Financial support
Scholarships, occasional funding, mobility funding: supporting your doctoral and postdoctoral journey
Throughout the doctoral and postdoctoral phases, various types of funding can be requested to meet a range of needs:
- Financial assistance in case of hardship (Social office),
- Mobility support for joint doctoral supervision (cotutelle), or teaching assignments at another university (Mobility office), for short research stays, Mobility office or Donation Fund), or for extended stays (Doc Mobility)
- Guidance in preparing funding applications (Research and Innovation Support office),
- Grants to promote women’s academic careers (Equality and Diversity office),
- Funding for initiatives proposed by postdoctoral researchers (Graduate Campus)
- And other external opportunities at the national and international levels.
Explore the different sub-sections to identify the opportunities that best match your needs and projects.
Conference Participation
Before initiating a funding request to attend a conference, it is recommended to first consult your research group, laboratory or institute. Internal funds are often available to cover registration fees, travel expenses, and accommodation costs related to such events.
- FLSH: Financial support for conference participation (intranet)
Research Stays Abroad
Research stays abroad offer a valuable opportunity to broaden scientific perspectives, foster international collaborations, and strengthen academic networks. Whether for fieldwork, access to specific resources, or integration into a partner research team, the University actively encourages mobility.
Several funding schemes are available to help cover travel, accommodation, and extended stay expenses.
Internal Scholarships
- Doc.Mobility : These grants are intended for doctoral candidates who wish to enhance their scientific profile through a 3- or 6-month stay at a research institute abroad. They are awarded by the University Research Commission through an internal competition (Intranet). These grants involve the temporary suspension of the employment contract and cover personal living expenses as well as travel costs.
- Short-term stay : Grants may be awarded for a short research stay abroad by the Donation Fund or the Mobility Office. These grants generally cover accommodation costs.
External Scholarships
- SNSF Mobility Grants within Projects: These mobility grants are available to doctoral researchers involved in an ongoing SNSF-funded project who wish to strengthen their scientific profile through a research stay abroad.
As part of the transitional measures implemented by Switzerland to participate in the Erasmus+ programme, and within the limits of the funds allocated to UniNE by the national agency Movetia, doctoral researchers from the University of Neuchâtel have the opportunity to teach at a European institution with which their institute or faculty has established a SEMP (Swiss European Mobility Programme) agreement.
Similarly, it is also possible to invite a doctoral researcher from a partner university to teach at UniNE.
For more information on eligibility criteria, application procedures, and available funding, please visit the Mobility office intranet webpage
Joint doctoral supervision (cotutelle) offers a valuable opportunity to strengthen scientific cooperation between two countries, while facilitating mobility and personalized support for doctoral researchers. In this framework, your research is jointly supervised by two thesis directors: one at UniNE and the other at a partner institution abroad.
For more information on cotutelle funding and application procedures, please visit the Mobility office webpage.
The University is actively committed to promoting equal opportunities and diversity in academic careers. To this end, specific grants are offered to support the advancement of women in academia and to encourage greater representation of women in leadership positions.
- Subvention égalité, A one-time financial contribution (up to CHF 5,000) to support a specific academic project such as fieldwork, conference participation, research stays abroad, or publications.
- Subside tremplin, Funding to cover partial or full release from teaching, supervision, or administrative duties, allowing the candidate to focus fully on research, strengthen her academic profile, and accelerate her career progression.
For more information, please visit the Equality and Diversity Office website
The Research and Innovation Support Office provides information and guidance to help you identify funding opportunities—both national and international.
It offers personalized advice and supports you throughout the preparation of your funding applications, up to the submission stage, including proofreading when needed. For European projects and certain mandates or foundations, the office also handles contractual matters.
In addition, it provides assistance in the valorization of scientific innovations.
Questions related to data protection are generally handled by the Data Steward and the Data Protection Officer (Legal Services).
Swiss Scholarships
- Calls for scholarship applications are published on the Mobility office webpage, where you’ll find deadlines and contact details for further information.
- BRIDGE Proof of concept
This programme provides targeted support to young researchers aiming to transform scientific results into practical applications and take the leap toward economic implementation.
European Commission programmes
The Graduate Campus will soon offer support for self-initiated activities proposed by postdoctoral researchers.
These initiatives will be part of an annual call for projects. Applications will be evaluated based on a motivation dossier.
For more information, please visit the Self-initiated activities fund page
