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.

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. 

• Materials and operations (such as consumables, data collection, fees, publications)
• Publication costs (such as APCs / printing costs)
• 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)
• Academic teaching or mentoring activities

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.

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 that clearly contextualizes the funds requested from GRC must be included.
 

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:

• Academic CV
• scan of your validated UZH Card
• academic letter of recommendation
• Short description of your proposal

The effective application for a GRC Career Grant must also be submitted digitally. You can enter and submit your application in the GRC Tool. The information provided can be saved at any time and completed later. You must include the following documents with your application:

• Description of the activity
• Detailed timeline of the activity with milestones
• Rationale for persons to be compensated or experts to be invited. 

 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 available?
• 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.

• 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 scientific career (see Sustainability Guidelines).
• Budget (the use of the requested funds is appropriate, targeted and sufficiently justified).

• Settlement of accounts is generally done through the cost center of a Chair at UZH.
• 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. All necessary documents for the submission of your report can be found directly in theGRC Tool as soon as you open your report there.
• In event announcements (website, flyer, program, etc.), reference must be made to the support provided by Graduate Campus.