Early career researchers and young professionals are invited to apply to undertake study, work experience and/or research in Switzerland, through the following programs:
- Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships – for doctoral and postdoctoral candidates, as well as candidates wishing to undertake research in the realm of their PhD or medical specialisation. Open now.
- Mertz Fellowship – for early-career researchers from the polar and high-altitude science fields. Now closed.
- Young Professionals Programme – for Australian citizens aged 20-30 who have completed vocational training (apprenticeship or university degree) now working in the profession in which they trained. Open for applications year-round.
- ThinkSwiss program for students who have completed their second year of under-graduate studies or are currently enrolled in a post-graduate (Master’s) degree. Open now.
Hear from past scholars below:
Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships – for doctoral and postdoctoral candidates, as well as candidates wishing to undertake research in the realm of their PhD or medical specialisation.
“In Australia, I used carbon-based catalysts to produce hydrogen from water,” says chemical engineer Constantine Tsounis. “As a Swiss Government Excellence scholar at ETH Zurich, I developed a new kind of catalyst – one made from a metal oxide called perovskite.” Con has now completed his PhD at UNSW.
Applications are open for the 2024-25 academic year.
Mertz Fellowship – for early-career researchers from the polar and high-altitude science fields.
High-altitude ecologist and University of Tasmania PhD candidate Melissa Gerwin is currently monitoring wild blueberry bushes in the Swiss Alps, thanks to a Mertz Fellowship from the Swiss government with the support of the Swiss Polar Institute.
The Mertz Fellowship is now open for applications.
Young Professionals Programme – for Australian citizens aged 20-30 who have completed vocational training (apprenticeship or university degree) now working in the profession in which they trained.
Structural engineer Pip Easing is fully immersed in a Swiss engineering company on exchange from her employer in Sydney, thanks to the Young Professionals Programme.
Open for applications year-round.
ThinkSwiss – for students who have completed their second year of under-graduate studies or are currently enrolled in a post-graduate (Master’s) degree.
Applying machine learning to identify weapons in images was the focus of Queensland-based ThinkSwiss scholar Ryan Harvey, who completed 10 weeks of his Master’s degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne or EPFL).
ThinkSwiss will open for applications later in the year.
The campaign HeadStartSwiss is an initiative of the Embassy of Switzerland in Australia with the aim to promote opportunities for young researchers and professionals and to enhance international mobility between Australia and Switzerland.
For more information and to read about the experiences of past Australian scholars in Switzerland, visit: https://headstartswiss.au/