No loss of funding thanks to Transfer Grants

In February 2015, the SNSF awarded 21 SNSF Consolidator Grants to outstanding researchers, thereby concluding its Temporary Backup Schemes (TBS), launched as a substitute for the ERC grants from which Swiss-based researchers were temporarily barred. The over 250 TBS applications – of which 48 were approved with a total budget of CHF 92 million – are a clear indication that these short-term transitional measures were a necessary step. In addition, the SNSF introduced Transfer Grants in September 2015; they allow researchers abroad who had won an ERC Starting or Consolidator Grant in 2014 to accept an academic post in Switzerland without any loss of funding.