Applications call for Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research Award. The Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR) offers an annual Award for graduates and scientists of a Swiss institution who work in agricultural research for development. The SFIAR intends to award new, innovative and result-oriented research. Recent achievements or milestones are also eligible for the award, however no future plans or project proposals.

Objectives

The forum has and aims and purpose of

• Sharing information between ARD stakeholders in Switzerland.
• Promoting the visibility of Swiss ARD.
• Playing an advocacy role at the policy level.
• Serving as a national partner in international initiatives.
• Promoting collaboration between actors in Swiss ARD.

Eligibilities 

Eligible for the SFIAR Award is research that

• Research must have been carried out at or in close collaboration with a Swiss institution
• It must involve partners (institutions and/or individuals) located in developing countries.
• Furthermore, it has been completed preferably no longer than three years ago (for Master’s Thesis Award: master’s thesis submitted preferably not longer than 18 months ago).

Selection Criteria

A selection committee of at least three SFIAR experts will review the submissions (based on the 2 pages research summary only) and select the best proposal. If the forum receives four or fewer submissions, the committee may decide not to make an award that year. The SFIAR members endorse the recommendation by the selection committee if they do not have a valid challenge. Moreover, the main selection criteria are:

• research quality
• demonstration of the potential for development impact
• compliance with criteria defined under “Scope”

Benefits

The prize sum of the SFIAR Award is CHF 1’000 for a Master’s thesis, CHF 5’000 for a Ph.D. project and CHF 10’000 for a Post Doc/team project. In addition to that, the SFIAR Award may help winners enter into development work, or receive project funding.

Application

Applicants have to fill in the attached application form and provide the research summary (maximum 2 pages including illustrations) and the other documents mentioned on the form in English, French or German. Applications that do not meet the formal requirements will be invalid. The deadline for applications is 13 July 2020.

See the Award Guidelines for more information.