Apply for GRC Career Grant

Are you looking for funding for your own research project? With the GRC Career Grant we support postdocs and advanced doctoral researchers in situations where unforeseen costs or structural obstacles complicate a promising academic career. Projects can be applied for individually or as a group. The application volume is between CHF 5,000 and CHF 15,000. One repetition for the same project is possible in principle, but first-time applications are given priority.

The call for applications for the GRC Career Grants is made twice a year. Application periods are:

• February 1 - March 15, 11:59 p.m.
• September 1 - October 15, 11:59 p.m. 

The GRC Awards Committee, which is composed of the coordination office and elected representatives of VAUZ, will decide on the approval of the applications. All faculties are represented. The committee meets twice a year.

The decision will be communicated ca. 8 weeks after the application deadline.

You can find detailed information on which budget items can be funded under which conditions in the Budget planning Guidelines. The format of eligible activities is deliberately kept open to accommodate the widest possible range of academic projects. The core objective of the GRC Career Grant is to ensure an added value of the activity for the individual academic career of the grantee and socially sustainable project planning. Please refer to the factsheet with our Sustainability Guidelines  for guidance on how to effectively design your application. 

A necessary condition for funding through a GRC Career Grant is that the project cannot be funded through other means. In the award process, it is therefore checked whether other funding options are available. It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide the necessary information.

Funding can be granted for:

• Materials and operational costs (such as consumables, data collection, fees, publications)
• Personnel (for early career researchers, student employees, experts, volunteers)
• Peer formats (such as mentoring and research groups, event series, smaller projects)
• Events (such as workshops, conferences, meetings)
• Science communication to the public (outreach)

All advanced doctoral researchers and postdocs of UZH. Postdocs are all early career researchers employed at or affiliated with UZH who have completed a doctorate and are also engaged in research after the doctorate and at the time of application. Advanced doctoral researchers are all doctoral researchers employed or enrolled at UZH who can credibly demonstrate that they are on a plausible academic career path to the postdoctoral phase as defined above.

You can apply for funding from CHF 5,000 up to a maximum of CHF 15,000. Please follow our instructions in the budget planning guidelines for the effective design of your application. For funding activities with a smaller funding volume, please see  GRC Short Grants.

GRC Career Grants may be applied for as matching funds. As a rule, applicants are required to be transparent about all sources of funding for the proposed activity. A global budget must be included in the application. The global budget must clearly contextualise the funds requested from the GRC and ensure transparency regarding all sources of funding and cash flows. In particular, a budget document and/or supplementary text should show how funds and resources are allocated to the (sub)activities and explain why the activity cannot be funded elsewhere or to what extent other stakeholders (chair, research group, institute, faculty, internal and external UZH collaborations) are contributing financially or materially to the project costs.

To ensure that your global budget contains the relevant information, you can use the following questions as a guide:
- Is the proposed activity self-sustaining or part of a larger project?
- Is the proposed activity part of an academic appointment or a scientific qualification thesis (dissertation, habilitation)?
- Is the project self-initiated and independent, or is it embedded in the work of a cooperation, research group, institute or chair project?
- What proportion of the total project costs does the amount requested from the GRC represent?
- What other sources of funding are available or have been requested? 
- Have parts of the overall project already been funded?
- What contributions in terms of content, materials and/or finances are being made by the individual stakeholders in the project?
- What contributions in terms of materials and finances are being made by the institute and/or faculty?

A prerequisite for the submission of your application is a completed counseling interview with the Graduate Campus. 20 consulting slots are offered for each submission date. You can view and book available consulting appointments online via GRC Tool. If there is no consulting slot left, it is not possible to submit an application for the ongoing application period.

With the appointment booking you have to submit the following documents:

(unfold for further information)

Validated and valid UZH Card

Please only upload scans of validated UZH Cards. Alternatively, you can retrieve and upload your validation digitally via the UZH app. In cases where a validated UZH Card cannot be uploaded, we expect an equivalent document confirming valid and current affiliation with UZH and an explanation of why this alternative had to be chosen. 

Academic letter of support

The letter of support is usually written by the supervisor or superior. It should contain at least relevant information about the proposed activity and explain why, firstly, the applicant is suitable for it and, secondly, why the timing and duration of the activity were chosen. We also expect information on whether and to what extent (or why not) the applicant and the activity are financially supported. The letter should generally be no longer than one to two pages. If the applicant prefers to submit a letter of support from another person who is neither their supervisor nor superior, the reason for this must be stated in the documentation or brief description of the activity applied for.

Academic CV

Please limit yourself to relevant information; the CV should be no longer than two pages.

Brief description of funding request and eligibility in the form

The form allows you to provide a brief description. Please describe briefly and concisely what activity you wish to apply for, what costs are involved, why Career Grants are the appropriate instrument, and whether you have checked your eligibility.

The effective application for a GRC Career Grant must also be submitted digitally. You can enter and submit your application in the GRC Tool.

You must include the following documents with your application:

Global budget

For details on the global budget, please refer to the budget planning guidelines.

Academic letter of support

You can use either the same letter of support from your application for the consultation slot or a revised version. The requirements remain the same as those mentioned above.

Documentation

The documentation should not only contain a comprehensible description of the proposed activity, but also a research plan that clearly specifies the time frame for implementation, any work packages and work steps, and the resources to be used. If other persons are involved in the implementation of the (partial) activity, this must be indicated in the research plan and the division of tasks must be specified.

Academic CV

Please limit yourself to relevant information; the CV should be no longer than two pages.

Justification of persons to be compensated

This document is only relevant if the costs you have applied for from the GRC include expenses for persons (see guidelines on budget planning, section ‘personnel costs’). If this is the case, please list all persons to be compensated and the reason for the compensation, as well as the calculation key used for the compensation. Please also provide a brief explanation of the services provided by the persons to be compensated for the requested activity, why these persons were selected and why the services cannot or should not be covered by other sources of funding. Please note our regulations regarding the possibility of compensation for academic staff in theguidelines on budget planning, section ‘experts’.

GRC Tool form

A preview of the form can be found here. The information provided can be saved at any time and completed later.

 Before you submit your application, please consider the following points:

• A UZH professorial faculty member must provide their own cost center for financial processing of the grant.
• Is your application complete?
• Have you indicated all possible sources of funding? Is a global budget included?
• For projects with planned events: Are rooms reserved for your event?

Only applications that are complete and received in a regular manner can be accepted for formal review. The application can only be considered ‘submitted’ once you have received confirmation by email.

• Added value of the activity for the academic career of the early career researchers.
• Societal added value of the activity.
• Sustainability of the activity regarding the aspects of ecology, social responsibility, and planning of the academic career (seeguidelines on sustainability)
• Budget: the use of the requested funds is appropriate, targeted and sufficiently justified (see guidelines on budget planning)

• Settlement of accounts is generally done through the cost center or a G-project of a Chair at UZH.
• In event announcements (website, flyer, program, etc.), reference must be made to the support provided by Graduate Campus.
• An accountability report must be submitted no later than 2 weeks after completion of the activity. Accountability reports for GRC Career Grants are to be submitted digitally. You can enter and submit your accountability report in theGRC Tool. The information provided can be saved at any time and completed later.
• In addition to the information provided in the form, a use of funds  (XLSX, 36 KB)must be completed and all invoice receipts must be uploaded as a single PDF file. The invoices must document expenses at least equal to the amount of the grant and correspond to the budget items in the application.
• You will find additional information in the Leaflet on transfer of funds (PDF, 228 KB). 
• All necessary documents for your report can be found directly in theGRC Tool as soon as you open your report there.