Term is in full swing, and your time is probably limited. Therefore, we have compiled a short overview of currently open calls to support you and your project ideas.

The deadline for the SNSF COST call is coming up on 29 April. This scheme supports research projects linked to recently approved COST actions. The second call of the NRP 84 on ‘Plant Breeding Innovations‘ is open for applications from the Social Sciences and the Humanities and will close on 7 May. Researchers in the SSH may also want to consider the upcoming deadline for nominations for the Latsis Prize, which is intended to honour researchers with outstanding contributions to basic research, whose academic age does not exceed ten years (deadline 24.05.2025). For those in the medical sciences the open call for ‘Investigator Initiated Clinical Trials’ may be of interest (closes 27.05.2025). Early career researchers, within three years of completing their PhD, can apply for the SNSF Postdoc.Mobility funding scheme (deadline 05.08.2025) to finance a research fellowship abroad. This instrument offers very good rates for researchers with families, and the SPR is happy to support any applications. Those looking for a prestigious postdoc fellowship in Switzerland for up to four years should keep their eye on the SNSF Ambizione call, which is expected to open over the summer months and will close on 4 November 2025. Regarding Unifr internal funding opportunities, the next upcoming deadline to keep in mind is the 31 July for applications to the Research Pool (contributions up to 70’000 CHF).

In terms of European research grants, it is exciting that established Swiss researchers can now apply for the ERC Advanced Grant again! Participation in this Horizon Europe scheme was opened to Switzerland for the year 2025 as part of its ongoing negotiations with the European Union, and the deadline is on 28 August. Further Horizon Europe calls are currently open (incl. for Swiss researchers) mainly in the domains of Bioeconomy, Transport, Mobility and Health. A multitude of calls for proposals will be launched in April/May when the 2025 work programmes for all Horizon Europe Clusters are officially published. In May, the EU organizes online information days for each Cluster, combined with partnering events. You can find the links for these webinars here, and the up-to-date list for open European calls here.

If none of the above-mentioned calls apply to you, you may wish to have a look at the Pivot RP database for research funding opportunities. You can log in to Pivot RP using your SWITCH-edu ID. Please note that you will get the best results when using English language keywords for your searches. Here are a few curated searches to get you started:

Funding to communicate your results

Newest funding opportunities on Pivot-RP from the last 7 days