PhD Funding at the University of Geneva

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Most often the doctorate is funded through the thesis director who has a vacant position or, who has obtained a grant from a sponsor. Many of these opportunities are publicly posted on UNIGE’s job offers, on the job platform for talent made in Switzerland “Get Hired”, or on MyScience.ch website. Some doctoral programs also offer funding for the thesis but after a centralized selection of all candidates who have applied. This is the case of the PhD Programs of the faculty of medicine and, of the « International PhD program in Basic and Applied Molecular Life Sciences » of the faculty of sciences. Selected people are then guided to professors who have announced that they have a financing for a PhD student. Other opportunities exist which enable a student who has initiated his/her thesis to obtain by him/herself a funding (grant or fellowship) for his/her research.

You are hired on an assistant position at the University of Geneva (budget of the State of Geneva)
You are funded by external grants that the research group has obtained from research funding agencies or foundations
You have found a professor who has accepted to supervise your thesis but he is not yet able to finance it
You can try to obtain a subsidy for your thesis by yourself
1) You have a thesis project in the field of humanities and social sciences
2) You have a PhD project in the field of Systems Biology
3) You had to stop or to reduce your research activity because of family reasons (children or change of residence due to partner's career development) (subsidy for women researchers only)
4) You are a research-oriented physician and you wish to prepare a PhD thesis
5) You are currently a PhD student in an institution located in one of the new countries being members of the European Union (Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania)
6) You are a foreigner and you wish to prepare a PhD thesis at the University of Geneva
7) You are registered for a PhD at the University of Geneva since at least one year and you wish to reinforce you scientific training abroad during the duration of the PhD
8) You are a PhD student at the University of Geneva and you are looking for a funding to complete your thesis at the University of Geneva
Other funding opportunities for PhD students
All funding opportunities mentioned above do not apply in your case and therefore you don’t have any financing for your thesis

You are hired on an assistant position at the University of Geneva (budget of the State of Geneva)

Most of our PhD students who are financed have got an assistant position. This position is funded by the budget of the University of Geneva and is provided by the research group. According to the regulation for the staff of the University (art 149), the assistant practices teaching activities and research under the direction of a professor or a “maître d’enseignement et de recherche” or a “chargé de cours”. Therefore, the PhD student completes at the same time his/her scientific and pedagogical training and a doctoral thesis. The rate of activity of an assistant is 70% to 100 %. Assistants are hired under the class 8/4 (minimum) which corresponds to a gross salary of CHF 66,067 per annum for a 100% position (2013 scale). It might seem a lot but the cost-of-living in Switzerland is high. The assistant is nominated for a period of 2 years, renewable twice, respectively for 2 years and one year. Vacancies of assistant positions are advertised on UNIGE’s job offers.

You are funded by external grants that the research group has obtained from research funding agencies or foundations

Professors obtain research grants by submitting applications to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), to the European Commission (Euresearch) or to other sponsors. Thanks to these subsidies, they can pay the salary of a PhD student. The PhD student is hired as an assistant (on external fund) or as candoc if the grant comes from the SNSF. The SNSF constitutes the second source of funding for PhD students. Various funding schemes of the SNSF allow the financing of PhD students: individual projects, Sinergia projects, SNSF professorships, Ambizione projects and, National Research Programs and National Centers of Competence in Research. Each year 150 new grants for individual projects or Sinergia projects are obtained by researchers of the University of Geneva, allowing 200 new PhD students to be hired. You can have access to the SNSF subsidies granted to UNIGE’s professors on the database P3. The salary of a candoc is based on the SNSF salary scale and increased each year (gross annual salary for the first year of the PhD thesis in 2014 is CHF 47,040 (70% activity rate). The maximum duration of a candoc contract is 4 years. PhD students who are paid by the SNSF (apart from NRPs programs) should keep in mind that they can benefit from a stay abroad from 6 to 12 months thanks to a complementary subsidy which can be asked to the SNSF in the frame of the ongoing project ”Mobility grants for doctoral students in research projects funded by the SNSF”  - a maximum of CHF 20,000 for travel and living expenses + CHF 5,000 per supplementary family member). During that period the salary remains paid by the SNSF. The maximum duration of four years for doctoral studies financed by the SNSF may not be extended by the stay abroad. That stay enables the young researcher to assert his/her CV a mobility experience.

