Conceptualize & Submit

All research projects, whether theoretical or empirical in nature, should be meticulously structured to address a specific question, typically by scrutinizing a hypothesis or theoretical framework. Your research question may either originate from personal curiosity or be predetermined by your research team or a funder. The question or hypothesis should be pertinent to the potential funders of the research and endeavor to fill gaps in prior knowledge.

If you do not have a clear question in mind, conducting a literature search on a specific topic can reveal gaps in the existing body of knowledge (see also the Literature research tab). Additionally, exploring current funding calls can provide insights. These calls often target specific topics and thus may spark ideas for research. If you intend to respond to such a call, it is essential to form a research question that aligns with the call objectives. A search for current research grants can give valuable indications of who else is working on the topic and who has funded similar research (see also the Select funding tab).

Services and advice

Early-career researchers can obtain advice on how to develop a research idea from their supervisor, experienced colleagues, and their institute. Established researchers should evaluate whether there are grant opportunities that correspond to the project idea and whether the idea is sufficiently competitive.

The University Library of Bern UB offers discipline-specific information for researchers that can also help you at the start of a research project (pages in German).

• Human and Social Sciences (only in German)
• Medicine and pharmacy
• Natural sciences
• Law and Business Sciences (only in German)
• Theology and Humanities (only in German)

The Medical library also offers information on the Recherche page under the heading “research question and protocol”.

Tools and infrastructure

You can get inspiration for research ideas and potential funding by subscribing to research funding platforms and newsletters where calls are published.

Search for similarly funded projects on funders’ websites, or use a search platform such as Dimensions. Dimensions allows you to search for grants from the major funding agencies, including SNSF, and to find related publications, patents, clinical trials, and so on. For more features, you can create a free user account with your UniBE account. For more details, see the "Select funding" tab.

Considerations and directives

It is advisable to focus your research question on one or more individual hypotheses or problems, each of which can be tested or discussed. Ensure that the methodology you have planned supports you in answering the question. 

The literature research enables you to gain an overview of the current research landscape, detect gaps, and, for the natural sciences, identify areas where replication studies could offer valuable insights. You will also be able to gain an overview of existing data on which you can build your own data analysis. Using a tool to reference and annotate the literature you review will help you manage citations and bibliographies.

Services and advice

The University library provides support with literature searches.

If you are at a graduate school, check whether it offers courses on literature research. For instance, courses are offered by the Graduate School for Health Sciences (GHS), the Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB), and the Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities (GSAH).

Tools and infrastructure

The University library offers several tools, including these:

You can...

• ... find an overview of their services here.
• ... find information on how to perform a literature search on the Systematic Searching page;
• ... perform a literature search on the Research platform;
• ... search the multi-disciplinary Databases;
• ... check information on University library subject-specific support on the Subject information page;
• ... get access to Reference Management Software here;
• ... order and borrow books and journals/journal articles;
• ... use 2900 study places across 20 library locations;
• ... use the BORIS institutional repository of the UniBE for lists of scientific publications produced at the UniBE or research data and databases published on BORIS Portal.

Considerations and regulations

To be able to use the University library services, you have to log in using a VPN connection if you are using wifi. To be able to borrow books at the University library you need your UNICARD to provide user ID.

If you work with data, you must define the data collection and analysis methods you want to use in your research project in advance. If you do not work with data, the theoretical framework of your project will determine the appropriate methodology. The methods should be appropriate to answer your questions.

A Data Management Plan (DMP) forms the basis of good research data management. These plans define the type and source of research data you will be generating and using and outline how research data will be collected, organized, stored, and shared with other researchers or the public. You should adhere to best practices for data management and ensure compliance with any relevant data sharing policies or requirements. Depending on the research topic, some funding agencies may require that you develop a DMP. Depending on the funding agency, it may need to be submitted along with the grant application or up to 6 months after the project start. In some cases, a DMP must be submitted before funds are released. Please consult the resources on the Research data management tab for further information.

Services and advice

If you are an early-career researcher, contact your supervisor or experienced colleagues for help on defining your research methodology. Basic training on domain-specific methodologies is the responsibility of the faculties.

Courses, workshops, presentations on methods-related topics are most notably organised by:

• some graduate schools (GHS, GCB, GSAH),
• within the university-wide Transferable Skills Program for (Post)Docs, or
• at the UniBE coffee lectures offered at your institute's library (in German only).

For support on DMPs, please consult the Open Science Team of the University library.

In addition, you can find domain-specific support for research methods, analysis and open science with these units:

Considerations and regulations

Your research methodology can be developed by asking these questions:

• Will you need courses or other training before you can use the methods you have chosen?
• Do you need collaborators or team members to provide specific competences?
• Will you have access to the facilities you need?
• Is the method you used standard in your field or will it require justification?
• Do you need ethical or other permits for the methods you want to use?
• Are you allowed to use secondary data collected by someone else?
• For clinical research, you can pre-register your project to promote transparent and reproducible research. You can register your project at PreclinicalTrials.eu.

