SNSF Postdoc.Mobility Fellowships

Postdoc.Mobility is a contribution to living costs, not a salary, paid into the fellow's own account. The basic amount depends on the cost of living in the host country and is calculated from the SNSF's published rate table. On top of it come a travel allowance by zone for the fellow and for a partner and children who live with them for at least six months, a child allowance of 12,000 francs per child per year, and research funds of up to 5,000 francs a year for research and conference costs.

Research funds must be requested in the application; later requests are not considered. Overheads, bench fees, laptops, software licences and publication costs are among the costs the SNSF will not cover. Some host universities set minimum funding levels; the SNSF will not top up its rates, and expects the host to cover any gap.

The research must take place at a non-commercial research institution outside Switzerland, and not where the applicant studied or took the doctorate, nor in their home country except for scientific reasons. The stay can be split into parts of at least four months, spread over several hosts, and up to a third of it can be spent in Switzerland. Up to a quarter can be spent in industry or administration. Fellows normally work full-time on the project, or at least 80 per cent in justified cases.

Fellows can then apply, while the fellowship is still running, for a return grant of three to twelve months. It pays a salary and social security contributions for a first period of research back at a Swiss institution, and is judged on how it helps a scientific or academic career in Switzerland.

For the last two calls, applicants must be Swiss, hold a Swiss permanent settlement permit, or be married to or in a registered partnership with a Swiss citizen. Anyone else qualifies only with a doctorate or state examination from a Swiss institution and no earlier postdoctoral position abroad, counting any research post taken up abroad after the doctorate.

Applicants must apply within three years of their doctoral exam or thesis defence, and can apply up to six months before it. Medical researchers without an MD-PhD may apply up to eight years after the state examination if they also have three years of clinical work. Recognised reasons such as parental leave can extend the window, and must be explained in the application.

Applications in mathematics, the natural and engineering sciences, biology, medicine, psychology, economics and political science must be in English; in other fields they may be in an official Swiss language. The research plan is limited to 8 pages and 30,000 characters, and the SNSF checks texts with plagiarism software. There are no interviews.