93 proposals for SNSF Advanced Grants 2022
International expert panels will now conduct a two-stage evaluation.
Due to Switzerland's status as a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe, the federal government mandated the SNSF to launch a new call for this transitional measure. The call was aimed at scientists wishing to conduct innovative, high-risk research in Switzerland.
The 93 submitted projects are distributed across the research areas as follows: 37 in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering, 31 in biology and medicine and 25 in the humanities and social sciences. The researchers requested grants averaging 2.3 million francs per project.
The average applicant is 51 years old. Around of a quarter of the proposals were submitted by women. By research area, the highest number of proposals by women was 12, submitted in the humanities and social sciences; compared to 7 in biology and medicine and 6 in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.
More than half of the applicants (59%) are based at a university. The others are mainly from ETHZ/EPFL (31%).
Last year, the SNSF received 232 proposals for the SNSF Advanced Grants 2021. Applicants whose projects were rejected in the first stage of the evaluation process for SNSF Advanced Grants 2021 were not eligible to reapply in 2022.
Evaluation of applications
Panels of scientists will evaluate the projects in a two-stage procedure. They are composed of international experts and are comparable to the ERC panels. The applications will be assessed and rated based on expert reviews and interviews, then ranked in comparison to one another.
In July 2023, the SNSF will let applicants know whether their proposal was selected for funding. Grants per project will not exceed a maximum of 2.175 million francs, plus a maximum of 870,000 francs for additional costs.
As in 2021, a scientific steering committee will supervise the evaluation and funding activities in relation to the SNSF Advanced Grants 2022 call. Moreover, it will ensure best practices and compliance with SNSF rules regarding conflicts of interest. The same steering committee also supervises other SNSF transitional measures.