Are you planning research including animals? Please visit the UniBE Compliance and Good Research Practice page and consult this information:

• Swissuniversities' Policy for animal research
• "Weighing of interests for proposed animal experiments", a report
• "PREPARE: guidelines for planning animal research and testing", an article
• Swiss Transparency Agreement on Animal Research (STAAR)
• Culture of Care Charter.

You need to find a funding scheme that fits the scale and subject of your project. You have to consider both the amount of financial support you need and whether the goals and specifications of the funding agency align with your project's topic, collaboration partners, and your (scientific) age, etc. After you have identified the potential funder and funding scheme, you may have to adapt your research idea and proposal to the funder's priorities and expectations .

Another approach is to choose the funding scheme first and only then develop an idea that fits its specifications. This is particularly advisable for career development grants.

Before you start drafting your application, verify the eligibility conditions. Make sure you understand what is required, and check any UniBE internal deadlines in case official letters of support are required.

Services and advice

You can find a list of the most relevant public funding agencies and funding programs for UniBE researchers on the Funding Programs page.

The Coordination office for the promotion of early-career researchers provides an overview of career grants after completing your PhD and contacts for advice on your next career steps.

If you are an early career researcher, your first point of contact should always be your supervisor, experienced colleagues or your institute. If you need further advice about available funding schemes, your contact depends on the funding scheme to which you want to apply:

The following faculties and centers at UniBE also offer information, support, and even funds for specific purposes:

The University offers various UniBE Funding Schemes for the preparation of future applications. 

Tools and infrastructure

Data bases to find funding opportunities:

• You can use the SNSF's "search funding" interface for their funding opportunities.
• You can register for a subscription to the Research Professional database, a database of research funding opportunities covering all scholarly disciplines. The database can be used free of charge by all researchers at the University of Bern and the Inselspital. The Grants Office offers an introduction to the service.
• You can also use Fundraiso, a portal for finding foundations and funding agencies.
• research.swiss is an online database run by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) of calls for proposals that are co-financed by the federal government.

Other search platforms can be found on the Funding Search page.

Considerations and regulations

At this stage of your research, you should learn about the legal, university and funder's requirements on ethics and compliance. For some research projects, you might need to obtain compliance approvals before starting your research, so knowing what to expect is key even at this early stage. At the latest, prepare your requests for compliance approvals when you begin preparing your research project. 

Compliance areas that commonly affect research include, but are not limited to, ethics, security and export controls, environmental health and safety concerns, and the use of human subjects or animals. 

Services and advice

The UniBE Research Compliance and Good Research Practice page provides information, regulations and contacts on topics that are important for conducting research at UniBE.

Tools and infrastructure

Several courses help you learn about research compliance:

• If you want to learn more about research integrity, take UniBE's comprehensive subject-area-specific online course. The course can be terminated with a short test. Providing you pass the test, you will receive a certificate that suffices for some funders as proof of your knowledge of research integrity and good research practice.
• Several other courses or lectures on research integrity topics are available on the Transferable Skills Program for (Post)Docs.
• Courses are also available on IT security and data protection.

Considerations and regulations

Please find topic-specific regulations on the Research Compliance and Good Research Practice page.

When you select your collaborators and team, you need to consider two major aspects:

You must think about which expertise and support you need to complete your project successfully. You should ask yourself these questions:

• Can you handle all the methods you want to use, or will you have to employ someone to help?
• Is it possible to collaborate with someone who has access to facilities you need?
• Will you need an interdisciplinary or international collaboration?
• Do you need a support person for experiments, analyses, or administration?

You must also consider the constraints of the funding source, your budget, and your time.

• How much time can you devote to the project?
• Does the funder require a minimum time commitment from you?
• Will you have time enough to train an inexperienced person, or will you have to invest in the employment of an experienced person, who will require a higher salary?
• What resources are available for salaries?
• Are there restrictions on employing staff?

Services and advice

Your first point of contact on employment and salary topics is your institute. Most issues are covered in the internal Human Resources A-Z pages (German only). Your institute's HR manager can contact the Human Resources Department if you have questions that they cannot answer.

Tools and infrastructure

To find potential cooperation partners:

• use a platform such as Dimensions: see the Develop idea tab,
• search funders' websites: see the Select funding tab, or
• for EU projects: Euresearch - Find Partners for your Project.

If your research also involves cooperations with partners from industry, you might want to approach the Innovation Office for questions on potential cooperation or Unitectra for questions realating to tech transfer and intellectual property rights.

For salary costs, please see the Define budget tab.

Considerations and regulations

As you plan your research project, you should also identify space requirements and ensure you have access and the support/approval of the hosting department or organization. This planning can include securing specialized facilities and budgeting for specific equipment, supplies, tailored services, and specialized personnel. Your first contact is your institute or faculty. They will consult with the Facility Management Office if needed.

