Branco Weiss Fellowship: Society in Science

A fellowship is a research grant of up to 600,000 Swiss francs for a project of up to five years. The money can cover any legitimate research cost: the fellow's own salary, in full or in part, at the host institution's normal rate, the salaries of doctoral students, equipment, consumables, travel and technical or secretarial help. It is paid to the host institution each year through ETH Zurich, under an agreement between the fellow, the host and ETH, and unspent funds must be returned at the end. Equipment costing more than 50,000 francs cannot be bought in the last two years, and no cost-free extensions are granted.

The fellow chooses the host. Any academic institution in the world qualifies if it is exceedingly well suited to the project, and a fellow may work at more than one. The mentor at the host must invite the fellow into the research group, provide a workplace and access to the infrastructure the project needs, and state how much independence the fellow will have.

The five years are split in two. The first two and a half years are the pioneer phase. Before the end of the second year, the directorate reviews the project and visits the fellow, looking at whether the work is still original and whether the fellow is productive. If both are satisfactory, the fellow moves into the exploitation phase for the remaining two and a half years, and the grant agreement is extended.

Fellows are encouraged to look for faculty positions during the second phase and may take one up after the first year. Taking an academic post does not end the fellowship. Fellows start between 1 October and 1 January after they are selected, and they are expected to attend the fellowship's annual symposium in the Zurich area in person.

The fellowship is for postdocs with a record of outstanding achievement and a project that the directorate describes as departing from the mainstream of their discipline, often across disciplines. The programme says plainly that it does not usually fund mainstream research that other funders could support. Applicants must hold their PhD, or have passed the doctoral examination, by the 15 January deadline, and must have obtained it no more than five years earlier; only parental leave and illness or accident extend that window, by up to a year in total, and the leave must be documented to the office before applying.

Professors and lecturers, with or without tenure, cannot apply, and nor can scientists in permanent employment. There is no age limit and no restriction by nationality. Each mentor may support only one candidate per round, and applicants who were not selected before may apply again.

What sets the fellowship apart is its second expectation. Fellows must show, in the proposal itself, that they are willing to engage in dialogue on social, cultural, political or economic questions beyond their own field. The directorate looks for rising researchers who want to reshape their fields and who will talk with the wider public about what that means.