SNSF Ambizione

Applications may be submitted no later than four years after completing the doctorate (PhD). Candidates must have done research for at least 12 months after the doctorate (PhD). The eligibility window can be extended for various reasons.  

Please consult the external page Ambizione Regulations on the SNSF website for details regarding eligibility.

Maximum duration of employment at ETH

For persons who have already been employed at an organisation in the ETH Domain: please refer to the ETH rules regarding maximum duration of employment for scientific staff with fixed-term contracts. It is not possible to submit a proposal for a fellowship that lasts longer than the maximum duration of your employment.

Support letters

Confirmation letters are required (department + ETH). Please check the application procedure and respect the internal deadlines.

Applications have to include a written confirmation of the research institution, which consists of two separate letters ("detailed confirmation" and "general confirmation").

The workflow at ETH for procuring these is as follows:

• The applicant requests the detailed confirmation letter from their Contact Person (=supervisor). Please note that the Contact Person needs to have an ETH working contract for the entire duration of the Ambizione fellowship. If you have any questions about this, you can contact the Grants Office.
• The SNSF adapts the templates for the confirmation letters from time to time so please always use the current version available on the external page SNSF website. Older versions will not be accepted by the SNSF. 
• The letter also has to include the letterhead of the hosting unit.
• Once the letter has been signed by both the Contact Person and the Head of Department, an electronic copy without password protection and the CV of the applicant have to be sent to the Grants Office at .
• The Grants Office will then have the general confirmation signed by the VPR and send it back to the applicant and/or the Contact Person.

The grants are awarded for a maximum of four years. An Ambizione grant thereby covers the grantee's salary and the funds needed to carry out the project. It is also possible to only apply for project funds, without a salary. Please refer to the external page SNSF website for details regarding what can be funded through the Ambizione grant.

Salary of Ambizione grantee

Ambizione grantees are generally employed as Oberassistentin/Oberassistent I (= Established Researcher I).

The salary depends on the applicant’s research experience and years after PhD. For your budget to be realistic, best discuss this point as well as your employment with your Contact Person and/or contact your personnel consultant.

• The next SNSF submission deadline is on 1 November 2025.

The following timeline must be observed:

• By 22 October 2025: for requesting the general confirmation letter of the VP Research, applicants need to send the detailed confirmation, together with the title of the project and their CV, to the Grants Office. The full proposal is not needed.
• By 31 October 2025: applicants receive the general confirmation letter from the Grants Office.
• By 1 November 2025: the complete application must be submitted to the SNSF via external page mySNF

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.

Submit the complete application via external page mySNF until 1 November 2025. Please observe the internal deadlines for the confirmation letter from ETH (see Deadlines and evaluation).

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

You can find a list of previous grantees and granted projects in the external page statistics section on the Ambizione website.