We knew that the status as an associated country would have to be confirmed at a later point. Our hopes for the association talks to start soon were shattered on 17 June when the European Commission decided to stop any talks with Switzerland, placing us on the list of so-called “Third Countries”. Participation remains possible in most collaborative projects, but with the new (and thus unknown) role of “Associated Partner”, which excludes coordinating the project.

When the same situation happened in 2014, the University of Bern could participate as a normal project member without EU funding. This option no longer exists. In June the EU guidelines were still missing and not all information we received from Brussels turned out to be correct. What a challenge for advising our researchers!

As Grants Office we did (and do) our utmost to keep our researchers and their European research partners informed and up to date, including pointing to alternatives, like switching to Global MSCA Fellowships instead of the “European” scheme.

Through The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, I get to meet research support officers at other member universities. The Guild colleagues are of great help in making researchers aware that collaborations in the framework of Horizon Europe are still possible for researchers at the University of Bern.

With the first submission deadlines for collaborative projects approaching, we hope to see a growing number of applications. The political situation may not change very soon, so it is better to take the opportunities for international research collaboration as they arise.

Yours sincerely,

Maddalena Tognola
Head of Grants Office and Euresearch Office

Image: Daniel Rihs