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Who Can Apply?

• Applicants enrolled at or funded by an accredited Indian, Australian, Singaporean or Bruneian university or research institute. This call is now also open to applicants from select Pacific Island Countries (Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji) who are enrolled at or funded by an accredited university or research institute in these countries.
• Applicants currently enrolled in a Master’s programme or have completed their second year of undergraduate degree by the time the research stay in Switzerland begins.
• Applicants with written confirmation from a professor at a Swiss university or research institute that they have accepted you for a research stay in their group/lab.
  Please note:
• Doctoral and postdoctoral candidates are not eligible to apply.
• We specifically encourage Indian applicants with an interest in Antimicrobial Research (AMR), One Health, biodiversity or climate change and action to apply. (The University of Lausanne is not part of this programme for Indian students.) We also specifically encourage applicants in the selected Pacific Island Countries with an interest in health, climate change, disaster risk reduction and architectural resilience to apply. We are subject-agnostic as far as Australian, Singaporean and Bruneian applicants are concerned.
• Students applying to ETH Zurich must meet the prerequisites to become a “Project Mobility” student as stipulated by the university. Read more in the FAQs.

Checklist Before Submitting Application:

• Acceptance Letter from a professor at a Swiss host university/institute
• Cover Letter (not exceeding 2 pages) – read more in the FAQs
• Curriculum Vitae (not exceeding 2 pages)
• Recommendation letter from a professor at the university you are enrolled in
• Transcripts

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN? LET US HELP YOU.

• Think about the field in which you wish to deepen your research and look for prospective supervising professors who work in that field.
• Write to them and enquire if they’d be interested in taking you on in their cohort. It can take several weeks to find your host professor, so we recommend starting as early as possible and writing to as many relevant professors as possible.
• Ideally, your email to them should include:
  • Details about why you would like to work with a particular professor and what about their work interests you.
  • Details about your skills and competencies that are relevant to the work in the chosen field.
  • Details about your past experiences and how they are relevant to your current research interest.
  • Details about how you plan to contribute to and elevate their research.
  • Details about why you would make a good fit.
  • Your CV and a proposal/short summary of the research you would like to undertake under their supervision
• Applicants are responsible for finding a host professor at a Swiss university as well as for clarifying the scope of a research project before submitting their applications for the ThinkSwiss Scholarships.
• If you are struggling to identify appropriate professors, reach out to faculty at the university you are currently enrolled in and enquire if they know of suitable professors you could work with. Where possible, request your faculty members to introduce and recommend you to prospective professors.

You may also refer to this video. Get an overview of Swiss universities and research institutions.

You may refer to our FAQs for clarification and guidance on writing a cover letter.

To see a list of past awardees and their topics, go here. Application deadline is 31 January 2026.

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