SNSF Independent Researcher Calls
The School of Engineering (STI) of EPFL is composed of five Institutes, grouping the laboratories working in specific fields of Engineering, as follows:
The STI and its Institutes apply an internal review process of the potential applications to the following programs:
- SNSF Ambizione;
- SNSF Starting Grant – The exact deadline of the 2024 call has not been announced yet by the SNSF. Please read the IMPORTANT NOTICE at the end of this page.
SNSF Ambizione – STI application process
Grantees of the Ambizione program are hosted by a laboratory, in an Institute of the STI, and need to get the support of all corresponding parties, up to the Dean of the STI.
Particularly, if you would like to join the STI by applying to the Ambizione grant, you must:
contact your potential host laboratory and Institute in STI and get the support of the head of the laborator and Institute Director for your application. You must contact your hosts (both lab and institute) as soon as possible to inquire about their internal deadline and requirements.
pre-register your application according to the EPFL Research Office (ReO) instructions, which can be found in the EPFL toolkit for the Ambizione grant here. Please contact the EPFL Research Office (ReO) at research@epfl.ch in case of questions. To pre-register your application, you need to include the SNSF “Detailed confirmation letter” signed by both the host unit professor and the host Institute Director. Please note that the SNSF “Detailed confirmation letter” template will be made available by the SNSF (and included in the ReO EPFL toolkit) oon August 1st 2023.
- The STI deadline to pre-register your application with the ReO is 1 September 2023.
- Applications pre-registered after the above-mentioned deadline will not be considered by the STI
wait for the STI to review, jointly with the respective host laboratory and Institute, your pre-application.
- The STI will notify you whether your application is supported or not, at latest by 1 October 2023
- If your application is supported, you will be re-directed to the ReO to obtain the General Confirmation Letter that you need to include in your application to the funding body.
Overall, the following calendar applies to this process*:
* Please note that some Institutes might have deadlines for the preliminary process described at Step 1. Please check with your host whether this is the case.
In case of questions, do not hesitate to contact research@epfl.ch.
SNSF Starting Grants – STI application process
Please note that the Institute of Materials (IMX) and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM) will not consider applications to the SNSF Starting Grants.
Grantees of SNSF Starting Grants are hosted by an Institute of the STI and need to get the support of the Institute and the Dean of the STI.
Pre-register your application here. To pre-register, you have to:
- Specify the tentative title and short abstract describing your research project (1 page max).
- Specify your host Institute at the STI – Please note that the Institute of Materials (IMX) and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM) will not consider applications to the SNSF Starting Grants.
- Specify whether special lab space and equipment will be needed to deploy your research project.
- Upload your CV.
Please contact research.sti@epfl.ch in case of questions.
- The STI deadline to pre-register your application is 1st September 2023.
- The pre-registration portal will close on 1st September at 23h55 anywhere on earth (strict deadline). Late applications will not be accepted.
Wait for the STI to review, jointly with the respective host Institute, your pre-application.
- The STI will notify you whether you are invited for an interview, at the latest by 1st October 2023. Interviews will take place around mid-October.
- For applicants invited to the interview step, the final decision on the STI support will be communicated at latest by early November 2023.
Overall, the following calendar applies to this process*:
* Please note that the pre-registration deadline of 1st September 2023 is a strict deadline and applies even if the SNSF calendar has not been published yet. Modifications to the calendar for the other steps of the process (i.e., interview and communication of support) might occur depending on the official opening dates of the calls that will be announced by the SNSF (see IMPORTANT NOTICE hereafter).
In case of questions, please do not hesitate to contact research.sti@epfl.ch.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
- In 2022, the SNSF announced the 2023 SNSF Starting Grants (StG), as its new professorial call. The 2024 SNSF Starting Grants call has been announced by the SNSF on September 8th 2023.
- In the meantime, the STI has defined this pre-registration process and timeline. These have been developed based on the few information available at this moment, complemented with regulations on past calls: if modifications to the eligibility criteria and deadlines will be announced by the SNSF when the call is officially launched, we will contact all the applicants who have pre-registered their application on the STI portal, to discuss modification to the schedule of the selection process, if needed. Thank you for your understanding.
- Please stay up to date with the SNSF Newsletter and the EPFL ReO, SNSF social media accounts.