Swedish funding to ‘recruit’ Swiss ERC winners draws ire

Stalled EU-Swiss negotiations “create an opportunity” for Sweden to recruit researchers, says Swedish council

Sweden’s public research agency has drawn criticism for offering Swedish institutions money to recruit researchers who are unable to take up European Research Council funding in Switzerland.

Switzerland is currently frozen out of the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, of which the ERC is a part. But researchers at Swiss institutions were able to apply to recent ERC funding calls before political disagreements during 2021 derailed plans for the country to join Horizon Europe.