Funding

Doctoral students enrolled in the doctorate at PhF can apply for financial support for:

Deadline: 1 September 2023

Doctoral students may apply to the Graduate School for a research stay grant abroad. Each of the eight Graduate School Subject Boards can award a total of CHF 5000. 

Travel and living expenses are subsidized. The following activities are supported: Research stays at universities or other research institutions, field studies, or other similar activities. Stays of two weeks or more that are central to the dissertation project are supported. The funds are transferred in the form of a scholarship with a lump sum in advance.

Who can apply?

All doctoral students enrolled at PhF (incl. leave of absence in the publication phase).

Application

• Application form (DOCX, 65 KB)
• Template invitation letter (DOCX, 13 KB)

Please complete the application form and merge it with the invitation letter from the host institution OR, in case of field research, with a letter of support from the principal supervisor into a single PDF and send this to graduiertenschule@phil.uzh.ch.

Deadline for submission is 1 September 2023. The Subject Boards will decide on the award by early October 2023. Payment will be made no earlier than the beginning of November 2023. Outbound travel must be made during fall semester 2023 (no later than 31 January 2024).

Awarding

Each Subject Board decides on the applications from its subject(s). The funds will be awarded competitively.

Report

No later than one month after the completion of the research stay, a short report with a picture together with the travel receipts must be submitted to the responsible PhD Coordinator. The report and picture will be posted in the showcase section of the Graduate School website.

Insurance

Travel insurance is the responsibility of the doctoral student. Please inform yourself about a possible insurance coverage by UZH here.

Early termination or cancellation

If the research stay must be terminated early, the Graduate School will be notified in writing immediately. The lump sum already paid out for living expenses must be refunded pro rata temporis. If the research stay cannot be taken, the Graduate School will also be informed immediately in writing and the entire amount awarded must be refunded.

Deadline: 1 May 2023 (last call; there will be no further call in 2024)

The Graduate School supports outstanding MA graduates in raising the funds for their own PhD project. Through a competitive grant awarding process, prospective PhD students receive start-up funding to prepare an application for Doc.CH (Swiss National Science Foundation) or for the UZH Candoc Grant.

General conditions
For 2023, several start-up grants of CHF 20,000 each can be awarded. The duration of the scholarships is six months (August 2023 to January 2023). The scholarships will be paid out in two tranches: CHF 10,000 at the beginning, CHF 10,000 after three months. A positive interim report from the professor supporting the application is required for payment of the second tranche. 
The call for proposals follows the spring application deadlines of Doc.CH and UZH Candoc Grant. During the scholarship period, an application for Doc.CH or the UZH Candoc Grant will be prepared. The application must be submitted to one of the two agencies no later than one year after the start of the scholarship. If the application is successful, the doctorate must be completed at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Zurich (PhF).

During the term of the scholarship, grantees are supported by the Graduate School and the PhD coordinators. The PhF Application Support Office is also available for consultation.

Who can apply?
The Start-up Grants are primarily aimed at MA graduates of PhF who have an outstanding degree and are in the early stages of their PhD or are just starting it. However, external students may also apply. An application for a Start-up Grant is also possible if a Doc.CH and/or Candoc application has already been submitted. In case of a rejection of a Start-up Grant application, another application is allowed once. In justified individual cases, an application can also be submitted if the MA thesis has been submitted and graded, but the MA diploma is not yet available. A statement must be made on this in the letter of recommendation.

Application
A prerequisite for the review of an application is an outstanding MA degree, the formulation of an innovative research project, and a letter of recommendation from a PhF professor; this must include a promise of supportive supervision.

The complete application documents in German or English include:

1. Cover sheet (template (DOCX, 54 KB))
2. Project Outline*:
   1. Research question, scientific relevance, originality
   2. State of research
   3. Method/procedure, (hypo)theses
3. CV (max. 1 page)
4. Final documents BA and MA
5. Excerpt from MA thesis: introduction and one chapter
6. Letter of recommendation from the person who supports the application (template (DOCX, 52 KB))

* The project outline consists of a maximum of five pages and a maximum of 20,000 characters (including spaces; bibliography not included). Minimum font size 10 and line spacing 1.5. The project outline must not contain any attachments.

The application must be submitted in an integral PDF via email to graduiertenschule@phil.uzh.ch by 1 May, 2023.

Awarding
The Executive Committee of the Graduate School decides on the awarding of the scholarships. It reserves the right to call in representatives from individual disciplines for an expert opinion. The following aspects will be considered in the evaluation: Qualification of the applicant; scientific quality and originality of the project. 

