ETH4D Research to Action Grants 2026: Move Research Into Practice

ETH4D Research to Action Grants 2026

The ETH4D Research to Action Grant was created for the part of a research project that happens after a result has been produced: discussion with practitioners, a prototype, an exploration of an entrepreneurship path, or another practical step that helps research get used. ETH for Development (ETH4D) at ETH Zurich describes the grant as a way to ensure that research results are used, implemented, and disseminated.

The 2026 call is closed. ETH4D’s current programme page says that future calls have not yet been announced. This page is therefore a historical reference for the 2026 cycle, not an open application listing. The closed cycle’s official deadline was 30 March 2026. Do not treat the date as a current invitation to apply, and do not assume that a future round will use the same date, budget, or documents.

2026 cycle at a glance

The amounts are maximums, not automatic awards. ETH4D’s programme page separates the two funding levels: students and postdocs may request up to 5 kCHF, while professors and senior scientists may request up to 20 kCHF. The official criteria also describe the grant as supporting bachelor, master, and doctoral students, post-doctoral scientists, established researchers, professors, and senior scientists. Applicants should use the criteria for the relevant call rather than treating the maximum as a promise of funding.

What the grant was intended to support

This was not presented as a general-purpose research grant. The official description focuses on bridging academic research and practice. Supported activities could include developing a prototype, discussing findings with practitioners, exploring opportunities for entrepreneurship, or preparing research results for use and dissemination. The programme is aimed at the transition from knowledge to action.

That distinction matters when shaping a proposal. A plan whose main activity is simply collecting another large research dataset may not explain the practical transition ETH4D is seeking. A stronger fit would show how an existing result, method, or body of work will be made useful to people outside the immediate research team. The practical activity might be a prototype built around a research result, a structured discussion with practitioners, a policy-facing format, a demonstration, or a field visit to present and discuss findings with local stakeholders and participants. The activity needs to be connected to the applicant’s work and to a credible development-related purpose.

The official criteria list examples of eligible expenses. These include materials for developing innovative ideas that address challenges faced by global development practitioners; organising or actively participating in a stakeholder workshop, non-academic conference, or policy dialogue; producing a video showcasing research results, subject to a 2 kCHF maximum for that video; exhibiting or otherwise presenting results in a creative format; and travelling back to the field to present and discuss doctoral research results with local stakeholders and participants.

The budget should follow the project description closely. If the proposal includes a workshop, the budget should show the relevant costs. If it promises a prototype, it should identify the materials or services needed to produce and test it. The grant does not cover expenses from the past. The official criteria say ETH4D reimburses project costs after the project against an operational and financial report, the other required deliverables, and copies of all receipts. The applicant also needs a professorship or administrative unit where the expenses can be debited.

Who was eligible in 2026

The 2026 criteria named the following applicant groups: bachelor students, master students, doctoral students, post-doctoral scientists, established researchers, professors, and senior scientists. Students had to be enrolled when the activities were carried out. A professor who was not already an ETH4D member would become a member after being awarded a Research to Action Grant, according to the criteria document.

Eligibility was not only about the applicant’s title. The project also needed an institutional link to ETH Zurich. The official examples include previous research, courses taken at ETH, or a connection with ETH initiatives that promote development-related solutions. The proposal needed to make that link clear and explain how it supported the practical work.

The project needed a collaborating non-academic partner based in the country of focus, together with a letter of support from that partner. A non-academic partner is important here because the grant’s purpose is to connect research with practice. The partner’s role should therefore be more than a name in an attachment. The application should make clear what the partner will help discuss, test, host, interpret, or use, while staying within the actual relationship and commitments the partner can support.

ETH4D also says that collaborations should follow the KPFE Guide for Transboundary Research Partnerships. Applicants working across countries should read that guidance and describe the partnership with appropriate care. The official criteria give preference to activities in countries classified as least developed, low-income, or lower-middle-income according to the OECD DAC list. A project focused outside the DAC list was not automatically excluded, but the application needed to justify the selection.

What the application required

For the closed 2026 cycle, applicants were directed to complete the electronic application form and upload the required material. The application package included a detailed budget using the template provided in the online application. The project description needed to account for the activities described in the proposal, and the official page repeated the warning that past expenses were not covered.

