Funding
Find funding, fuel discovery
Explore a comprehensive overview of funding opportunities for neurodegenerative disease research, featuring both Swiss and international sources. The platform offers detailed information on project grants, fellowships, awards, and mobility grants, while highlighting active calls to help researchers, institutes, and startups in securing vital financial resources. Key funding partners driving progress in neurodegenerative disease research are also featured.
Ongoing Calls
Project Funding (SNF)
Category: Project Funding
Focus: Supports independent research projects in Switzerland, offering substantial funding for one to four years. It enables researchers to explore both disciplinary and interdisciplinary topics, whether individually or through collaborative efforts.
Amount: Up to CHF 250,000 per year per applicant. Maximum CHF 1 million annually for the entire project.
Eligibility: Researchers (4 years after PhD) working at Swiss universities or other eligible institutions.
Deadline: 01.04.2025
Career Development Award
Category: Fellowship
Focus: Supports postdoctoral researchers in dementia research, helping them transition to independent faculty roles in Switzerland or EMBO member countries. Funded projects span basic, translational or clinical research, addressing neurodegenerative diseases, including disease mechanisms, early diagnosis, therapies, prevention or AI/e-health innovations.The award comprises two phases: a postdoctoral fellowship (Phase 1) and faculty position support (Phase 2). Top applicants may be selected for the Race Against Dementia Fellowship, which includes additional training.
Amount: Phase 1: 100'000 CHF per year for up to 3 years and Phase 2: 100'000 CHF per year up to 2 years
Eligibility: Advanced postdoctoral scientists (3–5 years of experience) at Swiss institutions.
Deadline: Letter of intent: 07.04.2025
Principal Investigator Grants
Category: Fellowship
Focus: Supports independent principal investigators at Swiss institutions. Funded projects span basic, translational or clinical research, addressing neurodegenerative diseases, including disease mechanisms, early diagnosis, therapies, prevention or AI/e-health innovations. Interdisciplinary and collaborative projects are encouraged.
Amount: Up to 300'000 CHF for a maximum of 3 years
Eligibility: Principal Investigators at Swiss institutions.
Deadline: Letter of intent: 07.04.2025
IHI 9th Call
Category: Project funding
Focus: Multi-partner consortia working on pre-competitive research to address unmet public health needs and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. The IHI 9th Call for Proposals focuses on 5 topics:
- Topic 1: Boosting innovation for a better understanding of the determinants of health
- Topic 2: Boosting innovation through better integration of fragmented health R&I efforts
- Topic 3: Boosting innovation for peopled centred integrated healthcare solutions
- Topic 4: Boosting innovation through exploitation of digitalisation and data exchange in healthcare
- Topic 5: Boosting innovation for better assessment of the added value of innovative integrated healthcare solutions
Amount: The funding available for the IHI 9th Call for Proposals varies by topic
Eligibility: Proposals must be submitted by a consortium. Consortia should bring together public and private sector actors (academia, healthcare providers, industry, patient organizations, regulators, and more).
Deadline: 29.04.2025
Vontobel Award for Research on Age(ing) 2025
Category: Award
Focus: The award supports gerontological research in Switzerland originating from any field of science referring to age(ing), with a focus on encouraging knowledge transfer between research and practice. Additionally, the award supports the scientific evaluation of gerontological practice and aims to improve the understanding of aging throughout society.
Amount: 30'000 CHF
Eligibility: Swiss junior researchers with a manuscript ready to be published or already published, who are employed, studying or living in Switzerland or are of Swiss nationality.
Deadline: 30.04.2025
Swiss National MD-PhD Fellowships Program
Category: Fellowship
Focus: Supports clinical trials designed and conducted by researchers that address important unmet medical and societal needs, particularly those not prioritized by industry. Eligible trials include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) such as treatment, prevention, screening, diagnostic, quality of life, adaptive, repurposing, and replication trials with significant knowledge gain.
Amount: not specified
Eligibility: Researcher
Deadline: 27.05.2025
Investigator initiatied clinical trials (SNSF)
Category: Clinical trial funding
Focus: Supports clinical trials designed and conducted by researchers that address important unmet medical and societal needs, particularly those not prioritized by industry. Eligible trials include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) such as treatment, prevention, screening, diagnostic, quality of life, adaptive, repurposing, and replication trials with significant knowledge gain.
Amount: Not specified
Eligibility: Researcher
Deadline: 27.05.2025
PPMI Biofluid Biomarkers Program
Category: Project funding
Focus: Supports projects that utilize analytically validated biomarker assays to analyze Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) biosamples, advancing the biological understanding of Parkinson’s disease.
