Each year, the AXA Research Fund offers twenty-five (25) Post-Doctoral Fellowships to outstanding researchers. Each grant amounts to a maximum of one hundred and thirty thousand euros (€130,000) for a duration of twenty-four (24) months.

To apply for these fellowships, host institutions must be registered in the AXA Research Fund’s database and located within the geographical scope (reviewed on a yearly basis) as stated in the below table. The AXA Research Fund does not place restrictions on the nationality of the Junior Research Fellow.

Institutions selected are then invited to put forward nominees: it is their responsibility to identify and submit the names of the best possible candidates to participate in the Post-Doctoral Fellowships campaign. The AXA Research Fund does not accept unsolicited applications from individual applicants.

Please note that although a given candidate may be presented twice by the same institution, they cannot submit the same proposal twice. The AXA Research Fund Scientific Board composed of international renowned academic and business experts oversees the applicant selection process. It validates the eligibility and selection criteria as well as the tools used to process the call for applications..

The AXA Research Fund partners with the European Science Foundation (ESF) to carry out the evaluation process. ESF is an established, independent and non-governmental organization dedicated to support science operation. ESF operates the review relying on the criteria defined by the AXA Research Fund. To know more about the European Science Foundation:  http://www.esf.org/ 

The AXA Research Fund has signed the Charter for European Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers and thereby is particularly attentive to Institutions demonstrating their commitment to an attractive, supportive and stimulating environment in which to carry out research and recognizing the importance of providing its researchers with the training and means to be internationally and inter-sectorally competitive and mobile.

Applicants have to submit the following four documents (in English) by 1 November 2015 at the latest to the office Funding for Individuals and Projects by e-mail (support@forschung.uzh.ch): Light proposal (according to the guidelines of the AXA Research Fund):

1. Extended synopsis of the postdoctoral project: 1.5 pages max. + references.
2. Detailed CV: 2 pages max. + ½ page of the most relevant publications.
3. Career statement: 1 page max., detailed explanation of the link between the PhD thesis and the postdoctoral project, justification of the choice of the host institution, professional objectives of the applicant and how the AXA Research Fund fellowship can contribute to achieving these objectives. Information about the international exposure (mobility) is also requested. In addition to the light proposal, further enclose:
4. Letter of recommendation by the candidate’s supervisor at the host institute, which provides information about the academic excellence of the candidate and the quality of the project.

As from 18 November 2015, pre-selected candidates are invited by the AXA Research Fund to submit their light proposal. Recommendations: • The international mobility of the candidate between current and targeted institution is a highly valued criterion at all selection stages. Applicants from the UZH have to justify well in their career statement why they want to remain at the UZH. • The relevance of the research project to risk issues should be highlighted in the synopsis.

Funding for Individuals and Projects University of Zurich Funding for Individuals and Projects Künstlergasse 15 CH-8001 Zurich Phone +41 44 634 53 89 support@forschung.uzh.ch www.researchers.uzh.ch

Internal pre-selection of applications (Submission deadline: 1 November 2015) For detailed information about funding scheme, research areas, eligibility criteria, and application procedure, please consult the guidelines (“Modus operandi”) on the website of the AXA Research Fund: http://www.axa-research.org/post-doctoral-fellowships

Since the number of applications per institution is fixed annually by the AXA Research Fund and varies from 0 to 4, the UZH has to pre-select candidates. The applications are evaluated and preselected by the Vice President for Medicine and Science of the UZH assisted by experts.