Applicants are obliged to inform the Graduate School about applications already in progress as well as approvals for Doc.CH and/or the UZH Candoc Grant. If they receive an approval for Doc.CH or a UZH Candoc Grant before the start of the Start-up Grant period, no payment of the Start-up Grant will be made. In this case, the Executive Committee has the option to continue awarding the Start-up Grant. If Doc.CH or UZH Candoc Grant is accepted during the term of the Start-up Grant, it will be paid out in full.

The Graduate School will inform applicants of the decision in early June 2023. The term of the grant begins in August 2023.

Applications no later than one month after trip/service

Doctoral students may apply for grants for the following items:

• Costs for collection, analysis and management of empirical data (e.g. software; no hardware).
• Costs for language courses at the Language Centre UZH/ETH or at comparable institutions in Switzerland (online courses are also possible if the language is not offered at the Language Centre).
• Costs for specialist literature and interlibrary loan fees.
• Funding for traveling and lodging in the context of short research visits to universities or other research institutes, for archive or library research, excavations, field studies, etc. and for participation in summer or winter schools.
  Support is provided for stays that are of central importance to the dissertation project and last less than two weeks. 

  Longer stays are subsidized through the Graduate School Research Stay Grants and by the Graduate Campus, travel to conferences and congresses by the faculty (accommodation costs included).

• Funding for the following expenses can be granted:

  • Train/overnight train (in Switzerland and abroad, within Switzerland equivalent to half-price)
  • Long-distance bus (in Switzerland and abroad)
  • low-cost flights usually at the economy saver rate
  • CO2 compensation tax*
  • taxi travel is excluded
  • Bed and breakfast in hotels in the medium price range
  • For summer or winter schools: Participation fees without optional additional services such as social activities
  • User fees for museums, archives and libraries

Conditions

Doctoral students enrolled at PhF (incl. leave of absence in publication phase) are eligible to apply. In 2023, a total grant of 1000 CHF per person can be applied for. Multiple applications may be submitted up to the maximum amount. The combination of several items in one application is possible.
There is no entitlement to full reimbursement of the requested costs. Amounts below 50 Swiss francs will not be paid out. The budget proviso applies.
As a general rule, please also check the possibility of obtaining financial support for your research from the chair, the institute/seminar or the Graduate Campus.

Travel insurance is the responsibility of the doctoral student. Please inform yourself about a possible  insurance coverage by UZH here.

Application

Please submit your application only after travel, service or purchase has been completed. The application must be received in complete form by the Dean's Office no later than one month after completion of the travel or service.

Please send your application via email to rechnungswesen@phil.uzh.ch .

For the complete application, please combine the following documents in a single PDF file and send it as an attachment by email; the file must not exceed 50 MB in size:

1. To be filled in only in case of UZH employment: Expense claim form (XLSX, 104 KB)(Details instructions (PDF, 356 KB)(German only)). Please sort the receipts according to the numbering order on the Expense claim form.
2. Application form research support (XLSX, 29 KB)
3. Letter of justification from the applicant as to why the requested item is important for the dissertation project (max. ½ page). The letter must be signed by the principal supervisor, too.
4. Receipts
5. Proof of recording any flight travel in the ClimateSmart.Travel tool (for example as a scan)*

Incomplete or late submissions will be returned unprocessed. Please enter the exact amount you wish to claim in the expense form. This must not exceed the budget limit. The Dean's Office does not keep correspondence about the disbursement. As a rule, payment is made within two months of receipt of the request on your account.

* Exemption from the CO2 compensation tax: Applied flight trips must always be recorded in the Climate.Smart Travel Tool, even if you are exempt for the compensation tax (possible for archive or field research). For exemption, you need the approval of the person responsible for this at your institute/seminar. In the Travel Tool, enter the cost center "Cost Center 01" in these cases).

Applications no later than one month after service

Doctoral students may apply for grants towards the cost of copy editing (proofreading) and translation of texts that are not written in their native language and are central to the dissertation project.

Conditions

PhD students enrolled at PhF (including leave of absence in publication phase) are eligible to apply. In 2023, a total grant of 2000 CHF per person can be applied for. Multiple applications may be submitted up to the maximum amount. The combination of several items in one application is possible. There is no entitlement to full reimbursement of the requested costs. Amounts below 50 Swiss francs will not be paid out. The budget proviso applies.

