• Maximum age at the time of application: 37 (certain exceptions are possible).
• The net academic age of the candidate (research time since the doctoral defense) should be 6 years or less at the application deadline for the professorship. In case of two or more doctoral degrees, the most recent degree is relevant. Deduction is allowed for maternity/paternity leave (effective duration of the leave or 1 year per child for mothers), extensive caregiving (children, relatives), severe illness, or military/civil service. There is a pro-rata for part-time leave. A maximum of 2 years can be deducted for clinical duties. Each absence must last for at least two months.
• Research activities in one of the following areas:
  
  • molecular biology of cardiovascular diseases
  • molecular hepatogastroenterology
  • molecular dermatology
  (including virology and tumour research in these areas)
• A minimum of two years of postdoctoral experience and successfully completed re-search work documented by publications.
• During the period of the research professorship, the laureates must be working at a university or research institution or in a clinic in Switzerland, Germany or Austria. People who work for non-charitable organisations or institutions that prohibit their employees from immediately publishing the results of their research in a generally accessible form are not entitled to apply for the professorship.
• During the period of the research professorship, applicants must be able to devote 100% of their working time to the research work. Teaching commitments are exempt from this rule. Exceptions may be made in well-founded cases.

Applications must include the following:

• Short curriculum vitae (in English, minimum font size 11 pt, maximum one page)
• Title and summary of the proposed project (in English, font size 12 pt, maximum 150 words)
• Scientific background of the proposed project, including the applicant’s own preliminary work (in English, minimum font size 11 pt, maximum 2 pages)
• Work plan, including a description of the methods and a timeline (in English, minimum font size 11 pt, maximum 2 pages)
• References for the application (minimum font size 11 pt, maximum one page)
• List of publications (separated into original research articles and review articles, without abstracts) and patents (without a page limit)

Only complete applications that meet the requirements will be considered. Please submit all of these documents as a single combined PDF.

Stiftung Experimentelle Biomedizin will accept applications from 1 September 2025. Applications may be submitted until 7 December 2025.

The duration of the Peter Hans Hofschneider Professorship is initially limited to three years, with the option of an extension by another two years. However, funding will cease upon commencement of permanent employment or appointment as an associate or full professor.

• Personal salary in an amount adapted to the usual salaries of assistant professors in the respective country.
• One graduate student position.
• CHF 50,000 annually for running costs such as material and small appliances, official trips and publications.

All applications will be assessed by the Foundation Advisory Board and by further international experts. Up to six applicants will be invited to Zurich to give a presentation in early 2026, if possible. The final selection will be made by the Foundation Advisory Board together with the invited colleagues and will be subject to approval by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Applicants will be notified in writing within approx. two to four weeks as from the closure of the application window of whether they will be invited to give a presentation in Zurich.

The applicants invited will have to submit the following documents:

• Written confirmation by the host institution confirming that the Professorship will be established at said institute and that the necessary infrastructure for research work will be provided for the duration of the professorship
• Written confirmation by the head of the institute confirming, that the applicant can use 100% of his/her working time to research activities within the framework of the endowed professorship (mandatory teaching activities will be credited to this workload) and that he/she can publish his/her research results as corresponding author

The holder of the Peter Hans Hofschneider Professorship is to report on the progress of his/her research work as follows:

• first report: upon completion of the first year of research work (two pages maximum);
• second report: upon completion of 2½ years of research work (five pages maximum). It will be decided on the basis of this second report whether to extend the funding period by two years;
• final report: after the expiration of the project period funded by the foundation, a final report of no more than five pages will have to be submitted.

The holder of the Peter Hans Hofschneider Professorship undertakes to mention the funding received by Stiftung Experimentelle Biomedizin in scientific publications and to provide the foundation with copies of the publications in question.
During the term of the Peter Hans Hofschneider Professorship, the awardees are invited – in principle on an annual basis – to present their research work to the Foundation Advisory Board and other experts at a public event.

The holder of the Peter Hans Hofschneider Professorship is expected to make his/her research results accessible to a wide public in a generally comprehensible form, for instance through public lectures or the co-authorship of press articles.