FreeNovation launches a new thematic call for biomedical research
© 2021 Novartis
Can your project idea change biomedical research? Apply now to FreeNovation!
Internal deadline for Support Letter: 6 April 2021.
Call deadline: 17 April 2021
The Novartis Research Foundation (Novartis Forschungsstiftung) has just launched the 2021 FreeNovation thematic call for biomedical research projects.Up to 15 projects will be supported with maximumCHF 180’000 for 18 months.
The fields accepted for the 2021 call are:
- Lipid therapeutics and signaling
- Collagen: Homeostasis and dysregulation in disease
- Bacteria as drugs
Proposals must:
- Relate to biomedical research with the ultimate aim to provide healthcare solutions for patients.
- Be unconventional and radical,with the potential to open up novel research directions and aiming beyond incremental innovation and discovery.
- Be particularly original and hard to fund by conventional funding programs due to the “unorthodox” character of the idea or absence of a long-standing academic reputation held by the researchers.
- NOT include commercial activities nor be influenced by commercial interests.
Interdisciplinary research often has a higher chance of funding.
Results from preliminary studies are NOT a prerequisite. Risk-taking is encouraged.
Applicants (max. 2 per proposal) must have a PhD or equivalent qualification and be employed at a reputable healthcare or healthcare-related organization, including university, university hospital or university of applied sciences in Switzerland throughout the duration of the grant.
If you are interested, please fill outthe Institutional Support Letter templateavailablein the EPFL Toolkit, have itsigned by the Dean and, if applicable, by the Director of the Institute and the Head of Unit, and send it to [email protected]by 6 April 2021 for the institutional signature.The signed letter must be joint to your proposal.
Submit your proposal by 17 April 2021 at 23:59 CET via FreeNovation online application portal.
Proposals will be reviewed anonymously to encourage young scientists and unconventional ideas by an international review committee chaired by Prof. Gerd Folkers (ETHZ) with 6 academic and 3 Novartis scientists, who are experts in the field. Decisions will be communicated in mid July 2021.
For further information, please have a look at the call webpage (in French or German), call description (in English), submission portal, call guidelines and the EPFL Toolkit.
Register this call on your calendar with the EPFL Memento.