SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowships

At the time of submission deadline, applicants must hold a doctoral degree (PhD), and proposals must be submitted within 8 years after the obtainment of the doctoral degree (PhD). The relevant date is that of the examination or thesis defense.

Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Switzerland for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately prior to the submission deadline.

Applicants whose proposal was rejected under SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 may only submit a revised application involving the same Swiss host institution if an evaluation score of at least 6.3 was achieved.

Two support letters of the host institution are needed.

• a confirmation from the host institution: no form or template is provided by the SNSF. The confirmation letter must bear the official letterhead of the host institution and an original signature (a digital signature is permissible) of the head of the ETH department (no e-mail). The confirmation must state clearly that the necessary infrastructure is available for the duration of the grant. The start and end dates of the grant must be stated.
• a commitment letter from the host supervisor confirming their willingness to mentor and support the applicant. Again, there is no template but the SNSF strongly encourages the host supervisor to comment on the following aspects: How is the research project supported scientifically? How is the applicant’s scientific independence ensured and promoted? How is the continuous intellectual development and continuing education of the applicant facilitated? The letter of the supervisor must bear the official letterhead of the host institution and an original signature (a digital signature is permissible; no e-mail).
• The host does not need to be a professor, but an experienced researcher who is able to mentor the fellow for the entire period of the fellowship. The supervision is part of the evaluation.
• For SNSF Postdoctoral Fellowship applications no support letter from the VP for Research is needed.

For more information please have a look at the external page SNSF website.

The duration of the fellowship is 12 – 24 months. SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowships cover the grantee's salary, including social security contributions and project funds, including research costs directly linked to the implementation of the project, training and networking contributions. Project funds must not exceed CHF 24'000 for a two-year grant.

The next submission deadline is 2 December 2024.

Please make sure to request your mySNF user account, create your CV in the new format, and request your support letters from the host institution well in advance of the deadline.

Please refer to the external page SNSF website for further details.

The application must be submitted using the online platform external page mySNF. If you submit an application to the SNSF for the first time: register on mySNF and request your user account. The SNSF will then send you your login information by e-mail. Please note: you must request your user account at least one month before the submission deadline. If not, the SNSF cannot guarantee timely access to mySNF.

Important: Please create your CV in the new format on the external page SNSF Portal in good time. For your first login, you will need a SWITCH-edu ID and an ORCID ID, which may take a few days to obtain. More information on the external page CV format can be found here.

All relevant information regarding the application procedure can be found on the external page SNSF website.

To submit an application, you must register on external page mySNF and the external page SNSF Portal. Please see application procedure for further information.

All important documents (guidelines, templates) are available on the external page SNSF Postdoctoral Fellowship website.