ERC Advanced Grants go to Switzerland for the first time in years
Keystone-SDA
For the first time in over three years, Swiss researchers have been awarded ERC Advanced Grants.
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The European Research Council (ERC) awarded its coveted research funds to 281 research projects on Tuesday. Twenty went to Swiss researchers.
This was made possible by a transitional arrangement between the European Union and Switzerland. Since spring 2021, researchers in Switzerland have been denied access to these grants. At that time, the government broke off negotiations on a framework agreement with the EU and the EU classified Switzerland as a non-associated third country for its programmes.
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With the resumption of negotiations between the government and the EU Commission in March 2024, Switzerland was once again treated as an associated third country for ERC Advanced Grants. However, the government is funding the participation of researchers in Switzerland. In April 2024, the government made CHF600 million ($740 million) available for this purpose.
Numerous Swiss research institutions
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) were particularly successful: seven of the grants went to EPFL researchers. Five went to federal technology institute ETH Zurich. Three will go to scientists at the University of Basel and one grant each to the universities of Bern, Geneva and Zurich, as well as to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Idiap research institute.
Established researchers can pursue their projects with up to €2.5 million (CHF2.35 million) each thanks to an ERC Advanced Grant.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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