The cogito foundation has two different areas of grants

Important information starting January 1st, 2022
After twenty years of activity with two objectives, the board of the cogito foundation has decided to no longer actively pursue the objective of promoting understanding between and collaboration of the exact and natural sciences with the humanities and social sciences. This has to do with the fact that in these 20 years we have seen on the one hand how rare projects are that fulfill this exemplarily and on the other hand in the increase of funding for inter- and transdisciplinary projects from governmental funders like the SNF or the ERC.

Therefore, starting in 2022, we will forcefully pursue the objective of promoting the understanding of the scientific way of thinking and abandon the funding categories of research grants and research fellowships. We will also limit our activities to Switzerland, as the projects we pursue in the future do not have to be linked to a university or research institution and therefore quality control is no longer possible. Therefore, we will involve the local network for this quality control, as it is already the case now for this type of project.

In order to foster the understanding of Scientific thinking in the general public, the cogito foundation funds projects of the type “public understanding of Science”, as well as workshops and conferences. Here, the focus should not be on the dissemination of the latest research results, but rather on the process of the Scientific method and the implications of its most basic tenants.

The path of a proposal after submission

After the electronic submission of a proposal as a single .pdf file by the deadlines of May 1st and October 1st, all submitted proposals are checked with respect to the congruence with the goals of the cogito foundation by the executive committee of the foundation council. Here, the part describing the “relevance to the cogito foundation” will be particularly closely studied. In case the congruence with the goals of the foundation is deemed insufficient, the applicants will be informed immediately that the proposal will not be considered. This decision is final.

Proposals passing this initial stage are submitted to the foundation council, where one member is responsible for a detailed assessment of the proposal and prepares a recommendation for funding for the entire foundation council. At its meeting roughly two months after the deadline, the foundation council discusses all of these recommendations and decides the status of all proposals. This decision is communicated to the applicants immediately.