Filling the Gap

Upcoming grant period 2026/2027

Applications for the grant period 2026/2027 will open in spring 2025. 

Filling the Gap is a career development program that supports talented and motivated Clinician Scientists for a period of 2 years. Filling the Gap enables physicians and dentists to advance their research, and thus specifically fosters their academic career.

The program is built on 3 pillars:

• Planning: Career planning together with clinic management
• Encouraging: Appointing a mentor to guide the academic career path
• Support: Protected research time of 20% to 50% of the full employment, paid by the University of Zurich.

Filling the Gap is based on the University of Zurich's Equal Opportunity Action Plan 2013-2016. The program aims to increase the number of female professors and women in academic governing bodies. Therefore, the share of women among the grantees will be at least 50% per call. Filling the Gap particularly funds protected research time for clinician scientists, who conduct basic, clinical and/or data-driven research and have limited opportunities for research due to their professional situation and/or care obligations, thereby supporting their academic career.

In 2023, the "Filling the Gap" call for proposals was successfully held for the sixth time.

Of the 39 new applications submitted, 16 are being funded, 14 of them women. Of the 10 renewal applications submitted, 9 are being funded, 8 of them women physicians.
New grants 2024-2025 (PDF, 151 KB) Extended grants 2024 (PDF, 135 KB)

Congratulations to the newly funded and renewed Clinician Scientists and best wishes for success and momentum in their respective research projects!

1. Eligible to apply are clinically active physicians, dentists and chiropractors with employment at
   • one of the University Hospitals
   • a partner hospital of the UZH List of hospitals
   • the Center for Dental Medicine
   • a clinic or institute of the UZH with clinical activities  List of clinics
2. Applicants must have a doctoral degree (dissertation and / or MD-PhD).
3. Applicants are clinically active at the time of application (at least 50% of the total workload) and remain clinically active during the grant period (at least 20% absolute).
4. If applicants already have Protected Research Time from another institution or program, the maximum amount of Protected Research Time that will be considered by Filling the Gap is such that the individual will not have more than 50% Protected Research Time during the grant period.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation is based on the academic potential of the applicant:

1. Qualification of the applicant
2. Quality of the research project
3. Suitability of the applicant for Filling the Gap

Review Process

The evaluation of the applications is carried out by means of a two-step procedure:

1. The applications are evaluated by external experts as well as by the evaluation committee of Filling the Gap.
2. Selected applicants are then invited to an interview, where they present their project to the evaluation committee and answer their questions.

The evaluation committee decides on behalf of the Faculty Board which applicants will be funded.

Evaluation committee

The Evaluation Committee consists of representatives of the Faculty of Medicine and its partner institutions and is responsible for the evaluation of grant applications. The members are appointed for a period of two years. Composition of the Evaluation Committee 2023 (PDF, 23 KB)

Some excellent research projects in the field of internal medicine are funded by the   Walter and Gertrud Siegenthaler Foundation.

It is of great concern to the program management to support the university careers of female and male physicians with the "Filling the Gap" program. In order to evaluate whether the goals set are being achieved, an external evaluation was commissioned from the ICFG (Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies) at the University of Bern to conduct the surveys and evaluate their results.

Here (PDF, 413 KB)you have the opportunity to see the current evaluation of Filling the Gap at a glance.

These regulations (PDF, 104 KB) govern the career development program "Filling the Gap" offered by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich.