Lopez-Loreta Prize / Grant

Each laureate receives EUR 1,000,000, which must be spent on the awarded research project (e.g. salaries, consumables, etc.) within five years. The project can be carried out anywhere in the world.

At ETH Zurich, top ETH Zurich graduates, such as winners of the Silver Medal of ETH Zurich or Pioneer Fellows, are eligible to apply.

The relevant degree must have been obtained within two years prior to the date of the current call for applications.

The next call for applications at ETH Zurich will open on 1 May 2025. Therefore, ETH Zurich top graduates who received their doctorate on or after 1 May 2023 are eligible to apply for the ETH-internal deadline on 1 September 2025.

The nomination process at ETH Zurich is organised in several steps. First, eligible candidates submit their application (pre-proposal) to the Grants Office by the ETH Zurich submission deadline.

The ETH application consists of the following documents and must be written in English (use this Download template (DOCX, 38 KB) and follow its instructions).

1. Cover page with the applicant's contact details, the name of the host university and the title of the research project, etc.
2. Layman Summary
3. Project description of the 5-year project
4. SWOT analysis for entrepreneurial projects
5. Cost overview
6. CV
7. List of publications
8. Motivation letter and career plan
9. Copy of Master's and/or PhD degree
10. Letter of support from the head of the proposed host laboratory
11. Two letters of reference from international researchers who are or have been in contact with the applicant.

The ETH applications must be submitted via ETH Zurich's web-based grant application system eResearch, which will be opened for the Lopez-Loreta Call around mid-2025 (tbc).

The applications will be evaluated by the ETH Zurich Research Commission, which will select the five best candidates for nomination.  These selected candidates will then be asked to also prepare and submit the proposal sections #2-#8 in French to the ETH Grants Office by the end of October (date tbc). The Grants Office will then nominate these pre-proposals (in English and French) and submit them to the Lopez-Loreta Foundation by the end of October (date tbc).

The Lopez-Loreta Foundation will assess the pre-proposals and confirm the candidates for the full proposal stage to the Grants Office by the end of the year.

The Grants Office will then ask the candidates to prepare and submit a full proposal in English and in additional sections #1 to #6 in French to the Grant Office by the end of January (date tbc). The Grants Office will then complete the nomination process by sending the full proposals to the foundation in about February (date tbc).

See the timeline for the current deadlines.

Further details can be found in the Download prize guidelines (PDF, 103 KB).

The ETH Zurich application deadline is 1 September at 17:00 Swiss local time each year.

If a submission deadline falls on a weekend, it will be postponed to the following Monday, 17:00 Swiss local time.

Applications must be submitted via ETH Zurich's web-based grant application system eResearch, which will be opened for the ETH-internal Lopez-Loreta Call around mid-2025 (tbc).

Applicants will be notified about the results of the ETH-Zurich nomination selection by around mid-October 2025.

Following the ETH Zurich selection, the additional French versions of the application (= pre-proposal) for the Foundation will be due to the Grants Office by the end of October 2025 (date tbc).

The final full proposals (in English and French) must be submitted to the ETH Grants Office by the end of January 2026 (date tbc).

The Foundation will invite and interview its shortlisted candidates in April/May 2026.

The Lopez-Loreta Laureates are expected to be announced by the end of June 2026.

Applications must be submitted via ETH Zurich's web-based grant application system eResearch, which will be opened for the ETH-internal Lopez-Loreta Call around mid-2025 (tbc).

The steps required to submit an application in the web-based ETH Zurich grant application system eResearch are outlined below.  

Please note that you can interrupt the processing of the application at any time and resume the work at a later date, provided you do so before the submission deadline. You can find instructions on how to do this at the bottom of the page.

Submitting an application: 

1. Download the required Lopez Loreta Prize/Grant application template (LINK) and Lopez Loreta guidelines (LINK)
2. Fill in the application templates (project details and accompanying information) and complete all other required documents. The documents must be converted into a single PDF file prior to submission (no password protection).
3. Please register on eResearch and set a password to create an account. ETH Zurich employees have to register with their ETH email address (username@ethz.ch) and set a password as well. This step only needs to be done when using eResearch for the first time. Having registered once, you can log in with your eResearch login details.
4. Click on “My Applications” in the navigation bar on the left to start a new application.
5. Then click on “New Application”. You will be directed to a page where all open calls are available for selection. The call is usually open in the system about 1-2 months before the deadline. Select the Lopez Loreta Prize /Grant and click on “Apply”. You will now be in the edit mode of the newly opened application form. Please note the reference number of the application in the upper left corner.
6. Fill in all mandatory fields and upload the required attachments (marked with a red dot) by navigating from page to page using the “Next” and “Previous” buttons. Be sure you save the information you entered by clicking “Save”. As soon as all mandatory fields of a page are filled in, the icon in the sidebar on the left will turn green.
7. Once you have completed the application form, click on “Validation Summary" on the left. The “Validation Summary” page will then list all mandatory fields that have not yet been filled in.
8. Fill in the missing fields and validate again. After successful validation, exit the edit mode by clicking “Save And Close”.
9. Submit the application form by clicking on the “Submit” button at the bottom right of the application summary page. Please scroll down if you cannot see the button. Changes are no longer possible after the application has been submitted. If you have submitted an application in error, please contact eresearch-support@ethz.ch.
10. Create a PDF file of your application for your personal records. To do this, click on “View/print” in the grey “PDF the application” box on the right side of the same page.

To interrupt the processing of the application, you must:

1. Exit the edit mode of the application by clicking “Save And Close” and then log out on the left side of the page.
2. To continue working on an existing application, log in to the platform with your eResearch login details, go to “My Applications” on the left side of the page, and then select the respective application by clicking on the title or on the “View details” icon on the right.
3. Click “Edit” on the right side of the application summary page to enter the edit mode. Now proceed to edit your application.