Call for Proposal
2025 Call for Proposal
The Swiss Research Foundation for Electricity and Mobile Communication (FSM) supports innovative research on EMF-technologies and associated electromagnetic fields focusing on short-, medium- and long-term impacts on health, society, and environment.
The FSM is awarding CHF 150,000 in 2025 for a research project investigating exposure to high-frequency electro-magnetic fields from new satellite communication applications. Low Earth Orbit constellations (such as Starlink, One-Web, Kuiper) enable Internet connections via special receivers and cell phones. It is also foreseeable that high-performance connections between ground stations and satellites will be used as an Internet backbone to supplement submarine cables in the future. The focus is on estimating exposures that could arise from such applications today and in the future. For example, a comparison of exposure when using satellite communication versus terrestrial mobile communication could be interesting. Questions could also arise about the effects on the environment, for example on animals in the open field or birds crossing a beam.
Applications for follow-up or co-financing of ongoing projects are also possible.
The call is internationally orientated and young researchers are also encouraged to submit research proposals.
We ask interested researchers to submit a corresponding pre-proposal (outline).
Deadline for the pre-proposal is June 30, 2025.
Project outlines
Project outlines must be submitted on the pre-proposal form. The outlines should be short, ideally up to two A4 pages. They will be evaluated by the FSM Scientific Committee. The applicants of the selected outlines will then be asked to specify their applications in a full proposal. Public and private (domestic and foreign) research institutions and researchers can apply to take part.
Questions can be addressed to: juerg.eberhard(at)emf.ethz.ch
Downloads:
- 2025 Call for Proposal (pdf)
- Pre-Proposal (docx)
- Full-Proposal (docx)
- Kick-off Report (docx)
- Intermediate Report / Final Report (docx)
- Sample Contract Research Project (pdf)
Conditions of participation
Public and private (domestic and foreign) research institutions and researchers can apply for participation. In principle, only research at a high scientific level, which is in line with the goals of the FSM, will be supported. Pre-projects (seed money) can also be approved to promote a pioneering area.