Funding Programs

The SF Board issues an annual call for collaborative research projects that contribute to the implementation of Strategy 2030 in patient-oriented and translational research. Funding is provided for three years.

The call supports strategically aligned, translational, and patient-oriented research projects that contribute to the Faculty’s Strategy 2030 and promote interdisciplinary collaboration with clear pathways toward clinical implementation. 

Under the 2026 funding call, projects in the following areas can be submitted:  

• Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (including machine learning, deep learning, neural networks) 
• Extraction, management, and analysis of large clinical datasets 

• Interdisciplinary research with demonstrable translational impact 

Projects can be submitted by university units of Inselspital. Researchers from other Faculty units may apply as co-applicants in accordance with the call guidelines. 

Proposals must involve collaboration with the Department of Digital Medicine (DDM). The specific role and contribution of DDM should be clearly described in the application. 

Funding framework: 

• Funding amount: up to CHF 750,000 per project 
• Duration: up to three years (with the possibility of a one-year cost-neutral extension) 
• Submission deadline: 14 June 2026 
• Funding decision: expected November 2026 

• Project start: within six months of approval 

Further information is available via the Faculty of Medicine’s research support page.

If you are considering submitting a proposal and would like to discuss potential collaboration with the Department of Digital Medicine, please contact us at info.ddm@unibe.ch. 

The Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) have launched a Joint Research Projects call focused on AI in healthcare, with an emphasis on improving outcomes and equity for underrepresented population groups.

Topics in scope include:

• AI for medical decision support for diagnosis and treatment planning, with a focus on underrepresented population groups
• Addressing bias in medical training data
• Enhancing trust and trustworthiness in AI-based decision support
• Interpretability of AI applications in gender medicine

The SNSF will cover the costs for the Swiss part of the research, while the NHMRC will cover the costs for the Australian part of the research. The duration of the JRPs is exactly four years. The maximum funding amount on the Swiss side is 400,000 francs per project. The budget available for this call will allow up to 10 projects to be funded. Proposals must be submitted to both funding agencies.

Funding framework: 

• Funding amount: up to CHF 400,000
• Duration: up to four years
• Submission deadline: 17 June 2026 

Further information is available via the SNSF Funding Scheme page.

The 2026 call for proposals from the Digitalization Commission for UniBE Digital Venture Fellowship and Network Projects will be published at the beginning of the spring semester 2026. Whether additional Perspective Projects for mid-level faculty or, if applicable, Profile Raising Projects will be announced in 2026 is currently still open and has not yet been finalized.

In the 2026 application wave for network projects, DigiK evaluates the submitted applications with regard to the following criteria, which also determine the structure of the content section of the application:  

1. novelty of the project idea and the overarching research objective compared to the state of (inter)national research; 
2. Synergy potential for existing research units and centers from different faculties, con-cretized in a research program that addresses an overarching research goal, which is achieved through cooperation and close integration of the research work of the par-ticipating groups; 
3. profiling potential for the University of Bern in research in relation to the Digitalization Strategy 2030 and other strategic goals; 
4. Importance of interdisciplinarity for achieving the project objectives and adequacy of the cooperation between the groups involved to achieve this interdisciplinarity; 
5. Sustainability of the network project in the sense of a long-term locational advantage for UniBE that extends beyond the project and attracts excellence; 
6. qualification of the applicant with regard to research and implementation of the pro-ject idea;
7. impact on the training of young academics at various levels;
8. feasibility of the project during the funding period, outlined by project milestones, re-search content and a related financial plan.

Eligible to apply for funding for network projects are members of the University of Bern with a research component in their full-time employment and with an existing contract term or a contract term planned in the course of a tenure procedure that covers at least the 4-year funding period of the network proposal.  

Funding framework: 

• Funding amount: CHF 2,000,000 to 3,000,000
• Duration: up to four years
• Submission deadline: 18 September 2026 

Further information is available here.

The University of Bern aims to strengthen the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Bern across all disciplines.

The goal of the UniBE Digital Venture Fellowship is to promote the transfer of innovative research and teaching by means of innovative, human-centered, digitalization-related products or services into society and the economy and to support entrepreneurial early-career researchers. During the Digital Venture Fellowship, the underlying research of the innovation is to be continued in order to validate the technical feasibility (proof-of-concept) and to prepare for commercialization.

In alignment with the University of Bern’s Digitalization Strategy 2030, the Digital Venture Fellowship encourages participants to leverage digital transformation as a catalyst for scalable, sustainable, and impactful innovations, while addressing societal, environmental, and economic challenges.

Funding framework: 

• Funding amount: Max. CHF 100'000 per application
• Duration: 12 months
• Application deadline: 18 September 2026
• Communication of first round selection results (based on submitted written applications): 27 October 2026
• Second round of jury deliberation (in-person shortlisted candidates’ pitch presentations): 2 November 2026
• Final decision by the University's Executive Board: expected by the end of 2026

Further information is available on the University of Bern Funding Schemes page.