Faculty of Medicine

Early-Career Researchers

The following funding instruments are explicitly aimed at early-career researchers.

Faculty Internal Funding Instruments

Talent4Bern Program

The call is published once a year (in July) and is aligned with the SNSF Starting Grant call. The application deadline for 2024 has passed.

The Talent4Bern funding program supports researchers who wish to apply for an SNSF Starting Grant to establish their own independent research group at the Faculty of Medicine. The candidates selected in the program receive support in preparing their grant proposal and, if successful with their application, benefit from additional funding and mentoring opportunities during the project's lifetime.

Grants for Protected Research Time

With the announcement of grants for "Protected Research Time", the Faculty of Medicine supports the possibility of creating clinical research time for young academics in the medical service sector.

Young investigator grants for patient-oriented and for translational research (with protected research time).

The Dean's Office of the Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Teaching and Research of Insel Gruppe AG jointly offer Young Investigator Grants. These are aimed at young assistant and senior physicians who pursue ambitions in research in addition to their clinical activities, as well as PhD students of the Graduate School for Health Science (GHS) in the Clinical Sciences Program. "Protected research time" provides the opportunity to create clinical research time for junior academic staff in the medical services area.

The two grants have a different focus. The Dean's Office call is for individuals with translational research projects. The call from the Department of Teaching and Research is for physicians from Insel Gruppe AG with a patient-oriented research project.

Call for applications for Young Academics Grant for Translational Research (Dean's Office): "Protected Research Time" for clinically active junior researchers:

The second call of the year is open. It will close on November 30, 2024. Only online applications will be considered.

For more information, please see the announcement below.

Insel Gruppe AG (Department of Teaching and Research) Advancement of Young Talent for Patient-Oriented Research:

Link to the call for proposals (only accessible from the Inselspital intranet)
Your contact person: Andrea Hipp (andrea.hipp@insel.ch)

Awardees 2023:

  • Helly Hammer, Department of Neurology
  • Esin Rotenfluh, Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery
  • Dilara Akhoundova Sanoyan, Department of Medical Oncology
  • Antonio Rodriguez-Calero, Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology

Awardees 2022:

  • Dr. Amanda Brosius Lutz, Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics
  • Dr. Chantal Dysli, Department of Ophthalmology
  • Dr. Yuly Paulin Mendoza Jaimes, Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine
  • Dr. Wiebke Solass, Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology
  • Dr. Sebastian Wangler, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Dr. Simone Zwicky, Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine

University Internal Funding Instruments

Specific internal funding instruments are designed to facilitate research at the University of Bern. In particular, they support early-career researchers, collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, innovation and entrepreneurship, and access to state-of-the-art infrastructure are supported.

You will find an overview here.

External Funding Instruments

You will find a list of the most relevant national and international public funding agencies and funding programs for researchers at the Faculty of Medicine and Inselspital here.

"Clinical Medicine Plus" Scholarships of the Prof. Dr. Max Cloëtta Foundation

The Prof. Dr. Max Cloëtta Foundation awards scholarships at renowned institutions to junior medical professionals during or immediately after completing their specialist training. The scholarship intended to finance a training stay at a first-class, primarily foreign host institution and in innovative fields or clinical ancillary sciences. The amount awarded for the “Clinical Medicine Plus” scholarship is determined by the Prof. Dr. Max Cloëtta Foundation. It is a contribution to travel expenses and cost of living during the stay at the host institution (3 to max. 12 months).

Candidates must be nominated and supported by a mentor from their institution in Switzerland. The mentor guarantees the appropriateness of the training and the quality of the host institution, and oversees the stay as an external tutor.

The next call for applications will open on February 1, 2024 and close on May 31, 2024.

More information

Call Document (PDF, 236KB)

Research Prizes

The following University of Bern prizes are aimed at early-career researchers:

Research Equipment

R'Equip Application

The project outline for an SNSF R'Equip application must be submitted to the Committee for Research.

Submission deadlines can be found here.