Policy Engagement Grant

The Policy Engagement Grant supports engagement with policy stakeholders in the Asia Pacific to address important local, regional or global policy challenges, inform policy briefs or guidelines, or provide training for early-career researchers and practitioners in policy research or leadership.

You can apply for this funding call if you are a Swiss-based researcher. You must be employed at postdoctoral level or above 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 a Project Co-Lead from at a reputable policy organisation or policy research institute 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

• Training workshops and master classes to build skills and capabilities for policy research or leadership.
• Research visits and workshops with policy stakeholders to address local, regional or global policy challenges and support research-informed policymaking.
• Living labs for data collection, testing and analysis, proof-of-concept studies, or stakeholder engagement with local communities.
• Placements of PhD scholars or early-career researchers.

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:

• Potential to leverage complementary strengths to address an important policy challenge.
• Pathway to academic and societal impact (focus on achievable results that can lead to high-impact outputs and the potential to leverage future funding).
• Potential to build sustainable policy 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.