Space and facilities

Documenting the space needed for your research will include descriptions of the area required for the proposed activities. This may include laboratory space, clinical space, access to animal facilities, computer equipment for data collection and analysis, and office resources for the team and administration. If you are applying for externally funded research, reviewing funder requirements for space commitments is critical. Additionally, the use of space not allocated to the research team may require letters of assurance or of commitment.

Equipment

Identifying equipment needed to complete the aims of the project is another important step at this stage and another area in which reviewing funder requirements is essential. Use of equipment not allocated to the proposed research team may require letters of assurance. If equipment is to be purchased, such expenses need to be included in the proposal budget.

Services

Some types of research require contracted services; these may be services from the University or externally contracted services. Engagement with service providers may require coordination with both contractor and funder, as the use or dissemination of contracted services may have different cost structures or requirements depending on the source of research funding.

Services and advice

UniBE has a range of Core Facilities that offer various services and infrastructure to researchers at UniBE and Inselspital.

The Risk Management Office offers advice on topics such as work, health, and environmental safety. For general questions, please first contact the Safety Officer in your institute or faculty.

IT Services include hosting, server maintenance, server virtualisation, storage services, authentication infrastructure and groupware, installation and maintenance of administration software. Your first contact is your institute’s IT manager.

The Animal Welfare Office and the Experimental Animal Center offer advice on facilities and resources for animal research. Please contact them as early as possible if your research involves animals.

Considerations and regulations

Purchasing equipment or services with a value above CHF 50,000 requires internal UniBE approval, to comply with the regulations on public procurement. Your first contact should be the finance manager of your institute. Guidelines and forms are available on the page for expenditure approvals (Ausgabenbewilligung; German only).

To define your timeline, you must go through the list of everything you plan to do during your project. Think about the best sequence for the tasks, because some depend on each other, and start early on tasks that risk being delayed, such as those involving permits and ethical approvals.

Services and advice

If you use animals in your project, please contact the Animal Welfare Office as early as possible.

Considerations and regulations

Once you know which methods you want to use, which facilities you need, and who you want on your team, you can start working on your budget. You should list all items and costs that are necessary and reasonable to complete your project.

Services and advice

If you have questions about project budgeting, such as about salaries and employment of team members, you should first contact the Finance and HR manager at your institute. If needed, they can contact the Human Resources Office.

The Grants Office and Innovation Office provide information and support on budgeting for some of the funding instruments (grants) of the large public funders (Uni intern, in German only).

Tools and infrastructure

To estimate salary costs, start with the indications in the information sheet on wage ranges (Lohnbandbreiten; German only) and add the employer’s costs for the social contributions (fixed at 15% for SNSF applications). The UniBE also has a tool for calculating salaries. This tool can give you an idea of how much you will have to spend for various categories of employees. Your first contact for these calculations is the HR manager in your institute. The Grants Office and Innovation Office provide salary information for some funding schemes (see the Information and Tools pages; Uni intern).

The UniBE Core Facilities provide services and infrastructure. Potential collaboration with a Core Facility must be budgeted. For IT services, hardware and software, see the tariffs sheet (Tarifblatt, German only; Uni intern).

Considerations and regulations

Your research proposal should explain the type and extent of your project to an academic reader. The exact form and content of the proposal depends on the requirements of the funding instrument. In general, it contains the information required to assess the scientific quality of the application including its feasibility and any other elements that are indicated in the evaluation criteria, in particular,

• the topic of your proposed research
• the aim, scope, and novelty of your research
• the context of your research
• the design and methodology
• the contribution that your research will make to scientific knowledge in your field
• the CV or CVs of the Principal Investigator or Principal Investigators
• the project organization (incl. roles of partner, charts)
• additional considerations depending on the type of grant (e.g. career development, impact considerations, business potential, etc.) 

Services and advice

Several faculties offer services for preparing and writing grant proposals. Please consult your faculty to learn more.

For courses on writing a research proposal, please see the Transferable Skills Program for (Post)Docs page and the various graduate schools and doctoral programs.

The Grants Office offers feedback on some types of proposals submitted to the SNSF, EU, and US federal funders. Contact the Innovation Office for Innosuisse proposals.

Contact the Animal Welfare Office for projects that involve animal research.

Considerations and regulations

Before you start writing your proposal, carefully read the instructions of the funding instrument. In addition, make sure you respect the general policies and guidelines of the funding institution and of UniBE. Note that some proposals can only be submitted by your superior, the institute director or UniBE (Vice-Rectorate for Research and Innovation).

Please check the deadlines for submitting the proposal early and allow enough time for writing and revising your budget. Ask your supervisor, colleagues, and the Grants Office (see above) to check your proposal and give you feedback. Do not submit at the last minute. Most funders have a strict deadline and will not take into account any last-minute problems you have with the submission platform. Always check the files you have submitted by downloading a complete copy of your application. Most funders will not allow you to replace incorrect files after the deadline.

Make sure that your CV is up to date.