You have found a professor who has accepted to supervise your thesis but he is not yet able to finance it

The professor can submit an application to the SNSF project funding scheme for the research project which is related to the subject of your thesis. That request will include the payment of your salary. You can ask to be part of the writing of the application. For this purpose you have at your disposal the “UNIGE Guidelines for a First Submission to SNSF”. There are two annual submission dates: April 1st and October 1st. The grant will be available six months after the deadline of the submission in case of acceptance. In 2012 the success rates of all applications submitted to the SNSF in Switzerland range from 46% to 68% depending on research areas.
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You can try to obtain a subsidy for your thesis by yourself

The other opportunities of fellowships and grants for PhD students are more restrictive regarding the eligibility requirements.

1) You have a thesis project in the field of humanities and social sciences

You can apply for the new SNSF scheme: Doc.CH in humanities and social sciences (HSS) if you meet all the eligibility requirements. Doc.CH (HSS) is an excellence funding scheme aimed at promising researchers who wish to write a dissertation in the humanities and social sciences in Switzerland on a topic of their own choice. You need to have your master degree two years at the most before the deadline submission. The master must have been delivered by a Swiss institution (master delivered by institutions outside Switzerland are acceptable only for people having the Swiss nationality). Two persons must supervise the dissertation: the supervisor (place of registration for doctoral studies in Switzerland) and co-supervisor (at another higher education institution in Switzerland or abroad). The grant covers the PhD student salary according to the SNSF grading scale for candidates applying for a PhD thesis. The grant is awarded for 2 to a maximum of 4 years starting on the date of the registration for the PhD thesis. It consists of two parts: an initial 2 years, followed by another 1 to 2 years. There are two dates of submission each year: March 10th and September 10th. It is a two-steps selection process: first the SNSF Research Commission at UNIGE selects the best applications and recommends them to the National Research Council of the SNSF. For the second phase those persons whose applications were selected in the first assessment phase are invited by the National Research Council of the SNSF to a personal interview in Berne, during which they present their research project and career plan. The success rate of this instrument was 29 % at the session of March 2013. Interested applicants are asked to send their CV by e-mail to the secretariat office of the SNSF Research Commission at UNIGE.
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2) You have a PhD project in the field of Systems Biology

The initiative SystemsX.ch funds interdisciplinary PhDs (Interdisciplinary PhD Project). The research project must integrate at least two disciplines within Systems Biology (computer science, engineering, nanotechnology, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, medicine, etc.)(examples of interdisciplinary PhDs supported by SystemsX.ch). Two senior scientists supervise the PhD student.. The amount of the salary is based on the grading scale of the SNSF. The duration of the financing is 3 years and can be extended one more year. The next submission deadline will be end of spring 2014.
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3) You had to stop or to reduce your research activity because of family reasons (children or change of residence due to partner's career development) (subsidy for women researchers only)

PhD students whose situation corresponds to the case mentioned above can ask for the SNSF subsidy called Marie Heim-Vögtlin(MHV). This grant enables women researchers to make up for delays that might have occurred during their scientific carrier. The MHV subsidy is given for a maximum of two years and can be extended one more year. The subsidy covers the salary of the PhD student according to SNSF grading scale for PhD students. The submission deadline is beginning of August each year. The success rate of this scheme is around 37%.
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4) You are a research-oriented physician and you wish to prepare a PhD thesis

You can apply for a MD-PhD SNSF grant. Applicants need to have completed studies in human or dental medicine at the beginning of the period of the subsidy. Annual subsidies of CHF 60,000 may be granted for a maximum of 3 years. From 9 to 13 subsidies per year are granted. The submission deadline is December 15th of each year. Other opportunities for physicians to prepare a PhD thesis are available on the Postgraduate education webpage of the faculty of medicine.
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5) You are currently a PhD student in an institution located in one of the new countries being members of the European Union (Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania)

You can carry on your research in a Swiss institution thanks to a doctoral fellowship Sciex (Scientific Exchange Program between Switzerland and the New Member States of the European Union). The doctoral fellowship may begin not earlier than one year after the start of your PhD. The research stay in Switzerland can last 6 to 24 months. The applicant and the person responsible for the project is the professor of the University of Geneva who will be the mentor of the PhD student. The next deadline for submission is November 1st, 2013 for PhD students coming from the following countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Romania.
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6) You are a foreigner and you wish to prepare a PhD thesis at the University of Geneva