The remaining project documents had to be combined into one PDF. ETH4D listed these components:

• A project description and objectives using the template supplied in the online application.
• A project work plan and timeline in the form of a Gantt chart.
• A letter of support from the non-academic partner or collaborator in the country of focus.
• A financial confirmation letter from an ETH professor or unit, with further details in the criteria document.
• The applicant’s CV, including a publication list, limited to two pages.
• One reference letter from within ETH for applicants who were not professors.

The financial confirmation was a practical requirement, not just a statement of enthusiasm. The criteria explain that the relevant ETH professorship or administrative unit must confirm that one of its PSP elements can be debited with the project costs, and that the PSP element number must appear in the letter. The criteria also state that ETH4D reimburses the costs to the relevant cost center after checking the final project reports. An applicant preparing a future round should confirm the current wording and accounting process before relying on the 2026 instructions.

The official criteria say that submissions are reviewed after the deadline and ask applicants to submit at least eight weeks before the intended project start. Because the 2026 call is closed and a future call has not been announced, that timing should be treated as historical guidance for the 2026 cycle. A future application should follow the deadline and instructions published in the new call, if and when ETH4D announces one.

How to assess a proposal idea

Start with the action that the grant would make possible. A useful outline answers four questions:

1. What research result, method, or insight is ready to move toward practice?
2. Which practitioner, organisation, or stakeholder will engage with it?
3. What will happen during the funded activity, and what tangible result will it produce?
4. Why is the activity relevant to a global development challenge in the selected setting?

The answer should be concrete without overstating what a small grant can accomplish. A prototype can be developed and discussed with intended users. A workshop can expose a research result to practitioners and produce structured feedback. A policy dialogue can turn findings into questions and options that decision-makers can examine. A field visit can create a direct opportunity to present results to people who participated in or are affected by the work. These are meaningful steps, but they do not need to be described as a complete solution to a national or global problem.

The partner relationship should shape the work plan. Discuss what the partner needs, what the research team can deliver, and how feedback will change the output. A letter that merely confirms that an organisation has heard of the project is weaker than a letter that explains the organisation’s interest and role. The official requirement is a letter of support; the proposal should still make the partnership legible to a reviewer who does not know the organisation.

The budget should be modest, traceable, and consistent with the requested funding level. Separate project costs from normal research costs and from expenses that have already occurred. If the project relies on an ETH unit’s cost center, resolve the financial confirmation before submission. If the project includes travel, a workshop, materials, video production, or an exhibition, explain why that cost is necessary for the move from research to practice.

Reporting and follow-through

The 2026 criteria included obligations after the funded project. Within three months after completion, the applicant had to submit an operational and financial report to the ETH4D grant office. The operational report was to describe the most important achievements, lessons learned, and problems encountered in two pages, with pictures of the activities.

Applicants also had to submit one additional public-facing item: a short video explaining the project to a non-scientific audience, an article in an ETH outlet such as the Ambassadors Blog, or a policy brief presenting the findings to a non-scientific audience. In addition, grantees were expected to participate in the ETH4D Research Challenge Seminar, held once each semester, where they present their work and support peer-to-peer learning with other grantees.

These requirements reinforce the programme’s central idea. The outcome is not only an internal research note. The work should leave a record that practitioners or a wider audience can understand, and the applicant should be able to explain what was learned during the practical step.

Current status and official source

The 2026 opportunity should now be treated as closed. Its deadline remains in this page’s metadata as the real date for the archived cycle, while historicalReference = true identifies the page as a historical entry. ETH4D’s current Research to Action Grants page says that the call is closed and that future calls have not yet been announced. There is no verified future deadline to publish here.

For the authoritative status, eligibility rules, funding limits, application documents, and any future announcement, consult the current ETH4D page:

https://eth4d.ethz.ch/funding-opportunities/eth4d-research-to-action-grants/eth4d-research-to-action-grants.html

The old application-form address previously associated with this listing is not the current destination. Applicants should use the current ETH4D page and follow only the instructions for an active call.