The SNSF launches 2017 NCCR call

​The Swiss National Science Foundation is launching a call for the 5th series of National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs). The call is aimed at funding research initiatives in all science areas.

The goal of the NCCR funding scheme is to finance long-term, high-quality research projects of national significance and promote the sustainable development of competence centres and structural capacities at higher education institutions. In addition to federal funds, NCCRs receive funding from the higher education institutions and from third parties.

Compared to the 2011 call, the SNSF has changed some parts of the evaluation procedures. Two important changes have been introduced in the first stage of the evaluation procedure:

• Applicants will submit a letter of intent approximately two months before the submission deadline. In addition to the title and a summary of the planned initiative, the letter of intent will include a list of participating researchers.
• Outline proposals will be significantly shorter than in the last call. They will describe the scientific and structural vision and potential of the proposed NCCR.

Detailed information on the procedure is published in the call documents. The links to these documents and the submission deadlines can be found below. The evaluation results for outline proposals will be communicated to the applicants in summer 2018. In August/September 2019, the SNSF will forward a selection of highly rated NCCR proposals to the Swiss government (EAER/SERI), which will make the final selection. Five to six new NCCRs are expected to get under way at the beginning of 2020.

The Swiss government included the NCCR call in its “Aktionsplan Digitalisierung” / “Plan d’action pour le numérique”. The call is expected to yield initiatives that strengthen basic research in the area of digitalisation and use the potential of digitalisation technologies in various fields of application. When making its final selection based on an SNSF shortlist of outstanding proposals in both scientific and structural terms, the Swiss government (EAER/SERI) will give a high priority to initiatives that have an affinity with the goals set in the “Digitalisation Action Plan”.

National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs), 5th call: Submission deadlines

• National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs) - Call for proposals 2017 (PDF)
• NCCR - Extended call document 2017 (PDF)
• Letter of intent template (Word)
• How to: NCCRs – submitting an application