NOMIS Foundation

NOMIS is a private Swiss foundation that supports insight-driven scientific endeavors across all disciplines, placing particular emphasis on the researcher. The NOMIS Foundation seeks to “create a spark” in the world of science by funding highly innovative, groundbreaking research in the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities.

NOMIS funds research projects led by dedicated pioneers who use radically different approaches, apply new expertise or engage novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives. Beyond their scientific excellence these researchers show intrinsic motivation and the ability to inspire and collaborate with others not only within but also outside their own fields of expertise; they combine their passion for scientific discovery with their dynamic, engaging and influential leadership talent. It is these qualities that contribute to the foundation’s mission of fostering role models who have the potential to multiply the impact of our research funding.

HISTORY

In 1963, Jonas Salk — developer of the first safe and effective polio vaccine — founded a research institute designed to create a collaborative environment in which researchers could explore the basic principles of life and examine the wider implications of their discoveries. The Salk Institute enables top researchers to pursue their original ideas in a free and unrestricted environment, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities for scientists.

Inspired by Salk’s brainchild, the NOMIS Foundation was founded in 2008 in Zurich, Switzerland, under the premise that it could expand on this vision.