Call for Proposals: SPI Exploratory Grants (Switzerland)

To maximize the scientific output of a project whilst minimizing its environmental footprint, grants can also be used for the acquisition of polar data and samples through innovative methods. These methods can for instance involve reinforced collaboration between research groups or with other projects, enhanced cooperation with local partners, or the acquisition of remotely sensed data.

Collaboration with new teams or across disciplines are particularly encouraged, as well as participation in larger international activities. The grants can be used to complement the funding of initiatives supported by larger funding schemes.

Funding Information

• The grants are destined to cover costs for up to CHF 75,000- per successfully evaluated project. A detailed budget will be requested from each applicant. For this year (2024), the total budget allocated to SPI Exploratory Grants will be capped at CHF 275,000.

Eligible Costs

• Travel costs to scientific stations infrastructure in polar regions (including for the performance of technical maintenance work).
• Shipment of scientific equipment or material, and samples.
• Purchase of small equipment (in duly justified cases) and consumables.
• Rental of scientific equipment or sensing systems.
• Acquisition of remotely sensed data.
• Funding towards fieldwork carried out by local partners.
• Costs for preliminary analysis early processing of data samples directly after fieldwork (max. Chf 15,000).
• Offset of carbon emissions, if not an option already offered by the institution (see below for more details on the eligibility conditions of carbon compensation).

Ineligible Costs

• Overhead.
• Costs relating to salaries of permanent positions;
• Costs relating to scientific exchange (stay in another lab research facility) and the organization of workshops.
• Initiatives which are not directly inserted into a research activity (sports, arts, adventure, outreach).

Geographical Focus 

• The SPI Exploratory Grants Fund Swiss scientists active in polar regions, the Arctic and Antarctic, according to the SPI’s focus on high latitude.
• High-altitude research is an essential part of SPI and an important complementary area of interest to high latitude poles. However, funding of fieldwork and logistics for high-altitude research will concentrate on projects contributing to comparative high-altitude studies in support of polar issues and on complex and expensive logistics for fieldwork in remote high-altitude areas such as the Andes and the Himalayas.

Eligibility Criteria

• The SPI Exploratory Grants are complementary to the Polar Access Fund (specifically focused on early-career scientists) and to the SPI Techno grants (focused on technology developments). Consequently, eligibility will be limited to established researchers or post-docs (at least 3 years after PhD graduation). The grants are open to all researchers employed by a Swiss public research institution.
• Researchers from all fields, also fields considered as ‘non-typical’ for polar sciences (e.g. engineering, materials, medicine, humanities and social sciences, etc.), are encouraged to apply if they have a project to be conducted in a polar context.

For more information, visit Swiss Polar Institute.