Information on project funding
Animalfree Research has been funding non-animal research projects since 1976. To date, we have been able to facilitate over 300 research and educational projects. Please read the following information carefully before submitting your project application to avoid unnecessary work on both sides.
Funding criteria
The foundation places great importance on research projects being completely animal-free. This means that non-animal culture media and recombinant antibodies should also be considered, and that the validation of the research results should be done without animal experiments.
Eligible topics
The following thematic priorities are given priority for funding:
Research projects that aim to completely replace animal testing in various biomedical fields.
Projects that engage with the scientific community and the public, as well as those that aim to change legal framework conditions to support animal-free biomedical research.
Educational projects that promote the understanding of animal-free and non-animal methods in research and education.
Topics excluded from funding
The foundation does not fund any animal experiments. The following projects are excluded from funding:
Projects with no or little expected impact on the replacement of animal experiments.
Natural science projects with no prospect of application as an alternative method.
Projects that disregard the animal’s dignity.
Application procedure
All funding applications must be sent to the Foundation’s office. The office will acknowledge receipt of the application within two weeks. The submitted applications will be treated confidentially. The appropriate template should be used to submit the application. The application can be submitted at any time. We recommend that applications are first submitted to a local 3R centre (a list of centres can be found here).
Our funding commitment per project usually runs for a maximum period of 3 years. The amount of funding is variable, but the funding limit per project is usually CHF 100,000. It is requested that the total project costs and support contributions already granted are stated transparently in the application.
The office will examine the applications for compliance with the rules, professional quality, relevance to animal welfare and budget compatibility.
If necessary, the foundation reserves the right to clarify the possibilities of carrying out a project on-site and to obtain an external expert opinion on the project. The applicant agrees to such a procedure when submitting the application. As a rule, a decision on submitted applications is made within three months.
Funding agreement and obligations of the recipients
A written grant agreement will be concluded between the Foundation and the applicants if the project is approved. The grant agreement defines the framework and conditions of the approved grant. The grant recipients are obliged to:
use the funding within the framework of the approved research plan for the intended purpose (and to account for them).
notify the foundation’s office in advance if funding already awarded is unlikely to be needed.
deliver the interim and final reports stipulated in the funding contract on time.
notify the office if they apply for a patent (intellectual property right) for an invention that arose from a research project supported by the Foundation. If such a patent is exploited commercially, the funding may be reclaimed in whole or in part. The Foundation Council shall determine the amount to be refunded in each individual case.
submit the scientific results of their research project to a suitable journal (preferably open access) for publication, while simultaneously submitting a copy to the foundation. All publications must contain a reference to the foundation’s support and use at least one of the prescribed keywords.
submit an abridged version of the project description and results suitable for the lay public.
The foundation reserves the right to use the results of the research in an appropriate way to present its work to the public.