MAPS Multilateral Academic Projects is a multilateral funding scheme of the Swiss National Science Federation (SNSF) that promotes multilateral collaborative research projects between researchers in Switzerland and their colleagues in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Projects will receive funding from the Swiss Funds under which Switzerland supports the development of several EU Member States (including Poland) based on arrangements with the European Union.
Under the MAPS Programme, researchers could apply for funding of multilateral basic research projects in all research domains. Apart from Switzerland (project leader), the international consortium had to include at least two teams from the other participating countries. MAPS projects can be carried out for a period of 36 - 48 months. A research team from each country could apply for a maximum funding of CHF 350,000 under the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme. The call is not co-funded by the National Science Centre or any other Polish institution.
The SNSF received 334 proposals under the MAPS Programme, of which 16 were not eligible. 318 eligible proposals were subject to a merit-based evaluation (140 in Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST), 111 in Life Sciences (NZ) and 67 in Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (HS)). 29 research projects received funding (8 in Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences, 8 in Technical Sciences and Engineering and 13 in Life Sciences). 11 projects involve Polish participation. The successful projects received a total funding of over CHF 29,000,000.
Proposal Evaluation Procedure
Proposals submitted to the MAPS Programme were subject to a multi-stage merit-based evaluation. Firstly, proposals were reviewed by two reviewers acting individually, after which they were evaluated by three expert teams (in Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, and Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences) that compiled ranking lists. Then, the Funders Forum compiled a list of proposals recommended for funding, based on the available funding in the budget of each participating country. Finally, an official decision was taken by the Steering Committee of the MAPS Programme.