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.

Applications must be submitted to by the respective deadline as one single PDF file (please do not change the order).

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 internal 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.

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 to by the respective deadline as one single PDF file (please do not change the order).