UZH Postdoc Team Award

The UZH Postdoc Team Award recognises interdisciplinary postdoctoral teams for an outstanding and independent scientific achievement. The achievement should be characterised by societal relevance and/or impact. To honour research as a collaborative endeavour, the prize will be awarded to teams rather than individual researchers. 

The UZH Postdoc Team Award is funded by a private donation to the President's Fund of the UZH Foundation.

• All members of the UZH can nominate postdoc teams for the prize.
• Self-nominations are explicitly permitted.
• A nominated team must consist of at least 2 persons.
• Postdoc refers to all researchers in the phase between PhD and (assistant) professorship at the time of completion of the achievement¹.
• The majority² of the nominated persons must conduct research at the UZH.
• One PhD student or one BA/MA student can be part of the nominated team.

¹ A broad range of research output is accepted. As an orientation, please refer to the SNSF’s “major achievements” or work supported by ORCID.

² In the case of two nominated persons, at least one must conduct research at UZH at the time of the deadline.

The total award sum is CHF 15’000 which can be equally divided among up to two teams. The award ceremony will take place during a dinner with the donor in early December or January. The winners are expected to be present.

Please submit the following documents with your nomination:

• Application form with details of the nominees and the nominator
• A title (max. 150 characters) and a brief summary of the achievement (max. 400 characters)
• A description of the achievement and the main results (max. 4’000 characters)
• Short statement on each of the evaluation criteria (see below, max. 1’500 characters each)
• Max. two-page curriculum vitae of each nominee (if available, mandatory for self-nominations

Please note that any further documents or appendices (like tables, graphs, etc.) will not be considered in the evaluation.

The nomination documents can be submitted in German or English and must be sent in one single PDF-file to support@research.uzh.ch.

If you have any questions, please contact the UZH Grants Office: support@research.uzh.ch

Download the nomination guidelines and the nomination form (DOCX, 86 KB)

The Research Committee of the UZH evaluates the nominations. The Committee consists of representatives of all UZH faculties and the representative bodies. Please consider this in your nomination and write for an educated but non-expert audience.

Shortlisted teams will be invited to present the nominated achievement to the UZH Research Committee. The decision will be communicated shortly thereafter.

The nominated achievements are evaluated according to the following criteria:

1. Scientific quality
2. Interdisciplinarity and added value of the collaboration
3. Independence
4. Societal impact and/or social relevance

1. Scientific quality

1. The nominated achievement is methodologically and theoretically sound and at the forefront of current research.
2. The research has been conducted in accordance with "good scientific practice".
3. Open Science practices have been taken into account (as defined in the UZH Open Science Policy).

2. Interdisciplinarity and added value of the collaboration

1. The team members come from different disciplines, preferably also from different organizational units (institutes, faculties).
2. Approaching a research question from different disciplinary perspectives enables insights that would not have been gained without the cooperation.

3. Independence (criteria are not additive)

1. The research originated from the idea and initiative of the nominated persons.
2. Planning and/or implementation of the research was largely independent of the supervisors.

4. Societal impact and/or social relevance (criteria are not additive)

1. The research relates to current societal issues or contemporary challenges (laid down e.g. in the UN Sustainable Development Goals).
2. The research seeks to engage in dialogue with and involve a broader public (science communication, citizen science).
3. The research has a demonstrable application reference in fields of practice (e.g. economy, politics, civil society, culture, education, health, environment, etc.).