Application

Please submit your application only after the service has been provided. The application must be received in writing by the Dean's Office no later than one month after receipt of the invoice.

Please send your request by email to: rechnungswesen@phil.uzh.ch .

For the complete application, please combine the following documents in a single PDF file and send it as an attachment by email; the file must not exceed 50 MB in size:

1. To be filled in only in case of UZH employment: Expense Claim form (XLSX, 103 KB) (details in instructions (PDF, 344 KB) (German only)). Please sort the receipts according to the numbering order on the Expense claim form.
2. Application copy editing and translation (DOCX, 52 KB)
3. Letter of justification from the applicant why copy editing or translation is important for the dissertation project (max. 1/2 page). The letter must be signed by the main supervisor.
4. Receipts and invoices. The receipts must show that the provider of the subsidized service is able to pay the legally required taxes and duties (e.g. indication of a UID for Switzerland and the EU or a TIN for the USA).

Incomplete or late submissions will be returned unprocessed. Please enter the exact amount you wish to claim in the expense form. This must not exceed the budget limit of 2000 Swiss francs. The Dean's Office does not keep correspondence about the disbursement. As a rule, payment is made within two months of receipt of the request to your account.

Deadline: 1 March 2023

The Graduate School provides funding for doctoral students who, in the course of 2023, will devote themselves to a common research topic in self-organised working groups.
A total of seven thematic working groups can each receive up to CHF 5,000 in order to organise their academic and professional development in a self-organised manner. The budget proviso applies.
The activities of the working groups are not curricularly creditable and no ECTS credits are awarded for them. As a rule, the activities take place at the UZH. Exceptions are possible in justified cases. The working groups and their projects are presented on the Graduate School website: Showcase PhD.

Application

Groups of three or more doctoral students enrolled at PhF are eligible to apply. Prior approval by supervisors or the Subject Board is not required. However, the proposal (especially the budget) must be discussed in advance with a PhD coordinator.

The application consists of:

• Project description (max. 1 page). The nature of the activity and its benefit for the doctoral students must be clear from it.
• Budget table: Planned expenditure for all activities; additional income, e.g. funding by the Graduate Campus or PhF units.

The proposal and budget must be submitted by email in an integral PDF to the Graduate School (graduiertenschule@phil.uzh.ch) by 1 March 2023.

The Executive Committee of the Graduate School will decide on the applications by the beginning of April 2023.

Applications no later than one month after trip/service

Doctoral students whose participation in a congress would be endangered due to a lack of childcare can apply to the Graduate School for a contribution to the costs incurred for childcare up to a maximum of 300 CHF per year.

Conditions

• The application can be made for children up to 6 years of age.
• The subsidy can be used for travel and accommodation costs as well as for childcare costs.
• The subsidy can be applied for congresses in Switzerland and abroad.
• The costs incurred must be proven with appropriate receipts.

Application

Please submit your application only after the travel has been completed. The application must be received in complete form by the Dean's Office no later than one month after completion of the travel.

Please send your application via email to rechnungswesen@phil.uzh.ch .

For the complete application, please combine the following documents in a single PDF file and send it as an attachment by email; the file must not exceed 50 MB in size:

1. To be filled in only in case of UZH employment: Expense claim form (XLSX, 104 KB). Please sort the receipts according to the numbering order on the Expense claim form.
2. Application Childcare (DOCX, 52 KB)
3. Brief explanation of why childcare became necessary.
4. Receipts

Incomplete or late submitted documents will be returned unprocessed. Please enter the exact amount you wish to claim on the expense form. This must not exceed the budget of 300 CHF.  The Dean's Office does not conduct any correspondence regarding the payment. As a rule, payment is made to your account within two months of receipt of the application.

Lecturers and supervisors of PhF can apply for financial support for:

Lecturers can apply for funds for workshops, methods courses, etc. for the doctoral level that are not covered by the teaching load. As this concerns curricular teaching, the planning is carried out by the PhD coordinators within the framework of regular teaching planning. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the PhD coordinator responsible for your doctoral subject. 

All information can be found in the information sheet on Financing of Curricular Teaching at Doctoral Level (PDF, 87 KB) (German only).

Deadline for FS23: 10 February 2023 / HS23: 10 September 2023

The Graduate School subsidizes the invitation of guests in doctoral colloquia. Lecturers of doctoral colloquia can apply for travel and accommodation expenses for a maximum of two guests. Guests are especially co-supervisors who attend project presentations. An invitation should therefore be made in consultation with the doctoral students.

