Early-career fellowships at the Collegium Helveticum
Early-career fellows are free to pursue their individual projects as outlined in their application and receive support from the Collegium’s team. Projects carried out at the Collegium may convince both by their relevance and originality, spanning from applied science to blue-sky research, as well as from fine arts to artistic research. The Collegium also encourages small interdisciplinary teams of up to three people to apply with a joint project. The Collegium is calling for submissions from all disciplines for 10-month residential early-career fellowships in Zurich.
The application window is open until February 15, 2025 (23:59 CET).
About the fellowship
We invite international applications as well as applications from scholars and artists currently affiliated with one of the Collegium’s supporting institutions, ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of the Arts. The Collegium welcomes diversity and is committed to provide a family friendly workplace. Therefore, we acknowledge care work, part-time employment, or career breaks and consider applications proposing joint research in job-sharing.
With its early-career fellowship program, the Collegium nurtures an environment for promising academics and artists at a critical stage of their career. The program supports courageous projects that cut across and transgress disciplinary boundaries in unconventional ways. As part of their application, each fellow proposes an interdisciplinary event centered on their work, contributing to the Collegium's academic and artistic program.
The fellowship can be used to develop a proposal for a major interdisciplinary grant, such as an ERC or SNSF Starting Grant, or an SNSF Ambizione Grant. It is not intended to support doctoral dissertations. We also encourage small interdisciplinary teams of up to three people to apply with a joint project.
Please find more information here about what types of projects and candidates we are seeking.
On December 10, 2024, from 17:00 to 17:45, Director Sebastian Bonhoeffer and his deputy Mario Wimmer host a Zoom information session with details about the Collegium and its program. They will also be able to answer some general questions participants may have.
Eligibility
Early-career fellowships are awarded to candidates who do not have a permanent academic position but do have a proven track record. To be eligible, applicants need a doctorate in an academic discipline or a master’s degree from an art school, in cases where the institution does not award doctoral degrees. The degree must have been obtained no longer than five years prior to the start of the fellowship. The reference dates for calculating the eligibility window are the certified date of the successful PhD defense and the start date of the fellowship on September 1, 2025. For this five-year threshold, we consider your “academic age,” as calculated in the application platform. When calculating the five-year threshold, care work, career breaks, or part-time employment and other factors will be considered. We ask you to provide information about your employment history and supporting documentation if you want to make a claim against the five-year threshold.
Official confirmation of the completed doctoral degree from the respective university, or doctoral or master’s degree from an art school (if the institution does not award doctoral degrees) is required and must be submitted with the application. If you do not have a certificate by the time of application, please submit either a transcript of record that confirms that you received a doctorate or master’s degree from an art school, or a letter by your advisor or department chair confirming that you will have your doctorate or master’s degree from an art school in hand by June 2025.
We cannot respond to questions about exceptions to the eligibility criteria until we have received the complete application materials. These matters can typically only be assessed once all required documents are reviewed and may also require further internal discussion. If you strongly believe your case merits an exemption, please provide a detailed justification in a supplementary document and upload it with your application.
Associate fellow
Early-career fellows require a letter of support from a faculty member at one of the three supporting universities, ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of the Arts, who is willing to become an associate fellow and who will serve as their academic partner during the fellowship. Please initiate contact and obtain a letter of support in due time. You can only submit your application once the letter by the potential associate fellow is on record.
Associate fellows are established researchers or artists affiliated with one of the supporting universities. Usually, associate fellows are tenured or tenure-track faculty. If this is not the case, two associate fellows may jointly support an early-career fellow with a co-signed letter of support. In these cases, one of the co-signers must be a professor or department chair. Associate fellows may agree to integrate early-career fellows into their group part time and provide infrastructure for their project. The letter of support details why and how the associate fellow will support the early-career fellow’s project and how they can help to build links with Zurich’s academic and art communities.
General information
Grant
Early-career fellows receive a grant in the form of a full-time postdoctoral position at ETH Zurich for the duration of the fellowship paid in monthly installments. The amount is based on ETH Zurich salary rates for postdoctoral researchers, currently ranging from approximately CHF 75,000 to CHF 85,000 for 10 months. As ETH Zurich employees, early-career fellows who take care of children of minor age or children in education may apply for a family allowance.
Duration and start date
Early-career fellows spend ten months at the Collegium, starting on September 1 , 2025, until June 30, 2026.
Infrastructure
Early-career fellows are provided with a desk, access to IT and library infrastructure as well as a computer if required. Since the Collegium cannot provide laboratory infrastructure or studio space on site, early-career fellows can arrange to use up to 40 percent of their weekly working time to do work outside of the Semper Observatory if this is essential for the proposed project or furthers their skills in important ways. Usually, such arrangements would be made in close cooperation with the associate fellow and require approval by the Collegium’s director. Fellows also have access to the universities’ sport and activity programs.
Attendance and participation
Early-career fellows are required to be present at the Collegium on weekdays. They participate in the regular seminars, workshop discussions, and Jours Fixes with other fellows and present and discuss their ongoing work. Early-career fellows contribute to the Collegium’s academic and artistic program by organizing an event related to their fellowship project for which they will receive financial and organizational support. Typical formats for events are workshops, lectures, panel discussions, exhibitions, or performances but there are no specific limitations set by the Collegium.
Note for international applicants
Early-career fellows are employed at ETH Zurich for the duration of their fellowship and need a valid work and residence permit for Switzerland. Our partners at ETH Human Resources will support you in this process. However, please get information about requirements as early as possible. Information is available on the ETH Zurich services and resources page. The Collegium cannot provide housing for its early-career fellows. You can find information regarding housing in Zurich on the page of the joint housing office of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich.
Application
Applications for the fellow year 2025–2026 can be submitted until February 15, 2025 (23:59 CET). Online interviews with the applicants advancing to the next stage of the assessment are scheduled for April 14 and 15, 2025. Be sure to reserve these dates. Applications via email or mail cannot be considered.
Applications can only be submitted via eResearch. To assist with preparation, please find information below regarding submission requirements, text length and other:
Please refrain from uploading additional materials, such as portfolios or writing samples.
We appreciate your understanding that only complete applications, including a letter of support from an associate fellow, will be considered. Note that this letter must be submitted directly by the prospective associate fellow.
Download documents
- Project proposal form
- Information regarding the types of projects and candidates we are seeking
- Budget samples for event planning
- Details on the timeline of the process and the selection procedure
- Factsheet early-career fellowship
- Research ethics self-check
FAQs & contact
Prior to contacting us at info@collegium.ethz.ch, please make sure to have read all available materials carefully. The clearer your question or needs, the easier and faster we can assist you.
As we receive large numbers of applications, we ask for your understanding that we are limited in our ability to respond to questions. Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions.
We will not be able to answer questions about exceptions from eligibility criteria. If you have strong reasons why exemptions from the eligibility criteria should be made, please justify these reasons in a supplementary document and upload it with your application.
