Research grants for 25 PhD students in the social sciences and humanities

The Doc.CH funding scheme enables promising researchers in the social sciences and humanities to request a grant for their PhD project. By the end of the 20th call for proposals on 15 September 2022, the SNSF had received 114 applications, 77 in the humanities and 37 in the social sciences.

44 applicants invited for an interview

After an initial review of the projects, the evaluation panels recommended 44 applications for the second phase. Candidates were invited to present their thesis project in a personal interview.

In January 2023, the SNSF then awarded 25 Doc.CH grants (17 in humanities, 8 in social sciences). The grantees will be starting their projects at seven Swiss higher education institutions. They have been awarded an average amount of 219,000 francs, which covers their project costs and salary. Grants last from two to four years, with the average duration being 42 months.

Wide range of research topics

Grants have been awarded for a wide range of topics. For example, the project of Réka Piskóty (University of Zurich, legal sciences) aims at analysing the protection offered by international law to environmental rights defenders. In particular, her work will focus on indigenous people who strive to promote and protect human rights in relation to the environment. Melanie Bamert (University of Bern, psychology) will examine the relationship between stress and health habits in daily life. Her aim is to generate knowledge that will inform interventions promoting adaptive stress management and preventing the negative health effects of stress. The research field of Tanguy Donnet (University of Lausanne, German Studies) is medieval German literature. He is planning a study edition of a corpus of Arthurian romances that have survived in the form of manuscript fragments.

The next submission deadline for Doc.CH applications is 15 March 2023.

• Grant recipients
• Doc.CH