Excellence of research

The Faculty of Science strives for excellence in research

The Faculty of Science is world-renowned for its research work. The award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the first planet outside the solar system, a 2nd Fields Medal, considered the "Nobel Prize in Mathematics", obtained in 2022, the exploits in quantum teleportation and the studies of the genetics of embryonic development are just a few examples of an intense activity in a very wide range of disciplines: astrophysics, biology, chemistry and biochemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics, pharmaceutical sciences and Earth and environmental sciences.

With some 4000 publications yearly, the Faculty can pride itself on its prime position among the most prestigious European, and even worldwide, institutions. In fact,

UNIGE is ranked in the top 1% of the world’s best universities: respectively 62nd (Shanghai), 113th (Leiden), 125th (QS) and 197th (Times Higher Education). Shanghai puts the Geneva Faculty of Science in the 41st place overall, 12th in Europe, 3rd in Switzerland after the ETHZ and 2nd in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (2016).

This recognition of quality shows through, among other things, in the sheer quantity of funds allocated to the university by various external bodies such as the Federal Office for Education and Science, the Federal Office of Energy, industries, and most of all by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In fact, in 2019, the amount of SNSF subsidies obtained by the UNIGE amounted to nearly 132 million francs, or 12.5% of total national subsidies. This puts the UNIGE in 1st place among Swiss universities, ahead of Zurich (124 million) and Bern (103 million), and ahead of the EPFL (106 million).

Such an objective of quality is naturally coupled with the establishment of national cooperation agreements among the graduate institutions of the Lake Geneva region, as well as internationally.

The Faculty hosts two National Centres of Competence in Research

Created by the Confederation in 2001, the program of National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) encourages, over the long term, research projects whose focus holds strategic value for the future of Swiss science, economy and society.

At the end of 2013 the Swiss confederation awarded two new NCCR to the Faculty of Sciences : SwissMAP in mathematics and theoretical physics and PlanetS in astronomy. They join the excellence in research performed by Chemical Biology and two other centers (Frontiers in Genetics and MaNEP – materials with novel electric properties) which were awarded in 2010 and 2001 respectively and completed their funding period.
Learn more… NCCRs on the website of the Swiss National Science Foundation