In 2019, the Administrative Offices conducted evaluation processes for 6,852 grant applications and obtained 10,763 reviews from external experts.
The National Research Council and its evaluation bodies discussed the applications in 184 meetings. 395 researchers received an invitation to present their project in an interview. The Administrative Offices organised the meetings and interviews and implemented the decisions of the Research Council. During the year, they received 8,361 scientific and financial reports and 9,611 administrative messages.
For the first time, the Administrative Offices issued a call for the funding schemes SPIRIT and Spark. SPIRIT promotes cross-border and team-oriented projects with countries of the Global South. Spark finances original projects of short duration.
The Administrative Offices also started the largescale AARE project to enhance SNSF research funding. The project will examine processes and IT systems with the aim of further simplifying them and making them more flexible.
The SNSF’s new building project will also bring a major change. The premises at the current location are in a residential neighbourhood in Bern. Spread across five buildings, they do not offer enough space and no longer meet the needs of the Administrative Offices, the Research Council and evaluation bodies. For this reason, the SNSF is planning to build new offices in the development area Wankdorf, which belongs to the city of Bern. After in-depth evaluation, the Administrative Offices invited tenders for a study mandate from architecture firms at the end of 2019. Operations are expected to start from the new premises in 2023.
Five apprentices completed their training in commerce (some with a higher education entrance qualification) or mediamatics. At the end of last year, there were thirteen apprentices and four academic interns at the SNSF.
The public research database P3 was queried more than 100,000 times during 2019. It contains detailed information on the projects funded by the SNSF since 1975.
The Administrative Offices published 92 news articles and 37 calls for proposals, and dispatched 18 newsletters to 23,000 recipients. Over 20,000 people followed the SNSF on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. In all, the SNSF’s social media contributions were viewed three million times.