Since Switzerland is allowed to participate again in the ERC Starting Grant program, the SNSF has launched their own Starting Grant program for 2025. The call opened on October 15th with an SNSF deadline on January 15th 2025.
This document describes the process for getting support from the Institute of Physics (IPHYS) to apply as an external candidate or non-professor internal candidate. EPFL PATTs who are eligible can refer to the SNSF Starting Grants application toolkit for their own application process (carefully check the eligibility criteria).
Generalities
IPHYS accepts both external and internal candidates (please note the SNSF eligibility criteria). SNSF Starting Grant applicants who would like to be hosted at IPHYS must first be approved by the hosting institute according to the process described below.
For the purpose of the internal selection process, a professor of the institute needs to endorse the application. SNSF Starting Grant applicants should therefore first obtain the support from an IPHYS professor (called the supporting professor in the following).
Upon successful application, SNSF Starting Grant awardees will receive the title of Assistant Professor (non tenure-track). They head their own research group and supervise the PhD students involved in their project. SNSF Starting Grant awardees receive 100 kCHF of start-up funds.
Description of the selection process
The supporting professor is responsible to ensure that the candidate they support is of outstanding quality. The supporting professor also needs to state in an endorsement letter (using the template provided below) either that they commit to provide the necessary space, infrastructure, and administrative for the success of the proposed project, or they need to provide a list of required lab (with specifications) and office space, and infrastructure. Finally, the supporting professor should commit to provide the extra resources that may be needed to complete the involved PhD theses and must be ready to take over the supervision of the involved PhD students should the grant holder leave EPFL.
The IPHYS selection is based on the following criteria:
- Scientific excellence
- Availability of resources
- Strategic and synergetic advantage for IPHYS.
The procedure will proceed as follows:
- Candidates apply by uploading their file in PDF form on the IPHYS pre-application site: https://facultyrecruiting.epfl.ch/position/56918029 IPHYS deadline: 07/11/2024
- Applications should include the following documents: CV, publication list, short summary of main achievements to date (max. 1 page), outline of proposed project (max. 3 pages), reasons for IPHYS as host (max. 1 page), endorsement letter from the supporting professor (using the template provided below), budget using the budget calculator provided in the toolkit, copy of first PhD-diploma with date of defence.
- Based on the files provided by the candidates, the Executive Committee and Director of the institute will decide which candidates are supported by IPHYS to submit an application at the SNSF. This list of supported candidates will be proposed to the SB Dean who takes the final decision.
- SB will provide the list of supported candidates to the Research Office who will issue the EPFL confirmation letter.
The application toolkit is available here. Please read all the documents carefully, follow the instructions and make sure that your application file fulfils all the requirements. Incomplete files will not be considered. If you have questions regarding the IPHYS procedure, please contact Blandine Jérôme ([email protected], +41 21 69 33376). If you have questions regarding the application toolkit, please contact the Research Office ([email protected]).
Timeline & deadlines
IPHYS deadlines are at midnight (23h59) on the indicated date. Files received after the deadline will not be considered.
IPHYS pre-application deadline: November 7th, 2024
IPHYS selection: end November 2024
EPFL deadline: January 6th, 2025
SNSF application deadline: January 15th, 2025
Links
IPHYS pre-application online platform
IPHYS template for endorsement by supporting professor
EPFL toolkit for SNSF Starting Grant