Who can participate?
The program addresses female researchers of all levels (PhD up to professor) from life sciences, natural sciences, medicine, health, psychology, finance, law, humanities and social sciences), currently working at Swiss Universities, the ETH domain or Universities of Applied Sciences (incl. related institutions)
A maximum of 25 women per round will be admitted.
How to apply
The application for feminno round 10 is now open. We accept applications until July 31, 2026.
Successful applicants will be notified by August 7, 2026 about their participation in feminno round 10.
In case you have any questions whether you should apply and you would prediscuss your startup idea, please get in contact with the feminno coordinator Daniela Gunz (daniela.gunz@uzh.ch).
Costs
CHF 150 for a PhD students and CHF 400 for a postdoc/group leader/PI of ETH Zurich or University of Zurich
CHF 800 for all other postdoc/group leader/PI and PhD students of a Swiss University or University of Applied Sciences (other than ETH Zurich and University of Zurich)
CHF 2200 for an alumna.
PLEASE NOTE: if you apply to feminno and you cancel your participation after you have been selected and notified (Aug 7, 2026) you will be charged CHF 50 for admin purposes.
Selection of applications
The selection of applications is done based on the following criteria:
Relevance for career development
- Does the CV show that the applicant will profit from the program?
- Has the applicant convincingly expressed her commitment
for participating in the program? - Will the program give the applicant the new key competencies that will enable her to achieve her own and the program goals?
Relevance of research and startup idea
- Are innovative aspects of the startup idea evident?
- Has the applicant outlined how her research results could be transformed into an innovative product or application?
- Where there any trainings, activities towards building a startup done? (not mandatory)