The Swiss 3RCC funds innovative projects that offer the potential for advancement in the 3R Principle. Our funding opportunities can be found below, follow the specific scheme you are interested in to find out more information and the process for applications. 

Funding opportunities

The funding schemes available for the current funding cycle (2025-2028) are still in their planning phase, and so are subject to change.

3Rs DOCTORATE PROGRAMME

The Swiss 3R Competence Centre announces its 2025 3Rs Doctorate Grant scheme, supporting innovative PhD research that advances the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal use in scientific procedures. This competitive grant scheme follows a two-stage application process and aims to develop a new generation of researchers with strong 3Rs principles.

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KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER GRANT

One of the challenges facing the implementation of 3Rs approaches is often the initial learning curve that other labs face in changing their standard procedures. There is an understandable concern that a potentially high initial investment may not be...

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3Rs SUPPORT GRANT

Supporting ongoing research activities relevant to the 3Rs. Increasing 3Rs implementation, education and/or communication. Grants here are generally expected to be maximum CHF 20’000.- and as such function to enhance or implement 3Rs activities. This scheme replaces the previous Refinement Grant, without the strict focus and potential 3Rs-classification issues we’ve encountered. Next call likely to be 2026, or late 2025.

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3Rs PROJECT GRANT

This will be our main call for project funding, now every-other year. Open to academic researchers based in Switzerland aiming for significant 3Rs advancement. This effectively replaces the previous “Open Call” and “Targeted Call” schemes, and is setup to provide increased funding per call.

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Apply for funding

PREVIOUS FUNDING SCHEMES

FUNDED PROJECTS

An in vitro metastatic niche model of brain metastasis
The home lab (Rubin Lab, DBMR; University of Bern) focuses on in vitro models to investigate lineage plasticity and metastasis and has most recently developed a novel organoid-based model to examine tumour-host interactions and the metastatic niche utilising spatially resolved cerebral organoids.
, Dr Alison Ferguson,

University of Bern

,
Generation of vascularized liver spheroid on-chip model for in-vitro infectious disease studies
Our lab develops organs-on-chip (OOC) models, focusing on the lungs, liver and gut. We are creating vascularized tissues-on-chip (patent filed) that better mimic the tissue microenvironment, enabling interaction studies between the vascular systems and their surroundings.
https://3rcc.dude-studio.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/negar-vadhani.jpg, Ms. Negar Vahdani,

ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research
University of Bern

, https://www.artorg.unibe.ch/research/ooc/group_members/persons/vahdani_negar/index_eng.html
Development, validation, and establishment of intestinal organoids to study host-parasite interactions in veterinary medicine
At my home lab I developed an air-liquid-interface in-vitro model of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) respiratory tract to study host-parasite interactions in canids. This model is crucial for understanding the pathogenesis and immune responses in canid lungworm infections and can be extended to study further infectious pathogens, given that foxes are reservoirs for many infective agents. Our model is used for studies on the tissue-specific response to lungworm infections using transcriptomic and proteomic approaches.
https://3rcc.dude-studio.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/andreas-oehm.jpg, Dr Andreas Oehm,

Institute of Parasitology
University of Zurich

, https://www.paras.uzh.ch/de/research/veterinaerparasitologie/Team/Andreas-W.-%C3%96hm.html