Services
Post your events through our PSC News email alert
We send regular email alerts with information about upcoming PSC activities and events organized by our members. All are welcome to subscribe and unsubscribe.
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
Subscribe to the PSC Newsletter
The PSC newsletter appears twice a year, at the beginning of each semester. It keeps the plant science community up to date on research, education and events taking place at the center.
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
Post your open position
We use our Social Media channels to promote your open positions. We also recommend you making use of the EPSO job alerts.
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
Are you interested in applying for a grant?
PSC offers so called «Seed tanks» – targeted meetings to facilitate grant applications responding to plant science related calls. A group of interested researchers meets to discuss on a call topic. PSC moderates the meetings and consults on fundraising opportunities as well as on partnerships, project management, financial management and reporting, and impact analysis, training and outreach activities.
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
Graduate education
The PhD Program in Plant Sciences familiarizes doctoral students with the frontier topics of plant sciences from the start. Truly interdisciplinary our lectures are focusing on current and innovative research concepts from molecular and plant biology to ecosystems. Hands-on training introduces you to up-to-date research techniques including a large set of workshops on digital skills, statistical methods, machine learning or the use of artificial intelligence in the plant sciences. Transferable skill courses and ethics for emerging technologies complete the curriculum. A special focus is also on using genAI in a competent way for research.
PhD Program in Science & Policy.
The PhD Program Science and Policy is a unique training programme for researchers in the life sciences that can work and deal with the science-policy interface. It has trained a significant cohort of early-stage scientist familiar to carry out science-policy and science-society dialogue.
The PSC offers core infrastructure and staff to manage and implement training for 500+ students per year. Established training formats range from workshops, colloquia and lectures to summer schools, and face-to-face events to blended learning and e-learning formats that make our education highly scalable in number of participants. In 2023, the PSC offered 39 courses for 467 PhD students.
Contacts for the PhD Program in Plant Sciences: Bojan Gujas and Jelena Rajkov
Contact for the PhD Program in Science & Policy: Luisa Last
PSC PhD recruitment
In cooperation with the Life Science Zurich Graduate School we offer an online application system for the recruitment of international and national PhD students. Applications are evaluated twice a year (May and November) by an admission committee. We organize the interviews and invite high-priority PhD candidates to Zurich for your open position.
Contact: Luisa Last
Postgraduate education
feminno – Innovation and career development
The feminno Innovation and Career Development Program is serving as an accelerator and mentoring platform and uniquely blends academic research with industry perspectives, fostering idea generation, career advancement, and professional networking of female scientists. Feminno resulted in the founding of twelve startups to date, earning feminno recognition as a leading program in the innovation ecosystem for female founders. Through a comprehensive curriculum featuring career retreats, skill training, workshops, seminars, and company visits, feminno equips participants to test and pitch their innovative ideas while gaining insights from industry role models, garnering positive feedback from both companies and participants alike.
Contact: Daniela Gunz
Navigate the innovation landscape with confidence
PSC enables doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to generate innovative research ideas, and to develop and integrate these into innovation pipelines. They receive advice and gain access to funding opportunities to start their own innovation project, including idea labs and training in entrepreneurship and innovation management.
Contact: Daniela Gunz
Mentoring and career development
PSC PhD students and postdoctoral fellows have access to mentoring that complements the scientific supervision of the PI and thesis committee. PSC offers individual mentoring in carrying out science-policy dialogue, science communication, public engagement and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). The PSC aids in career development for example through company visits to explore non-academic collaborations and job opportunities. The PSC promotes internships in policy organizations, facilitating PhD students in working not only on research outcomes but also on policy outcomes for the channels of the policy partners. Meanwhile the PSC has built up a network of 50+ partner organisations, including non-academic partners such as Industry, Public and Civil Society, NGOs, IGOs, GOs. PSC also supports young researchers in their national and international mobility.
Contact: Melanie Paschke
Join us in many different outreach activities
PSC organizes many different outreach activities to make plant science research visible and understandable to the public. Our activities include round tables, citizen fora, teacher and school class workshops, science holiday camps, family expeditions and exhibitions. PSC also contributes to large science fairs such as Scientifica, Treffpunkt Science City and the International Fascination of Plant Days. Our members are invited to take advantage of our established networks and platforms. We offer internships and training in science communication.
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
Design with us a meaningful and effective outreach project
A growing number of research-funding institutions require that a portion of the project effort and budget go towards translating scientific work into societal gain. In coordination with principal investigators at the grant-preparation stage, the PSC can put together packages of outreach projects tailored to a broad range of plant science themes. PSC staff has extensive experience in creation of hands-on activities with plants, exhibition design, coordination of public events, and targeted to stakeholders.
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
Join the PSC events
The PSC organizes events such as symposia, summer schools, workshops, retreats and public round table discussions. You are most welcome to join and plan events with us!
Contact: Manuela Dahinden
