The Administrative Offices
of the SNSF: ensuring that
everything goes as
smoothly as possible

On behalf of the Swiss government, the SNSF supports basic scientific research in Switzerland through a range of schemes and measures. Its core task is to peer review and finance research proposals submitted by researchers. As part of this remit, the Administrative Offices of the SNSF efficiently support the other SNSF bodies and coordinate their activities:

  • the Foundation Council in making decisions on strategy and personnel matters,
  • the approximately 100-member strong National Research Council in evaluating several thousands of applications each year,
  • around 90 other evaluation bodies with a total membership of 700 in their evaluation activities,
  • the SNSF Research Commissions at work in the universities.

The Administrative Offices prepare the ground for decisions by the aforementioned bodies and they implement the corresponding resolutions. They are responsible for the settlement and monitoring of the financial aspects of the SNSF’s funding activities. 273 people work at the Administrative Offices – in percentage terms this corresponds to 222 full-time equivalents. The main organisational units are the Executive Management, Central Services, Staff Services, Strategic Planning and Research Funding.

26'500

requests for external reviews

6'700

submitted proposals

A principal task of the Administrative Offices is to obtain and analyse national and international expert reviews of the submitted proposals. Last year alone, the Research Funding divisions transmitted approximately 26,500 requests via the mySNF web platform in which they asked experts to review some 3,000 proposals. 9,600 external reviews were eventually submitted.

The Administrative Offices maintain contacts with research policy makers and partner organisations around the globe and represent the SNSF in important committees. In the context of the SNSF’s funding activities and policies, they consult with national partners such as SERI, CTI, SDC, swissuniversities and Euresearch and are in touch with Science Europe as well as funding agencies the world over. They are also in close contact with SwissCore, the Swiss information and liaison office for European research, innovation and education in Brussels. SwissCore is jointly funded by the SNSF, the SERI and the CTI.

Last but not least, the Administrative Offices’s remit includes communicating effectively with the Swiss public. It publishes the research magazine “Horizons”, issues press releases, organises press conferences and produces the SNSF’s annual report “Profile”.