Future Leaders Exchange

Future Leaders Exchange supports reciprocal PhD mobility and lab-to-lab exchanges of 2 weeks to 6 months between Switzerland and a recognised university in the Asia-Pacific. We support projects that enhance research training, support PhD scholars in building their global networks, and foster sustainable links between supervisors and institutions. Applicants must demonstrate how the mobility contributes to their PhD scholar’s research training, leads to concrete outputs, and supports research that could not be done without the international collaboration.

You can apply for this funding call if you are a Swiss-based researcher and the academic supervisor of the outgoing PhD scholar. You must be an established researcher at one of the eligible Swiss federal and cantonal universities, universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education and public research institutes for the entire duration of the project, with a minimum employment level of 0.5 FTE (50%).

see full list of eligible Swiss institutions

Specific eligibility requirements are provided in the call guidelines below.  

All proposals need to include Project Co-Leads from a university in at least one of the eligible countries of the Asia Pacific.

Partner institutions are eligible if they are based in: 

Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN member states (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam).

Activities we support

• Reciprocal PhD research visits and lab placements (incoming and outgoing) of 2 weeks to 6 months for research training and the development of joint research projects and high-quality joint publications and other outputs.
• Supervisor meetings and research visits.
• Conference attendance for PhD scholars (only for dissemination of project results).

Up to CHF20,000 may be awarded per grant.

All proposals need to demonstrate co-funding (cash or in-kind) from the Project Co-Lead(s) in the Asia-Pacific.

Proposals will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

• Reciprocal PhD mobility based on a joint research project and international research training.
• Pathway to academic and/or societal impact (focus on achievable results that can lead to high-impact outputs and the potential to leverage future funding).
• Potential to build sustainable research networks between Switzerland and the Asia-Pacific.
• Feasibility, including work plan, timeline and budget.
• Diversity of the research team.
• Level of co-funding commitment.