You can apply for a PhD Scholarship to the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students. First check if your country of origin is eligible for a PhD Scholarship by surfing on the website of the Commission. You need to have a Master or an equivalent University degree recognized by the University of Geneva. You must not be more than 35 years old at the moment of the application and you need to live in your country of origin at the moment of the submission. You must provide a letter (e-mail) from a Professor of the University of Geneva stating that he/she is willing to supervise the PhD thesis. The scholarship amounts to a monthly payment of CHF 1,920 for a maximum of 3 years. Deadline for the academic year 2014-2015 is autumn 2013 (precise date varies depending on countries). Interested applicants can obtain the application package from the Swiss Embassy of their country.
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7) You are registered for a PhD at the University of Geneva since at least one year and you wish to reinforce you scientific training abroad during the duration of the PhD

You can apply for a SNSF Doc.Mobility fellowship. Doc.Mobility fellowships are awarded for 6 months up to a maximum of 18 months and start at the earliest 2 or 4 months after the submission deadline of the Doc.Mobility grant (March 1st and September 1st) and at the latest 12 months after the date on the letter granting the subsidy. You need to confirm in writing your intention to continue your doctoral studies and obtain your doctorate at your home institution once the mobility fellowship has ended. The subsidy includes personal expenses (CHF 41,000 to 46,000 per year depending on the cost of living of the country of your stay) (higher grading scale will be granted if the grantee is accompanied by a partner without any paid activity), travel expenses, congress expenses, essential costs of the research, registration fees at the host institution and, a child allowance defined by the SNSF (check fellowship amounts). The scientific evaluation and the decision of granting Doc.Mobility subsidy falls to the SNSF Commission based at the University of Geneva. Applicants who wish to submit an application need to announce themselves to the administrative office in Geneva ( or ) by attaching to the email their CV. Submission deadlines: March 1st and September 1st each year.
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Other funding opportunities for a stay abroad during the PhD period

- The Zdenek and Michaela Bakala Foundation awards grants to UNIGE’s researchers who wish to go abroad for one or more semesters in the framework of their PhD thesis (or for the entire period dedicated to the PhD thesis). However the host institution has to be located in the US, the UK or in Europe and must be recognized as a top university such as for example Cambridge, Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, Yale, etc. (this list is neither exhaustive nor limitative). Applicants should be fiscally domiciled in Switzerland since at least 5 years. This grant finances subscription fees to the foreign university and/or leaving expenses in the host country. Next submission deadline: January 15th, 2014.
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- In order to promote academic stays abroad, the Ernest Boninchi Foundation awards several mobility scholarships each year.. This subsidy concerns deserving students of Swiss nationality who could not achieve a project without a financing help and, who are registered for a PhD thesis at the UNIGE. They will remain registered at the UNIGE and must come back to finish their university curriculum. Deadlines: January 15th (decision in April), March 15th (decision in June), June 30th (decision in October).
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8) You are a PhD student at the University of Geneva and you are looking for a funding to complete your thesis at the University of Geneva

The Ernst and Lucie Schmidheiny Foundation and the Academic Society of Geneva whose goal is to contribute to the development of the University of Geneva may give financial support to PhD students completing their thesis.

- The Ernst and Lucie Schmidheiny Foundation supports research activities carried out by graduate students (usually concluding a doctoral thesis).  Submission deadlines: April 1st and October 1st, each year.

- The Academic Society of Geneva may exceptionally grant a doctoral candidate, who has brought together all the elements of the thesis, to finish writing it. The duration of the funding is from 6 months to one year. Submission deadlines: September 15th, December 15th, March 15th, May 15th, each year – for the faculty of medicine, only December 15th and May 15th, each year.

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Other funding opportunities for PhD students

All funding opportunities mentioned above do not apply in your case and therefore you don’t have any financing for your thesis

You can look for a financing support at the “Bureau universitaire d’information sociale (BUIS)” . PhD students with children and leaving in Geneva who have deposit their pre-thesis with success may be eligible for a scholarship of two years maximum. The allowance is of CHF 10,000 maximum and per academic year. To be eligible for this allowance the student needs to work in order to cover at least 50% of his/her expenses budget.
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