International Co-Investigator Scheme

The International Co-Investigator Scheme provides funding for cross-border projects.

Submission deadline:1 October and 1 April The SNSF uses the International Co-Investigator scheme to promote and facilitate international collaboration. This funding scheme is aimed at researchers in Switzerland whose project includes a subproject abroad. The SNSF evaluates and finances both the project and the subproject abroad.

The agreement with Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands covers all disciplines, while the agreement with the UK is limited to the humanities and social sciences.

The International Co-Investigator Scheme is a project funding scheme. The requirements set out in Articles 4 and 5 of the Project Funding Regulations apply also to international co-applicants, i.e. they must have a minimum of 50% employment in the country concerned. The overhead costs or salary of the co-applicant abroad are not covered by the SNSF.

If the research team you would like to run a project with is in a country that is not listed above, your project might still be eligible for funding under the Sinergia programme.

• Project funding
• Regulations on project funding [PF Art. 4.5]
• Sinergia

The usual submission deadlines - 1 April and 1 October – apply, only one application may be submitted per deadline. When entering the application, also upload the form "International Co-Investigators Scheme". You do not have to submit the application to the funding organisations of the co-applicants abroad.

There must not be any thematic overlaps between the submitted applications and ongoing projects or applications submitted to other SNSF funding schemes. Furthermore, applicants may not exceed the number of permissible projects in the project funding category.

The SNSF evaluates the International Co-Investigator applications together with the purely Swiss applications without involvement of the foreign funding agency. There is no additional budget. The overall project is evaluated by the responsible research funding division.

As a grant holder, you are also responsible to the SNSF for the scientific and financial part abroad. When employing personnel abroad, please take account of the country-specific conditions (salaries, social contributions and legislation regarding conclusion of a contract and termination of an agreement). In particular, please take note of the relevant regulations concerning doctoral theses abroad.

Co-Investigator Scheme with Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands With the International Co-Investigator Scheme, you can use up to 50 percent of the budget requested from the SNSF for applicants in Denmark, Norway, Sweden or the Netherlands. The same applies to Swiss co-applicants, when an application falling under the Co-Investigator Agreement is submitted to the Independent Research Fund Denmark, the Research Council of Norway, the Swedish Research Council or the Dutch Research Council. The rules in force at the relevant funding organisation apply.

Co-Investigator Scheme with the UK in the humanities and social sciences If you wish to conduct a project in the humanities and social sciences, you can also apply for SNSF funding for subprojects in the UK. The subprojects in the UK must not exceed 30 per cent of the overall budget. Swiss subprojects are likewise funded up to a maximum of 30 per cent by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The rules in force at the relevant funding organisation apply.