In short, three different fellowships are available:

1. Research Fellowship: For individuals without a PhD who are considering pursuing research studies.
2. PhD Scholarship: For those who wish to pursue a PhD in Switzerland for a period of 3+ years.
3. Post-Doc Scholarship: For individuals with a PhD who are looking to spend one year in Switzerland conducting postdoctoral research.

Please note that all fellowships are intended for individuals who have not previously spent time in Switzerland. Consequently, if you are awarded one of these fellowships, you will be ineligible to apply for the others in the future as you technicaly already have a Phd or Postdoc in Switzerland.

Let’s see each one of them in dettail:

Research Fellowship

Research Fellowships are 12-month programs aimed at highly qualified postgraduate researchers from all academic disciplines. Applicants must have obtained a master’s degree or equivalent by July 31, 2024, except for ETH Zurich applicants, who must meet this requirement by June 30, 2024. Candidates should be born after December 31, 1988. The application requires a support letter from an academic host professor at a Swiss university, including a brief CV (maximum 2 pages), explaining their willingness to supervise and support the research. This letter differs from the confidential recommendation letter also required. Additionally, applicants must submit a research proposal with a defined time frame. Notably, this fellowship is not available to those who already hold a PhD degree

PhD Scholarship

PhD Scholarships are designed for highly qualified PhD students from all academic disciplines, offering funding for 12 to 36 months, extendable in three 12-month increments based on academic progress. Applicants must have obtained a master’s degree or equivalent by July 31, 2024, except for ETH Zurich applicants, who must meet this requirement by June 30, 2024. Eligible candidates should be born after December 31, 1988. The application requires a support letter from an academic host professor at a Swiss university, including a brief CV (maximum 2 pages), detailing their commitment to supervise and support the PhD throughout its duration. If an assistant professor supports the application, a full professor must co-sign the letter. This support letter is distinct from the confidential recommendation letter also required. For PhD studies at a University of Applied Sciences, an additional support letter from a faculty member of the host research university is mandatory. The doctoral degree must be awarded by a research university. A detailed research proposal with a defined time frame is the centerpiece of the application and requires thorough attention.

Post-Doc Scholarship

Postdoctoral Scholarships are 12-month programs aimed at highly qualified early career scientists from all scientific fields. Eligible candidates must have completed their PhD between December 31, 2020, and July 31, 2024 (June 30, 2024, for ETH Zurich), and primarily for those who have not previously studied in Switzerland. The program does not fund sabbaticals. Applicants need a support letter from an academic host professor at a Swiss university, including a brief CV (maximum 2 pages), explaining their willingness to supervise the research. Former PhD mentors and co-directors for co-tutelle PhDs cannot be supervisors. A detailed research proposal with a timeframe is the centerpiece of the application. This scholarship is exclusively for full-time postdoctoral research in Switzerland, prohibiting fieldwork outside the country, and recipients are expected to reside in Switzerland during the grant period. For double doctorates, the date of the first degree is considered. The scholarship is not valid for mixed research conducted partly in Switzerland and partly in another country.

Where to find more Information

The official link of the scholarship contains all the relevant information and is the “GO TO” resources:

• https://www.sbfi.admin.ch/sbfi/en/home/education/scholarships-and-grants/swiss-government-excellence-scholarships.html

Additionally, each country has specific information and details regarding the application procedure, which can be found at the following link.

• https://www.sbfi.admin.ch/dam/sbfi/en/dokumente/2022/07/all-countries.pdf.download.pdf/2023_ESKAS_all_country_contacts_A_to_Z_for_application_documents.pdf

I recommend relying on the official information provided at the link above. The program itself warns about potential scams, and while there are numerous YouTube videos on the topic, some are generated by ChatGPT and others are, for lack of a better word, “dubious.” Here, I share videos from two YouTubers who, in my opinion, offer a reliable overview of the program. From Jama, part 1:

And part 2:

As well as from Aatiya:

My personal suggestions:

If you are interested in applying for a Phd or Postdoc in Switzerland, here are my personal suggestions:

1. Start Early (Paperwork): The application process is deliberately complex to filter out unmotivated candidates. The responsibility for managing the paperwork falls entirely on you, so begin early to ensure you have ample time to complete everything accurately.
2. Start Early (Connections in Switzerland): A critical aspect of the application is obtaining a support letter from a professor in Switzerland who is willing to endorse your candidacy and confirm that your proposal aligns with their and their institution’s research. Building these connections early is essential.
3. Start Early (Your Research Proposal): Develop a meaningful and well-written research proposal as soon as possible. Without a solid proposal, it will be challenging to secure support from a professor. You are solely responsible for writing this proposal. Once you have a polished version formatted according to the required templates, use it as your business card when reaching out to potential professors in Switzerland. Without this document, your communication is likely to be ignored or flagged as spam.

