Do research in Switzerland

Switzerland has a worldwide reputation for doing top-notch research, attracting the best talents and offering state-of-the-art infrastructure. Researchers not only find a complementary environment for their work, but also benefit from the high living standard and the cultural diversity in Switzerland. Hence, it is not surprising that many researchers, especially many Europeans, are looking for opportunities to go (or return) to Switzerland.

With this in mind, Katja Wirth of EUresearch was invited to swissnex Boston to provide those researchers interested in academic careers in Switzerland with an overview of the tools available to researchers abroad. Following the “technical” details of funding instruments, Evelin Geiser, a Swiss MIT post-doc, shared her view on the cultural differences of doing research in Switzerland and the USA.

The 20 graduate students and post-docs learned that there are primarily two funding agencies that offer interest programs to attract young talents from abroad. First, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the only research granting council in Switzerland, recently launched the Ambizione program. This program provides 40 – 50 per year grants for up to three years to Swiss researchers abroad, or foreign junior researchers who wish to conduct as a research associate and independent research project at a Swiss university.

For short time stays, SNSF also offers the International Shorts Visits program that supports foreign researchers who come to Switzerland for one week to three month to initiate, or consolidate, collaborations with Swiss colleagues.

Second, Ms. Wirth also pointed to the funding opportunities of the European Union, highlighting two specific programs. On the one hand, there is the ERC Starting Independent Researchers Grant that provides support for individual researchers from all disciplines, focuses on interdisciplinary and adopts a bottom-up approach. On the other hand, the International Incoming Fellowship (IFF) of the Marie Curie Actions targets researchers with PhD, of any nationality and with at least four years of full-time research experience. The next call for grants will be published in March 2012.

Swiss Life Sciences Night

This past Friday, swissnex Boston kicked off the second annual Swiss Life Sciences Night. In conjunction with Roche, EU Research, Uni Zurich, Uni Basel, EPFL and ETH, swissnex’s Cambridge office was transformed into a lively, interactive career and academic fair.

The event drew in a diverse mix of students, mostly postdoctoral and master, studying and working at local universities and institutions. Armed with informational pamphlets and impressive resumes, the students were eager to discover the current possibilities in Switzerland:

“I am interested in Switzerland because I think it’s a very good country and I’ve heard there’s a lot of companies and a lot of good universities to continue my research there,” explained Anna, PhD candidate in chemistry.

“[I would] like to return to Switzerland. Love the country, the people and the life standard. I think the science is great there; they have a lot of opportunities,” Sandra, postdoctoral candidate at Dana Farber.

Along with the companies' and universities' presentations, the Swiss Life Sciences event featured a Job Board, filled with various opportunities and postings available in Switzerland from MyScience.ch.

swissnex Boston would like to thank Roche, EU Research, Uni Zurich, Uni Basel, EPFL and ETH for a successful Swiss Life Sciences night. We hope that this event has helped many students discover the next step in their career. For more information on any of the schools or organizations mentioned in this post feel free to email Sebasiten Hug, swissnex Boston Project Leader.

Attracting brains to Europe: The MIT European Career Fair

The 16^th MIT-European Career Fair took place on January 21 – 23, 2012, attracting several thousand young talents from all over North America looking for opportunities in industry and academia in Europe. What started as a grassroots initiative evolved over the years to a platform, not only for European employers and universities, but also for the European Commission. This fact was highlighted this year by the visit of the EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Ms. Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, who gave the keynote speech at the Destination Europe- Conference, which was held the day before the fair. This conference, organized by the European Commission, featured other high-level speakers, such as ERC Secretary General Donald B Dingwell, and Nobel Prize Winner Tim Hunt. Its main message was that Europe continues to invest in research and innovation even in times of austerity and, thus, it is serious in its ambition to compete for the best scientific talent worldwide. While the conference conveyed an important political message, the MIT European Career Fair allowed for face-to-face interactions with students and researchers.

Like the previous fairs, swissnex Boston was present with its own booth, surrounded by a strong Swiss presence, including multinational companies such as Roche, ABB, ETH Zurich, EPFL, University of Basel, EUresearch and the Life Science Zurich- who participated for the first time! The most prominent guest at the swissnex Boston booth was EU Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn, who expressed her hope to visit Switzerland’s top research facilities soon. Whether it was about open academic positions, living costs, research funding opportunities or working at swissnex Boston, many others seized the opportunity to speak to the swissnex Boston team.

The MIT-ECF weekend clearly illustrated the fact that young talents are more mobile than ever; one must not speak of brain gain or brain drain, but of brain circulation. Switzerland, in this respect, is a country with a strong reputation for excellent research and a high living standard.