SNSF Project Funding

Project Funding is the Swiss National Science Foundation’s largest scheme, investing more than CHF 500 million a year in new projects. It is open to experienced researchers at Swiss universities or other eligible institutions, and it supports individual or collaborative work on topics the applicants choose themselves. The program uses grants only. Awards run from CHF 100,000 to CHF 250,000 per applicant per year, with personnel costs capped at CHF 200,000 and total collaborative awards capped at CHF 3 million when three or more applicants apply together. Projects last up to four years, and partner-country collaborations move through Weave, Lead Agency, or ICIS routes. Mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, biology, medicine, psychology, economics, and political science are submitted in English; other fields may use an official Swiss language. Deadlines fall twice a year, on 1 April and 1 October. This is the SNSF’s broad investigator-driven route, so it suits teams that can define a strong research question and execute it within a university setting. From 1 April 2026, researchers may hold at most two simultaneous Project Funding grants, and one of them must be a Weave, Lead Agency, or ICIS project. Sinergia was folded into Project Funding in 2023, which makes the scheme the main home for collaborative SNSF research outside the career programs.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.