In other words, your commitment and the importance of contacting your potential supervisor as early as possible, armed with all the relevant information, cannot be overstated. This official video from the program provides additional valuable suggestions:

In addition, please note that each professor will not/cam not endorse more then one (or two) candidates per year. Therefore many of the request may simply be not answered.

Can I help you further for your Phd or Postdoc in Switzerland?

It really depends. For this specific grant you (the applicant) are really responsible for doing the heavy lifting as well as for dealing with the dettails. As for the rest, (i) if you believe that you have what it takes for this fellowship, (ii) you fulfill all the requirements, (iii) you have a nice idea to pursue and (iv) it is related to one of the following areas:

1. Internet of Things (IoT): Refers to the network of interconnected devices and objects that can communicate and share data. IoT enables smart homes, industrial automation, and more.
2. Extended Reality (XR): Encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). XR technologies blend digital content with the real world, enhancing user experiences.
3. Human Behavioral Informatics: The study of human behavior using data analytics and computational methods. It involves understanding patterns, preferences, and decision-making based on digital interactions.
4. Computer Vision: A field of artificial intelligence that focuses on enabling machines to interpret visual information from images or videos. Applications include facial recognition, object detection, and medical imaging.
5. Language Processing: Also known as natural language processing (NLP), it involves teaching computers to understand and generate human language. NLP powers chatbots, language translation, and sentiment analysis.
6. Security and Privacy: Addresses safeguarding data, systems, and networks from unauthorized access or breaches. It includes encryption, authentication, and privacy-preserving techniques.
7. Big Data Processing: Deals with managing and analyzing large volumes of data. Technologies like Hadoop and Spark enable efficient processing of massive datasets.
8. Distributed Systems: Involves designing and managing systems that run on multiple interconnected computers. Examples include cloud computing, peer-to-peer networks, and distributed databases.
9. Serverless Computing: A cloud computing model where developers focus on writing code without managing servers. Serverless platforms automatically scale resources based on demand.
10. Digital Decision Making: The process of using data-driven insights and algorithms to make informed choices in various domains, such as business, healthcare, and finance.

You can consider dropping me a line! Are you still finishing your thesis instead? These guides may help!

Good Luck!

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Mentor: Francesco Lelli

External Supervisor: Assigned by ESA case by case

The European Space Agency (ESA) offer a set of internship for students that want to do a thesis and contribute to the success of the European space program.  Some require you to be (just) graduated and some can be done in conjunction of your master thesis. They span in all the areas of Engineering, Computer Science and Information Management.  The department of Management has a collaboration in the areas of Software Engineering and Information Management with particular interest in AI and Big Data. In this respect, you are welcome to be an intern at ESA while pursuing your thesis for graduating in Information Management.   

4 different types of internship are available:

Student Internship

This internship cover a period of 3-6 months and is specifically focused on building a thesis at ESA. There are windows of time when they can apply and they are renewed every 6 months.

Link for more information:

• https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Student_Internships2

YGT: Young graduate trainee

This program is for students that are willing to consider a longer staying at ESA, the duration is 1+1 year and require you to be a graduate students or that the thesis is the only thing that you are missing. You are going to receive a proper salary and you will be employed in one of the 4 centers (Frankfurt, Leiden, Madrid or Rome) of the agency for the duration of your full time contract.

Link for more information:

• https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Apply_now_for_new_Young_Graduate_Trainee_opportunities

National trainee

These internships follow a similar trajectory of the YGT program, however a specific for a particular country and will require you to have a specific nationality.

Link for more information:

• https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Graduates_National_Trainees

These positions also require an interaction with you and the national initiatives.

Specific Trainee positions:

Link for more information (look for “trainee”) : 

• https://career2.successfactors.eu/career?company=esa

In this DB you can find all the positions that are currently open at ESA, if a particular research group requires a specific intern is advertise it here. You should look using the keyword “trainee”.

A Final Note on Internships and Fellowships at the European Space Agency

Our specific collaboration focus on the ESOC and ESTEC programs nevertheless the internships program is a single program for all the initiatives that are currently pursued at ESA.

Within this respect, the first selection process at ESA is centralized and equal for all the candidates. Consequently, if you are interested in pursuing a “thesis plus internship” you need to pass the first stage of the selection before been able to propose/define a topic of investigation.  The selection process and definition of the topic will follow this trajectory:

Phase 1: Interested candidates should apply for the proper internship program.

Phase 2: the candidate will be assessed by the ESA-HR

Phase 3: If successful, the candidate will be part of the trainee and inserted in an internal DB at ESA where scientists will look at your profile in search for a match with their interest. 

Phase 4: you will be contacted by ESA with a few possibilities for pursuing the internship

Phase 5: You will get in touch with me and we will decide how to finalize your thesis proposal in order to be able to do your thesis in Information Management as part of the ESA program.

#thesis plus #internships or Fellowships at the European Space Agency ( #ESA ) in the areas of #BigData and #AI
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For a complete list of available thesis please visit the following link: 
https://francescolelli.info/thesis/

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