Amount: Up to $750,000 for 6 to 24 months
Eligibility: Researchers and clinicians from U.S. and non-U.S. biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies, public and private non-profit institutions (universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, government units). Postdoctoral fellows cannot apply as PIs.
Deadline: 27.05.2025
Young Talents in Clinical Research
Agency: and the Gottfried and Julia Bangerter-Rhyner Foundation
Category: Fellowship
Focus: The program supports young medical doctors to start out in patient-oriented research thanks to protected time and consecutive small project grants.
Amount:
- Beginner grant: Up to 75’000 CHF
- Project grant: Up to 40’000 CHF per year for 2 years
Eligibility: Medical doctors working in Switzerland within 5 years of their state medical exam.
Deadline: 30.06.2025
Consortium Projects for Clinical Translation
Category: Project Funding
Focus: The program supports multidisciplinary teams focused on addressing unmet medical needs, aiming to improve patient quality of life and life expectancy through scientific innovation and clinical outcomes. This year’s calls focus on “Brain Health” (Mental Health, Psychiatry and Neurology) and “All Medical Areas.”
Amount: Up to CHF 1 million per year for 3 years (with a possibility of a 4th year of funding in justified cases).
Eligibility: The consortium must consist of 2 to 5 applicants with complementary expertise, the lead applicant must be an independent group leader at a Swiss university, research institute or hospital and at least one applicant must be a physician-scientist with clinical responsibility.
Deadline: 01.07.2025
Age-Stiftung Förderantrag
Category: Project funding (German speaking part of Switzerland)
Focus: Supports diverse project initiatives that benefit older people and enable the implementation of sustainable solutions, with particular emphasis on approaches that address people in vulnerable life situations or fragile phases.
Amount: varies
Eligibility: Applied research, institutions, communities, projects
Deadline: 07.07.2025
UniBe Bern Interdisciplinary Grants
Category: Project Funding
Focus: Offers seed funding to teams of two to four researchers from the University of Bern, Inselspital, or Universitäre Psychiatrische Dienste (UPD) to prepare joint applications for interdisciplinary project funding. Eligible projects must involve at least two disciplines and aim for funding from sources like the SNSF or ERC Synergy.
Amount: 75'000-150'000 CHF Salary for a researcher for up to 18 months, other costs as necessary.
Eligibility: Research group leaders (including individual researchers) from all faculties and centers of the University of Bern, including the Inselspital and University Psychiatric Services (UPD).
Deadline: Sep 2025
Young Investigator Grants
Category: Project Funding
Focus: The program supports talented young group leaders in the medical sciences, with the aim of advancing their independent research careers. It covers all areas of medical research, from basic science to clinically-applied research.
Amount: Up to 400'000 CHF total for a maximum duration of 3 years.
Eligibility: Applicants must be independent group leaders at a Swiss university, research institute, or hospital, with their salary secured for the project duration, and must have obtained their highest academic degree within the last 10 years (15 years for academic clinicians).
Deadline: 09.09.2025
Drug Development
Category: Project funding
Focus: Supports non-clinical studies and early-phase clinical trials that test promising pharmacological interventions and devices for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Amount: Up to $ 5'000'000
Eligibility: Universities, start ups, companies, nonprofit organisation
Deadline: 15.09.2025
Neuroimaging and CSF biomarker program
Prevention
Category: Project funding
Focus: Supports studies on cognitive symptoms linked to health conditions, comparative effectiveness research, and epidemiological investigations examining how drug use or choice influences the risk of dementia or cognitive decline.
Amount: Up to $ 5'000'000
Eligibility: Universities, start ups, companies, nonprofit organisation
Deadline: 15.09.2025
ERC proof of concept
Category: Project funding
Focus: Supports the validation and development of innovative ideas stemming from ERC-funded projects, extending their impact beyond the original research scope.
Amount: € 150,000 for 18 months
Eligibility: All Principal Investigators holding an ERC Frontier Research Grant (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, or Synergy).
Deadline: 18.09.2025
Swiss Brain League research prize
Category: Award
Focus: The award supports Swiss research groups for outstanding scientific achievements in clinical or translational neuroscience, with a focus on research involving patient studies. The research must be published or accepted for publication in an internationally recognized journal within the last two years.
Amount: 40'000 Chf
Eligibility: Swiss research groups
Deadline: 30.09.2025
Swiss funding agencies
Vontobel Stiftung
supports researchers by funding social, scientific and dialogue-enhancing projects that focus on social welfare, nature and science, medical research and cultural initiatives. The foundation aims to support early-career researchers working at established research institutions. Funding covers salaries for PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, as well as justified material and laboratory costs. Projects initiated by other foundations are not supported.