General conditions

The application must be submitted by the lecturer of the colloquium. The colloquium is a pure doctoral course or a course cross-listed from MA (with an additionally applied doctoral module) of at least one "SWS". Guests may be invited to a maximum of two sessions of the colloquium.

Covered by funding:

• Travel expenses excluding optional add-ons:
  • Train/overnight train (in Switzerland and abroad, within Switzerland equivalent to half-price)
  • Long-distance bus (in Switzerland and abroad)
  • low-cost flights usually at the economy saver rate
  • CO2 compensation tax
  • taxi travel is excluded
• Accommodation costs for one night with breakfast in hotels of medium price range.

A total of max. 1000 CHF is available for two guests.The budget proviso applies.

Application

Please send the application form (DOCX, 60 KB)(German only) by 10 February 2023 (for guests in FS23) or 10 September 2023 (for guests in HS23) via email to graduiertenschule@phil.uzh.ch. 

Accounting

There are two options:

1. The invited guests send a scan of the original receipts (train ticket, boarding pass, hotel bill, etc.) no later than one month after the visit to rechnungswesen@phil.uzh.ch. In addition, they will share the following information:

- name of the account holder
- complete home address of the account holder
- Name and address of the bank
- Bank code
- Account number
- SWIFT (BIC) code
- IBAN or ABA number

As a rule, the amount will be transferred to the mentioned account 30 days after the receipt of the documents.

2. It is also possible to transfer the fund to the institute/chair. The transfer must be submitted no later than one month after the visit. 
For air travel, please record the flight in the ClimateSmart.Travel tool, indicating the cost centre G-60002-13-01, and integrate a screenshot of the entry in the overall PDF for the rebooking.

Deadline for submission: 24 September 2023

The Graduate School provides 80'000 CHF for the year 2024 to finance international Summer Schools. A maximum amount of 40'000 CHF per Summer School can be requested, smaller amounts are also possible. The budget proviso applies. International Summer Schools can be funded if they meet the following conditions:

• The application is submitted jointly by at least two professors of the PhF who are significantly involved in the planning and implementation of the Summer School.
• The criterion of internationality is fulfilled if 
  • at least one professor is involved in the curricular teaching of the Summer School who is active outside of Switzerland,
  • or it is an inter-university cooperation between UZH and a foreign university.
• The Summer School is bookable as a curricular course for all PhF doctoral students. Therefore, potentially all PhF doctoral students must be able to apply for it.
• As a rule, at least 15 doctoral students participate, at least 8 of them from PhF
• The Summer School will take place between March and October 2024. Deviations are only possible upon request
• The Summer School should take place on the premises of the UZH. In the case of external implementation, no funds are available for room rentals

Conditions

Participation in the Summer School must be open to all PhF doctoral students. Summer Schools that are thematically compatible for different doctoral subjects are highly desired. A limitation of the number of participants must be justified. If available places allow it, participation of external doctoral students is possible. If it is planned to charge participation fees for external participants, this must be shown in the budget. Participation fees for PHF doctoral students are not allowed.

Grants are available for the following expenses:

• Teaching appointments of external lecturers
• Expenses of external lecturers (analogous to UZH expense regulations). Please note: Expenses can only be claimed if there is no employment, i.e. not for UZH lecturers and for external lecturers who receive a teaching appointment).
• Teaching appointments of UZH lecturers (only for persons with a doctorate who are employed at less than 100%, e.g. postdocs)
• Hiring of support staff for organizational support (no funding of employment for doctoral students/assistants)
• For inter-university collaborations: Travel expenses, lodging, and meals for PhF doctoral students
• Catering and materials

Application

Applications for grants to an International Summer School 2024 can be submitted to the Graduate School summarized in a PDF file by 24 September 2023 (graduiertenschule@phil.uzh.ch). The grant decision is expected to be communicated by the end of October 2023.

The proposal should be approximately five pages in length and include the following components:

• Project Description
• Preliminary program
• Budget showing how the grant will be used and any other funding

Award process

The Graduate School Executive Committee decides on the approval of applications and the amount of the grant. The Graduate School office subsequently informs the applicants.

Accounting and payment

The settlement of accounts takes place via the cost center of one of the two organizing professors. Subsequently, the collected expenses can be rebooked by the Graduate School after completion of the event and against submission of the statement of account (with copies of receipts). 
Payment can only be made if the requirements for the minimum number of participating doctoral students are met. Therefore, when planning, it must be taken into account that if the number of registrations is too low, the Summer School will be cancelled in advance.