schläpfer elected new co-directors of the SNSF

The Foundation Council has elected a co-directorship to lead the Administrative Offices of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). From 1 April 2025, two members of the Executive Management Katrin Milzow, Head of Research Development, and Thomas Werder Schläpfer, Head of Research Funding, will take over as co-directors. With this internal succession plan, the SNSF is prioritising experience and continuity.

The application process, which was supported by an external management selection agency, was overseen by a seven-member election committee appointed by the Foundation Council. The committee was chaired by the Vice President of the Foundation Council Astrid Epiney and comprised other members of the Foundation Council, the incoming President of the Research Council Torsten Schwede, as well as two external experts. As part of the process, contact was made with around 80 (potential) candidates before, following several interviews and assessments, Katrin Milzow and Thomas Werder Schläpfer were chosen as co-directors. They clearly prevailed in the highly competitive process. Both the individual candidates' personalities and the co-directorship model convinced the election committee in every respect, and the Foundation Council accepted its proposal.

Internal solution for continuity

Jürg Stahl, President of the Foundation Council, on the election: "The SNSF supports cutting-edge research in Switzerland and enjoys an excellent international reputation. We want to maintain this strong position even in an increasingly challenging environment. With the co-directorship of the Administrative Offices, we are prioritising competence and continuity. I am convinced that the conscious and clear distribution of tasks between will significantly strengthen the SNSF for the years to come."

Katrin Milzow has been a member of the Executive Management since 2024 and leads Research Development at the SNSF. In this role, she is responsible for long-term and thematic research funding as well as cross-cutting issues such as sustainability, equal opportunities and Open Science. Since 2008, she has developed the SNSF's Strategy division and helped shape the SNSF's multi-year programmes, the Swiss National Open Research Data Strategy and the ongoing review of the SNSF's funding of early-career researchers. She is Co-director of the Research on Research Institute (RORI). After studies in Oxford and Brussels, she completed her doctorate in European policy at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

Thomas Werder Schläpfer has been a member of the Executive Management and deputy director in addition to Head of Research Funding at the SNSF since 2020. He leads the Projects, Careers, International Cooperation and Grant Management departments. As Head of Research Funding, he is responsible for the development and streamlining of research funding processes. From 2017 to 2020, he was Head of the SNSF's Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences division. During his nine years at ABB, he worked in applied research and later as a development manager, leading global teams. He completed his doctorate at ETH Zurich in computational science and engineering.

On 1 April 2025, Katrin Milzow and Thomas Werder Schläpfer will take over from Angelika Kalt, who will retire at the end of March 2025.

Download image for editorial use (JPEG). Legende: Katrin Milzow and Thomas Werder Schläpfer new co-directors of the SNSF Administrative Offices from 1 April 2025