The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) recommends that researchers in Switzerland to prepare their submissions for the ERC Starting Grant (ERC StG) 2023. The deadline is set on 25 October 2022.

If Swiss-based researchers are still not eligible at the deadline, the Federal Council will propose funds for a corresponding transitional measure and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will open an integrative call for proposals in November 2022 in the form of the “SNSF Starting Grants 2023”.

Read the SERI updated factsheet for more information.

Sources: SERI, Euresearch

The European Research Council - ERC Synergy grant call for 2023 is now open, with a deadline set on 8 November 2022. Information for applicants, conditions, evaluation process and more are available here.

Researchers based in Switzerland are currently eligible to apply for an ERC Synergy Grant as part of a team of 2-4 Principal Investigators who would join forces to address ambitious research questions. Up to €10 million of funding can be requested per project.

Euresearch will hold an ERC Synergy National Information Event on 20 September 2022, online from 11:30-13:30. Principles and conditions of the Synergy Grant will be explained by Dr. Agnes Kulcsar, who coordinates the ERC call and its evaluation. Researchers who have successfully applied for a Synergy Grant in the past will also be part of a panel discussion. For more information and registration, see the Euresearch website.

Sources: ERC, Euresearch

The annual Work Programme for the European Research Council (ERC) funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation has just been published for 2023.

The Work Programme includes dates, deadlines, and conditions and regulations for upcoming calls, and is available for download here.

For Swiss-based researchers, the most relevant information is related to the ERC Synergy call which should open on 13 July with a deadline set on 8 November 2022. The Swiss Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) is still working toward association to Horizon Europe: check out the SERI's website regularly for updates which will impact eligibility for ERC calls.

Sources: ERC, Euresearch

The Innovative Health Initiative IHI call 1 is a single-stage call with four topics covering research and innovation actions on cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and health data. Information on the topics and the call conditions are available on the IHI website.

The IHI call 2 is a two-stage call with two different topics on cardiovascular disease and early feasibility studies. Learn more here.

The deadline for proposals is set on 20 September 2022.

If you are looking for partners to build a consortium to one of the topics in the two open calls, then register on the brokerage event webpage and search the potential partners. The brokerage is open until 15 July 2022.

Sources: Euresearch, IHI

Results of the second call for proposals of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Higher Education Initiative (HEI) have been published! In total, 56 applications from an impressive total of 683 organisations, including 311 higher education institutions (HEIs) and 372 non-academic organisations have been submitted.

After careful evaluation by a panel of independent experts, 26 applications have been selected: visit the EIT HEI Initiative website for more information about each funded project.

The next call for proposals will be launched towards the end of 2022. In preparation of the call, EIT RawMaterials will organise an information event as part of the INNOVEIT Weeks 2022. The hybrid event (Stockholm or online) will be held on 15 September 2022 and will cover three main topics:

• Best practices and methodologies from the EIT’s HEI Initiative for increasing the innovation capacity of HEIs;
• Building effective, sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship courses for the 21st century;
• Fostering T-shaped students in deep tech.

More information about this event, incl. registration link, is available here.

Sources: EIT, Euresearch

The Doctoral Network Call 2022 of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions is open with a deadline on 15 November 2022 (see the call here).

Swiss institutions can participate as associated partners. Doctoral candidates employed by Swiss host institutions can be added on top of the European contribution as long as Switzerland is not reclassified by the European Commission as a ‘country to be associated’ before the call deadline.

Check out the latest Euresearch factsheet on "MSCA Doctoral Networks for Swiss participants - Swiss-based doctoral candidates on top of EU contribution".

Source: Euresearch

This applicants' event will explain and clarifying the scope of the European Innovation Council - EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2022 and the application process.

The half-day event will take place fully online on 5 July 2022. During the event, specific break out sessions will be held according to the scope of one of the six Pathfinder Challenges:

Environment & Energy:

• Carbon dioxide and nitrogen management and valorisation
• Mid to long term and systems integrated energy storage

Health:

• Cardiogenomics
• DNA-based digital data storage
• Towards the Healthcare Continuum: technologies to support a radical shift from episodic to continuous healthcare

Quantum technologies:

• Alternative approaches to Quantum Information Processing, Communication, and Sensing

Registration and further information here.

Sources: EIC, Euresearch