FAQ

Partnered research is defined as research involving partners who are not exclusively academic. It enables the development of projects that are innovative in form and content, respond to social demand and have a significant social impact. It proposes to bring together different modalities such as action research, collaborative research, participatory research or citizen research (possible non-exhaustive methodologies).

• Interface promotes projects that give external partners access to research and produce knowledge that is useful to their activities. Projects must meet the framework conditions (see dedicated page).
• This Fund supports research projects that would be difficult to finance by other funding bodies or instruments and promotes exploratory and innovative approaches.
• Interface does not aim to support projects aimed at the development of marketable goods or services. The potential lucrative use of the research work must be announced at the time the project is submitted.
• In all cases, applicants must provide guarantees of compliance with the principles of freedom and independence of research, as well as freedom of publication.

By social demand, we mean the needs of the collective players in civil society, whether in terms of knowledge, methods or expertise. Social demand is not a given, but must be built on partnerships between academic and grassroots players. In this sense, it is a matter of translating a practical need expressed by stakeholders in the field into a research question.

Research at UNIL is governed by a number of laws and regulations. These laws and regulations guarantee a rigorous research framework, and therefore reliable scientific results for researchers and external partners.

In particular, this framework guarantees academic freedom, intellectual freedom and copyright, the declaration of conflicts of interest and the framework for the dissemination and exploitation of results. It is explained in the Vademecum.

The applicants are at least a duo formed by a member of the UNIL community (internal) and a partner (external). They will take personal responsibility for the research project being carried out and will represent the project to Interface and act as contact persons throughout the project.

Expertise of the main requests·es·ales

The internal and external applicants must respectively provide proof of a scientific qualification and field expertise in the field concerned by their project. They must also demonstrate that they are making a substantial contribution to the project.

External partners may be representatives of a public administration, a company, an association, a foundation or an NGO.

Non-academic partners are generally people who are not registered with or employed by UNIL.

Yes, employees of UNIL's central services can participate in research supported by Interface. Their expertise is sometimes essential to the successful implementation of a partnership research project.

Notwithstanding, they cannot be the main applicants for the projects; they provide complementary expertise to that of the researchers. They are therefore co-recipients or secondary partners in the development of the research team.

Yes, students can take part in Interface projects. They can be part of a research team led by a researcher (principal applicant), or carry out their own partnership research project as part of their dissertation. In this context, students on a Master's degree course at UNIL are entitled to submit an application via the Confluence and Volteface instruments.

Any natural person registered with UNIL for the purpose of pursuing a training activity in a Bachelor's or Master's degree course is considered a student.

Yes, partnership research can be proposed and carried out as part of a Bachelor's or Master's course. In this case, joint funding between Interface and the FIP is provided.

The funding granted may be used to hire human resources, acquire research equipment, process data, support mandates, and cover the running costs of a research project (placement costs, damage, small equipment, etc.);These costs may include the hiring of human resources, the acquisition of research equipment, data processing, support mandates, ongoing costs associated with a research project (placement fees, damage, small equipment, etc.) or research activities.) or to promotion activities (advertising, posters, printing, etc.).

The projects Interface déroge à the rule of prélèvement of overheads (UNIL's directive 4.1, according to article 11 of the règlement RVRR)

With regard to research equipment:

• Under 2000 CHF, researchers are free to keep their equipment or leave it with the partners, this being defined in the agreement.
• Over 2000 CHF, the end-of-life management of the equipment must be discussed with the Coordinator.

Co-financing from external partners is encouraged.

• At the time of submission of the Interface project, applicants are required to inform of all sources of funding obtained or envisaged for their Interface project.
• The award of Interface funding may be complementary to other funding (SNSF or external funders) if the Interface component provides a partnership dimension to the project.
• Applicants must be able to make the required contribution to all the research projects in which they are involved.

Interface projects may not be a source of ancillary activities for UNIL members. The usual UNIL conditions of employment (directives and hourly wages) will apply.

Staff hired must demonstrate expertise relevant to the project.

Principal applicants must ensure that a person hired on their project has a minimum rate of employment of 60%, either at UNIL or outside.

No, one of Interface's missions is to provide methodological support to partnership research teams and to accompany these projects. This mission explains why one of the requirements for Interface funding is participation in the Support Labs. The Labs provide an opportunity to meet other project leaders and develop collective knowledge and skills in partnership research.

The support team is made up of the Interface coordinator (Cléolia Sabot), the Director of the ColLaboratoire (Alain Kaufmann) and some of his collaborators (Alexandre Camus). Their knowledge and skills will enable them to provide specific support to the needs of project owners throughout their projects. The ColLaboratoire's long experience and expertise in collaborative, participatory and action research will be essential resources for the smooth running of Interface projects.

Interface has a team to accompany projects, to receive social demand or possible research projects, and to support projects. Don't wait until your projects are too mature to contact us, we can advise you on how best to build your project so that you have every chance of support.

You can contact them in different ways:

• By email: interface@unil.ch
• By phone:+41 21 692 20 06
• To make an appointment: Guichet Interface