Call for Projects 2009

The SNIS offers research grants in the order of 100'000 to 300'000 Swiss Francs for a twoyear period. Applicants have to submit projects that address questions relevant to the
domain of International Studies. The SNIS considers that International Studies deal not only with the analysis of international relations, but also with political, economic, social,
environmental, legal, and health issues that extend beyond national boundaries. It welcomes proposals from a wide range of academic disciplines, such as political science, economics, sociology, social and cultural anthropology, law, history, geography, environmental sciences, and related areas. Topics of interest to the SNIS include decision-making in international organisations, international and civil wars, sustainable development, public health, migration and refugees, gender issues, globalisation, trade and financial markets, human rights, and European integration, among others.

Tendering procedure:

The tendering procedure requires research teams to submit proposals
EITHER
a) in any area of International Studies as defined above
OR
b) on the theme proposed by the Academic Council. For the Call for Proposals 2009,
this theme is climate change (see Appendix 1 for details).

The Call for Proposals involves a two-step process:

• First, research teams submit a pre-proposal, that includes a cover sheet containing information on the team and a description of the project (500 - 1000 words, see Appendix 2). The SNIS will then decide which applicants are invited to submit a full proposal. No feedback will be given for rejected pre-proposals. The deadline for submission is 31 January 2009. Applicants will be informed about the SNIS' decision by mid-March 2009.
  
• Second, teams receiving an affirmative response to their pre-proposal are invited to submit a full proposal, that includes an abstract, a detailed description of the project
  (maximum 8’000 words), a timetable, a budget, etc. (for details, see Appendix 3). Based on the recommendations of the Scientific Committee, the Governing Committee will decide which projects can be supported with the funds available for the current Call for Proposals. All applicants of full proposals will receive written feedback by the SNIS. The deadline for submission of full proposals is 15 May 2009. Applicants will be informed about the SNIS’ decision by mid-July 2009.

Criteria for the selection of projects

The following selection criteria relate to pre-proposals and full proposals (see also Appendices 2 and 3).

Formal criteria (see also Appendices 2 and 3):

• At least one Swiss University or other Swiss institution of tertiary education and/or research must be involved as the leading institution in the project;
• The project coordinator must be a professor or academic staff member employed on a multiple-year contract at the post-doctoral level;
• Projects must be pluri- and/or multidisciplinary (The list of participants in the project must reflect this aspect. If main applicants are all from the same discipline, they have
• to show that they involve scholars from other disciplines relevant to the research topic.);
• The coordinator of the project shall not be working as a coordinator or as one of the main researchers of an unfinished SNIS project at the moment of submission.

Evaluation criteria and assets

• Academic excellence and originality (added value of the research project in the field studied);
• Policy relevance;
• Applicants must demonstrate that they have the infrastructure and equipment for carrying out the project (see section on use of SNIS funds below);
• Meeting one or more of the following criteria is not strictly necessary, but considered as an asset:
  • cooperation/joint research with international organisations and/or NGOs
  • involvement of two or more Universities in Switzerland
  • involvement of researchers from abroad
  • interdisciplinary approach (which goes further than the required pluri/multidisciplinary)
  • co-funding from other sources
  • involvement of PhD students and postdocs

Use of SNIS funds:

• Salaries:
  • Salaries paid from SNIS funds must correspond to the scales of the SNSF (http://www.snf.ch/).
  • Doctoral students can be funded with SNIS funds up to an employment level of 50%.

• Travel expenses
  • Rules of the leading institution apply for these expenses.
• Infrastructure and equipment:
  • The SNIS does not fund infrastructure and/or equipment.
• Administrative costs (overheads):
  • The SNIS does not fund any administrative activities and overheads.

Submission:

The pre-proposals and full proposals must be submitted electronically via the SNIS website (www.snis.ch, a "MySNIS" section will be available in January 2009) AND the cover sheet must be printed out, signed by the main applicant(s) and sent by postal mail to the SNIS. See the SNIS website for details.

Sub-themes proposed by the Academic Council for the topic of climate change

The topic chosen by the Academic Council for the 2009 tendering procedure is climate change. New approaches and creative ideas are particularly welcome. Projects submitted in this category must address climate change and one or more of the following sub-themes:

• Policy discourses and environmental governance from local to global levels
• Mapping of stakeholders' interests and decision-making processes (from global to local)
• Local economic and political coping strategies
• Social implications of ecosystem and human vulnerability, resilience and adaptation
• Technological change, technology transfer and intellectual property rights
• Interactions between climate change and trade
• Influence of climate change research on social sciences and policy-making processes
• The relation between climate change, conflicts and migration
• Cultural dimensions of policy responses
• Implications for human health and changes in health systems and their national and international governance
• Health co-benefits of mitigation measures that promote low-carbon lifestyles
• Impacts on global inequalities
• Impacts on the political systems of nation states and international relations
• Changes in ecosystems and natural resource governance