The Branco Weiss Fellowship

Researchers who have officially completed their PhD by the application deadline and obtained it a maximum of five years prior.

• Candidates who do not hold/have not held a faculty-equivalent position (e.g., assistant professor or lecturer).
• Applicants whose project departs from the mainstream of research in their discipline.
• Individuals with a record of outstanding scientific achievement.
• Those demonstrating a willingness to engage in a dialogue on relevant social, cultural, political, or economic issues beyond the frontiers of their particular discipline.

• Duration: Up to five years.
• Funding: A Branco Weiss Fellowship amounts to a maximum of CHF 600,000 for up to five years. It may be used to cover all legitimate costs of research (i.e., salary and/or equipment, travel expenses, consumables, personnel, etc.

Purposes: The fellowship aims to provide researchers with the means to independently pursue their personal vision of a scientific project in the best possible locations worldwide. It is specifically designed to support postdoctoral researchers in the transitional phase after completing their PhD and before securing their first faculty appointment.

Programs: natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities

The Branco Weiss Fellowship, administered by ETH Zurich.

The program aims to award up to ten fellowships each year. The actual number depends on the performance of the applicants during the interviews, taking into account not only scientific abilities of the candidates, but also their personal qualities and motivations. No effort will be made to award all ten fellowships.

Check website

• Letter of motivation including a statement explaining why your research differs from the mainstream (max. 1 page).
• Proposed research project (max. 5 pages, including abstract, timelines, tentative milestones, and references).
• CV (max. 4 pages).
• An invitation letter by your prospective host, stating why you are invited to the host group and why your research project is supported.
• Copies of your three best publications (no doctoral theses, no books, only peer-reviewed journal articles or individual book chapters).
• Five reviewer suggestions.

Check the website for the specific details and guidelines.