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Research

Swiss Funding Initiatives

Collaborative Research with Africa has a long tradition in Switzerland. With 20% of all federal research-related funding invested into international cooperation, Switzerland established a strong global knowledge network. The basis for this network is a multitude of research projects across all scientific disciplines connecting professional experts and institutions alike. On a governmental level, the international collaboration efforts are coordinated by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI. Swiss science and technology counsellors implement the networking capacities abroad through the global framework of Swissnex offices. An overview of all calls for bilateral collaboration can be found at Research Swiss.

KFPE is the information hub for «North-South» research in Switzerland, both for researchers and for the target audience of the research. It promotes efficient, effective and equitable research cooperation with developing and transition countries. By doing so, KFPE contributes to sustainable development and to solving global problems.

The most important research funding agency is the semi-governmental Swiss National Science Foundation SNF/FNS with programmes on all scientific career levels. There is also a copious amount of smaller often more specific foundations and agencies in Switzerland providing research funding.

Swiss Institutions

Several higher education institutions in Switzerland are fulfilling a key role as leading houses for certain thematic or geographic areas in the cooperative efforts between research undertaken collaboratively in African countries and Switzerland:
Swiss TPH
Leading House for Swiss-African Research Cooperation SARECO
Public Health, Epidemiology and Infectiology
(Focus Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda)
University of Basel
Leading House for the Swiss-South Africa Joint Research Programme SSAJRP
(Focus South Africa and Namibia)
HES-SO
The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) commissioned the HES-SO as the Leading House for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The mandate will last from 2017 to 2020 and its overall goal is to develop scientific collaborations between Switzerland and countries of the MENA region.

African Institutions

There are numerous African Higher Education Institutions collaborating with Switzerland to perform research. A good entry point for your investigation are the programs of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).